The worker goes to jail? What about the exec
They're calling him an engineer out of respect for his professional qualifications as such things are immensely important in Germany. Because he was an engineer, he has a duty to not act unethically within his professional capacity, and is shamed more than a mere MBA-style executive would be.
Edit: Please explain how the VW case is any different than my analogy
If you're afraid with a reason, someone else did that to you.
(Those people have spreadsheets with everything weighed. Raise their costs, they'll cut out the psycho.)
Otherwise the next time the CEO asks you to destroy the competition you'll say that he didn't specifically told you to not actually take that literally so it isn't your fault that you shot a guy in the head.
However, no matter how unrealistic the delivery estimates are, the execs are not responsible if I run red lights or speed to meet those requirements. There is obviously no legal liability on the CEO unless he explicitly instructed or encouraged me to do so.