Is The Digital Employment Contract Coming?

In Germany, legal efforts are finally being made to allow for the digitalization of the employment contract. Up to now, this has primarily been prevented by the amended German Verification Act from summer 2022. Accordingly, essential working conditions must be verified in writing, i.e., in a document signed by the employer in wet ink. While it is possible to provide this verification in a separate document to the employment contract, the required information is, in practice, often integrated into the employment contract itself to avoid the administrative burden of drafting an additional individual document for each new employee. Hence, the current requirements of the Verification Act lead to a de-facto written form requirement for employment contracts if employers want to be fully compliant. In practice, this is a significant restriction for modern, fast-moving businesses.