>We are legally required to use it to relax and restore our capacity for future work.
Well that's an interesting bit of trivia. Can you share anything more about it? Just for my own amusement and the amusement of people I will relate it to in the future, I would love to read whatever dry legal code sets that in writing.
It's hard to translate. The law speaks of Erholungsurlaub, which could be translated as “recuperation vacation“. That already sets a clear purpose. There is also a clause that prevents us from working during vacation if that work endangers the purpose of the vacation (that is, recuperation): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/burlg/__8.html
Other countries have non-competes, employer ownership of things created during off-hours, and so on.
Well that's an interesting bit of trivia. Can you share anything more about it? Just for my own amusement and the amusement of people I will relate it to in the future, I would love to read whatever dry legal code sets that in writing.