An employer's workforce can consist of (i) regular employees (on a fixed-term or indefinite employment agreement), (ii) independent self-employed persons engaged on a mandate basis (i.e. service provider) and/or (iii) personnel lent from an agency. Agencies lending their employees to another company are subject to cantonal/federal permit requirements.  

In Switzerland, there are fixed-term as well as indefinite employment agreements. Usually, fixed-term employment agreements cannot be terminated prior to the expiry of the fixed term, unless otherwise agreed on by the parties. If such an early termination right in a fixed-term employment agreement has been agreed on, the agreement is called a non-genuine fixed-term employment agreement. Furthermore, a fixed-term employment relationship tacitly extended beyond the agreed duration is deemed to be an indefinite employment relationship.

Additionally, there are special types of employment agreements such as part-time and full-time employment agreements and on-call employment agreements. Moreover, mixed forms between these different types of agreements are possible. 

An employment agreement can be concluded in writing as well as orally; no formal requirements apply. Contentwise the essential key points of an employment agreement (i.e. essentialia negotii) must be agreed on by the parties. For an employment agreement, such key points are the obligation to perform work in the service of the employer against payment of a defined wage.  

Part-time employees are afforded the same rights as full-time employees. However, naturally, part-time employees are granted certain benefits such as vacation days in accordance with their workload.  

Generally speaking, employment agreements cannot be assigned unless otherwise agreed on by the parties. An exception, however, applies in case of business transfer ("TUPE") (i.e. the employer transfers the company or a part thereof (as long as the respective part of the company still qualifies as an organizational unit) to a third party) where the employment relationship and all rights and obligations connected therewith transfer to the acquirer as of the day of the transfer, unless the employee refuses such transfer.

In the event of a business transfer ("TUPE"), the employees have the right to object to the transfer, the right to be informed and the right to be consulted if measures affecting the employees are planned.

Objection right:

As mentioned in our answers to the question "Can employment contracts be assigned?", employees have a right to refuse the transfer of their employment to the acquirer of the company they are employed with. The law does not stipulate the period during which such an objection has to be made, but generally, a two-week period should be sufficient. The objection may be declared vis-à-vis the seller or the acquirer. In case of an employee's objection, the employment agreement with the employee will automatically be terminated upon expiry of the statutory notice period (i.e. 1 - 3 months, depending on the years of service), but in any case not earlier than on the transfer date. In case the statutory notice period has not yet elapsed at the time of the transfer, the transfer will nevertheless occur and the acquirer is obliged to continue the employment relationship until the end of the statutory notice period.

Information and consultation rights:

Prior to the transfer, the seller and the acquirer must inform, in writing, the employees concerned about the date of the transfer, the reasons for the transfer and the legal, economic and social implications of the transfer for the employees. Additionally, if as a result of the transfer measures affecting the employees are planned, the employees shall be consulted in due time prior to the decision on these measures.

Please see the answer to the question "What rights do employees have (to object, to severance), if any, when the company they work for is transferred as a going concern?"

The employer is not entitled to unilaterally amend the terms and conditions of employment to the detriment of the employee in a substantial and permanent manner. If the employer wishes to make other changes than beneficial ones to the employee, a notice of termination for variation of contract (Änderungskündigung) would have to be declared. The employee is free not to accept the new terms and conditions of employment submitted to him. In such a case, the employment is terminated subject to the contractual notice period.  

Yes, Switzerland is an employment-at-will jurisdiction. Generally speaking, the employer may unilaterally terminate an employment agreement by serving an ordinary notice of termination or by serving a termination for cause. 

Ordinary termination:

Under Swiss law, the employer does not need a special reason for the termination of employment. All reasons are good for termination unless they make the termination abusive (i.e. if termination is given for reasons lying in the employee's personal attributes such as age, race, religion, etc.). 

Termination for cause:

An extraordinary termination, the so-called termination for cause, is a termination without a notice period. The employment agreement immediately comes to an end. Termination for cause is only justified where there are important reasons, i.e. a situation where the terminating party cannot reasonably be expected to continue the employment relationship. The relationship of trust between the parties must be damaged to such an extent that the immediate termination of the relationship without notice must be seen as the only way out.

Abusive termination:

An employer who abusively gives notice of termination is required to compensate the employee in the amount decided by the court in its discretion. The court will take all the circumstances of the case into consideration when determining the compensation amount. This amount may not exceed the equivalent of the employee's wages for six months (or, in the case of an abusive mass dismissal, two months).

Termination for cause without justifying reason:

If the employer has no justification for the termination for cause, the employee is entitled to an indemnity in the amount of what he/she would have earned if the employment relationship had been terminated in compliance with the applicable notice period or at the end of the fixed term period. Furthermore, the court, in its discretion and taking into account all circumstances, may oblige the employer to pay compensation to the employee, which may not exceed the equivalent of the employee's wages for six months.

No, Switzerland has tried several times - and most recently in 2020 again - to set up statutory law protecting whistleblowers. So far, however, these attempts have always failed. Nevertheless, especially big companies have set up whistleblowing policies and procedures as well as hotlines to promote the "Speak Up Culture". 

Yes, employees have privacy rights like any other individual. The provisions of the Swiss Code of Obligations and the Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") apply. According to these provisions, employers may process data concerning job candidates or employees only to the extent such data processing is necessary for the performance of the employment agreement or to examine whether a candidate is suitable for the job.

Remedies for breach are regulated primarily in the FADP. Remedies under the FADP include a right to information (i.e. any person may request information from a data processor on whether data concerning them is being processed, on the type of such data and for what purpose such data is processed). Moreover, violations of the provisions of the FADP will be prosecuted under criminal law (fines). Additionally, the employee might have a contractual claim against the employer for breach of its duty of care and/or a claim against the employer for violation of the employee's personality.

Yes, due to the employer's duty of care towards the employee, the employer must protect the employee's personality and personal integrity during their employment. This also includes protection against discrimination. Many companies also have anti-mobbing, anti-discrimination, and anti-sexual harassment policies in place. In addition, there is protection against abusive dismissal (please see the answer to the question "Are there remedies for dismissal without cause or wrongful termination?").

Swiss statutory law provides for the employees' rights to vacation (minimum of 4 weeks per calendar year), medical leave (including continued salary payment during a certain period depending on their years of service) and paid maternity leave (minimum of 14 weeks).

Additionally, the other parent of the newborn child (i.e. the father or the wife of the mother) is entitled to 2 weeks of paid parental leave. The entitlement of the mother's wife came into force as of 1 January 2024 as a result of the introduction of marriage for all. In case the mother of the newborn dies on the day of birth or during the 14 weeks thereafter, the other parent is entitled to 14 weeks of parental leave as of 1 January 2024.

Currently, there are no ongoing political initiatives regarding leave benefits.  

Yes, Switzerland does recognize and enforce restrictive covenants against employees during and after employment, provided the legal requirements are met. 

During employment, employees are bound by the general duty of loyalty and care towards the employer. Such duty of loyalty includes, among others, the employee's obligation to safeguard the employer's legitimate interest and to refrain from activities for third parties in breach of his/her duty of loyalty and from activities for third parties competing with the employer.

Swiss law also recognizes and enforces restrictive covenants post-termination of employment. In order to be valid and enforceable, post-contractual restrictive covenants must be reasonably restricted with regard to duration, scope and geography.

Reasonable restrictions as to geography:

Restrictive covenants extend as far as the former employer's intensive business relationships extend. Outside this scope, the employer has no necessary interest.

Reasonable restrictions as to duration:

Swiss law only allows post-contractual non-compete obligations exceeding three years in special circumstances. However, in practice, even for managers non-compete obligations exceeding 6 months are rarely protected by the courts.

Reasonable restrictions as to scope:

There are two basic forms of prohibition: (i) partial, activity-related prohibition, whereby the employee is prevented from doing the same work for a different business, or (ii) general prohibition, whereby the employee is prevented from carrying out any work for a competing business. 

The employer is not entitled to unilaterally amend the terms and conditions of employment to the detriment of the employee in a substantial and permanent manner. Consequently, a refusal by an employee to agree to a restrictive covenant during the course of the employment cannot be considered a valid reason to dismiss the employee. Therefore, a termination given after the employee's refusal to sign a restrictive covenant is most likely to be qualified as abusive. 

Provided a post-contractual restrictive covenant is in line with the legal requirements, no consideration is necessary to ensure its enforceability. However, the payment of compensation for compliance with a post-contractual restrictive covenant is taken into account by a court when assessing whether a restrictive covenant is qualified as excessive in a specific case.

Yes, salaries up to CHF 88,200 are subject to mandatory pension fund contributions. Therefore, the employer must be affiliated with a pension fund. Usually, contributions to the pension fund are split equally between the employee and the employer, since, according to the law, the employer must pay at least 50% of the total contribution.

Yes. Please see the answer to "Does your jurisdiction require contributions to a pension or retirement scheme?"

The statutory retirement age in Switzerland is 64 for women (it will be gradually increased to 65 in the near future by law) and 65 for men. However, provided the employer agrees, it is possible for an employee to continue working after reaching the statutory retirement age. 

In the event an employee continues working after reaching statutory retirement age, he/she remains obliged to contribute to the old-age and survivors' insurance, the disability insurance, and the loss of earnings insurance (AHV, IV, EO). However, contributions only have to be paid on a reduced part of the salary. CHF 1,400.00 per month or CHF 16,800.00 per year are contribution-free. Moreover, no further contributions to unemployment insurance need to be made.
 
With regard to the pension fund, usually, pension benefits are paid out to the employees once they reach the statutory retirement age, and no further contributions are required. There is a possibility to postpone the payment of the pension benefits until the employee reaches the age of 70 (men) or 69 (women; it will be gradually increased to 70 in the near future by law). During this period for deferred payment, no contributions to the pension fund are due. 

An employer cannot impose a general duty to vaccinate all its employees, as this is considered an excessive interference with the employees' personalities. However, in special circumstances, the employment agreements may provide employees to undergo vaccination and/or the employer may instruct certain employees to undergo vaccination, if justified by the nature of the employees' activity and reasonable to protect third parties at the workplace (e.g. nursing staff working in hospitals or care home for the elderly). In any case, such contractual duty or instruction to undergo vaccination in special circumstances must be proportionate (i.e. no less intrusive measure available) and take into account all the interests at stage (e.g. employee's self-determination with regard to health, the interest of colleagues or employer's customers to be protected, the interest of the employer to keep the workplace safe, etc.).

If an employee who performs a particularly exposed activity refuses to be vaccinated, he/she can in no case be forced. If possible, the employer must offer the employee an alternative activity within the company that does not require vaccination (e.g. back office work instead of caring for elderly people). If such alternative employment is not possible, the employer can terminate the employee's employment. However, the termination risks being abusive, if the employer did not sufficiently seek alternative employment for an employee although this could be reasonably required of the employer or if the request to undergo vaccination was disproportionate due to the circumstances in the individual case.

As soon as the officially imposed home office obligation ceases to apply, the employer can require its employees to return to their place of work in the office. However, according to the employer's statutory duty to protect the employee's health, it must first take all necessary and reasonable measures required to ensure a safe workplace in line with authority regulations.

If an employee currently working remotely refuses to return to the office, although neither he/she, nor anyone in his/her close environment belongs to a risk group, and the employer has taken all necessary reasonable measures to protect the employees' health and wellbeing, the refusing employee may be subject to disciplinary measures (e.g. warnings) or even dismissal. With regard to employees belonging to a risk group or living with a person belonging to a risk group, it must be assessed in each individual case, whether the protective measures taken are actually sufficient to adequately protect the employee and his/her family and thus, whether it is proportionate to order and enforce the employee's return to work. Disproportionality seems to exist in particular, if the employee can perform his/her work from home without restrictions.