The internship or traineeship contract: should it be paid or not?
As the end of the school and university year approaches, many people are looking for summer internship or internship lasting several months to gain knowledge and experience. But what is the status of these internship and of the internship contract from the point of view of employment law? Should they be paid or not? A […]
Federal Court ruling of 30 August 2023 on the closure of companies during the COVID-19 pandemic and employer’s liability: legal value of SECO recommendations, directives and FAQs.
The Federal Court’s ruling of 30 August 2023 (4A_53/2023) has already caused a stir and has been the subject of numerous comments by Swiss authors and lawyers. In this ruling, the Federal Court defines for the first time the notion of economic risk to be borne by the employer. It considers that the company closures […]
SUBLETTING VERSUS ACCOMMODATION FOR RELATIVES OR FRIENDS
La question de la sous-location fait de plus en plus parler d’elle. Elle a fait l’objet de discussions des chambres et l’Assemblée fédérale a adopté, le 29 septembre 2023, une modification de l’article 262 du Code des Obligations (CO) concernant la sous-location. Elle est de plus en plus fréquente en Suisse et notamment dans les […]
Older workers in Switzerland and protection against dismissal
A decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court rendered on 15 May 2023 (4A_117/2023) provides an opportunity to revisit the issue of the protection of older workers against dismissal under Swiss law. This issue has been the subject of a number of court decisions, which might suggest that it is no longer possible to dismiss […]
The rise in the mortgage reference rate is causing quite a stir and raising fears of rent increases
These increases may already have been sent to tenants at the end of June. But what’s really going on? As a reminder, “the reference interest rate has been established since September 2008 with a view to adjusting rents on the basis of changes in the mortgage rate“. It is based on the “average mortgage rate […]
HOLIDAY PAY: A REAL HEADACHE FOR EMPLOYERS?
As the summer holidays approach, it is worth considering the issue of holidays and especially holidaypay, which can be a real headache for employers and HR managers. According to Article 329d paragraph 1 CO, “the employer shall pay the employee the full salary for theholidays and a fair indemnity to compensate for the salary in […]
The law of tenancy was again in the news at the beginning of this month with the following headline: “The National makes flowers to the owners in the law of tenancy”. But what is it realy ?
As a preliminary point, it should be recalled that, although the National Council has indeed accepted two projects aiming, according to some, to “toughen the law of tenancy“, these two objects must still be submitted to the Council of States for a decision. This has not yet been done and the two projects are therefore […]
The recent newspaper articles mentioning that many apprentices “drop out during their apprenticeship” and “break” their contract before the end of the term are an opportunity to come back to this particular employment contract in Swiss law and to give a brief reminder to both employers and apprentices.
The apprenticeship contract has the particularity of being governed by both private and public law provisions. As regards public law provisions, at federal level, the apprenticeship contract is governed by the Federal Law on Vocational Training (LFPR) and its implementing ordinance (OFPr) The LFPR recalls that “vocational training is the joint task of the Confederation, […]
You are an employer looking for a new employee: do not forget the obligation to communicate certain vacancies at the ORP !
Since 1 July 2018, employers looking for employees are obliged to communicate their vacancies exclusively for 5 working days to the regional employment offices in sectors where the national unemployment rate exceeds a certain threshold. Initially set at 8%, this threshold has been set at 5% since 1er January 2020. Thus, each year in the […]
Obligation to register for secondments of EU employees for a period of less than 90 days – Calculation of the 8 days
In a previous article from 2018, the undersigned recalled that while most Swiss employers who employ EU nationals, most EU employers who send employees to Switzerland and most self-employed service providers from the EU who come to work in Switzerland, are aware that a residence permit is not required if the duration of stay does […]