That pen I took out of the supply room at work and am now using to scribble down these notes ... did I steal it? Probably not, as long as the work involves an article. It is not until I write out a grocery list or a doodle or a poem that I become a menace to private property. How seriously the property rights of employers should be enforced against employees is often a fuzzy area, and it is made the more fuzzy by the fact that the stakes are often small. One is more likely to leave the office with a paper clip than a printing press.

It was national news in Germany this week when the Federal labour court announced it would revisit the case of Barbara E, known to the public as “Emmely”. For several months her story has had the tabloids and talk shows in an uproar. Last year, after 31 years as a supermarket cashier in Berlin, Emmely was fired by her employer, Kaiser’s, for allegedly taking €1.30 ($1.83, £1.11) worth of bottle-return coupons that a customer had lost, and cashing them for herself. There is a long line of cases in German law involving Bagatelldiebstahl – employees fired for stealing such items as fish sandwiches and pieces of cheesecake. A company is permitted to terminate an employment contract whenever the “relationship of trust” is broken. Airtight evidence is not necessary; credible suspicion of theft, no matter how small, will suffice. In February, the Berlin labour court upheld Emmely’s dismissal.