Time tracking in Switzerland: Legal regulations

Legal questions from everyday working life

You should know these legal regulations on the subject of working hours

In order to protect the health of employees, the law in Switzerland requires compliance with working time limits and rest period regulations. To avoid legal consequences, you should know and be able to answer the following labor law questions:

Flexitime, overtime, overtime: pay out or compensate?

If an employee works more hours than contractually agreed, these overtime hours can only be regulated to a limited extent. A distinction must be made between flexitime, overtime and overtime.

Flexitime and overtime can be regulated in writing and in deviation from the law. For example, the bonus can be waived in the event of payment, or only compensation and no payment can be granted. Uncompensated overtime can even be forfeited without compensation.

Overtime, on the other hand, must be compensated or paid out with a salary supplement of 25 %. However, there are also employees who can only claim overtime from the 61st hour. This does not depend on the management level, but on the nature of the work.

Time recording or trust-based working time?

Working hours must be recorded so that the supervisory authorities can check whether the legal requirements are being complied with. So-called trust-based working hours are now only legal for employees who can determine their work and working hours autonomously and earn over CHF 120,000 per year. In addition, they must individually consent to the waiver of working time recording and can revoke this consent annually.

However, this is not enough to avoid having to record working hours. It is also necessary for the company to have a collective employment agreement that allows the option of not recording working hours. Without an applicable CEA, there is no such thing as trust-based working hours. But be careful: These employees are also subject to employment law and can therefore claim any overtime worked. A contractual waiver is not legally possible.

What do I have to bear in mind regarding vacation compensation?

In addition to breaks, daily rest periods and weekends off, vacation is one of the most important rest periods. To ensure that this purpose can also be fulfilled economically, the employer must continue to pay the employee their full salary during the vacations. Payment in lieu of vacation is not permitted.

Vacations must also be granted as paid time off for hourly-paid employees. Payment of vacation pay with a percentage supplement to wages is only permitted in exceptional cases.

When is vacation pay to be paid?

In principle, vacation pay must be paid at the time the vacation is taken so that the money is available now and the rest can be realized economically. If vacation pay is paid monthly with a percentage supplement to the salary, there is a risk that the money will be spent prematurely and will therefore no longer be available when the vacation is taken, meaning that the purpose of the vacation, i.e. recreation, cannot be financially fulfilled. For this reason, the Federal Supreme Court has already ordered an employer to pay the vacation pay again.

When can I reduce my vacation entitlement?

The annual vacation entitlement can also be reduced if an employee has been absent from work for more than one month due to illness, accident, military or civilian service. In such cases, the vacation entitlement must be reduced in good time so that the employee does not take more vacation than they are legally entitled to. It is not possible to reclaim excess vacation, nor is it permissible to offset it against the next year's entitlement. Only the overpaid vacation pay can be reclaimed, but this requires a corresponding contractual provision.

Who bears the responsibility?

Correct contractual regulations are important, as is monitoring compliance with working and rest time regulations. Even if employees are informed about these regulations and are responsible for complying with them, the ultimate responsibility always lies with the employer.

Important: refresh your knowledge regularly

In order to maintain this responsibility, it is essential to constantly update and refresh your own know-how. Do such legal issues frequently arise in your day-to-day work? Then a workshop on employment law could be the right thing for you. As an expert in employment law, I regularly hold various seminars that are specifically tailored to the needs of HR employees and managers. Using practical examples and current court rulings, I impart compact knowledge in the field of employment law with a focus on working hours, time recording, part-time work, on-call duty, rest periods and vacations. You can find an overview of the seminars here.