So the story goes on.

After finally agreeing to four months paid maternity and two months unpaid, they have now retracted the arrangement with a week to go to the birth. Apparently she is too invaluable to the company and they want her back 100% in eight weeks (which she needs to agree to). They continue to "bully" her, calling in the early hours to request work by the next morning.

I am really against her rushing back to work for a company that shows no respect for our situation. Her ongoing effort are not reciprocated in any way.

So my question is, if she resigns next week, is she entitled to any unemployment while she looks for work after the 16 weeks maternity? In an ideal world she would not go back to work and focus on spending time with the little one, but money is a little tight.

Thanks for advance for the responses.

By law, she has 14 weeks paid maternity leave. If they are pressuring her to go back to work after 8 weeks, they are breaking the law.

I would probably at this point call their bluff and propose a 'settlement' - 4 months paid maternity leave (which is 'insured' anyway, so it doesn't come from the employer's pocket) - plus three months salary in lieu of notice.

If she is indeed only one week prior to the birth of the baby, she should just go to see her doctor, tell the doctor that her employer is placing unreasonable demands on her, and get a doctor's certificate stating that she is on sick leave until XYZ (three weeks from now)...

They certainly cannot bully her whilst on maternity leave (please cut off all communication other than informing them of the birth date of the baby and sending them a copy of the medical certificate for sick leave via post) and she has to give notice according to her work contract (could be 3 months, could be 1 month) before the date of return, which is an exact date calculated from when the baby is born.

If she is 'due' next week, she could be having the baby tomorrow, or in three week's time...unless you have booked in a 'c-section'...

I worked right up to and beyond the due date of my third child... part of the reason why I think my baby was born so 'overdue' was that I was not psychologically ready/relaxed enough... I finished a few really important things, and he was born about 3 days later...

Please cut bait as soon as possible. Your wife will be conflicted due to outrage about the injustice of this situation, but Switzerland in neanderthal in terms of employee rights. You will be made to feel like it's you, not the company, and the psychological damage leaves a very long tail indeed. It's wrong, but the right thing for your wife is to find a better firm with a better culture. And forget the lawyers. The law favors the employer in Switzerland, and the norms of the UK don't apply. Suing would be a self-destruct mission. Draw a line under it and move on. Otherwise you could be consumed by the anger over the situation. I wish for you and your family a happy landing despite this outrageous stress. It's tough to let the aggressor get what they want, but the law here won't protect us. The life quality and well being cost of fighting an unwinnable battle is even greater.

The employer cannot give notice whilst pregnant, so there is nothing to worry about until after the maternity leave.
No need to rush, play it by ear as time goes by, this is not what the employer wants but so what! The worst is they can give notice after the maternity leave, then it's possible to get unemployment benefits if AVAILABLE & activly looking for work.
Don't resign, unemployment pay can be delayed by 90 WORKING days as a punishment.

Probably not in the best interest of the OP to mention it but I'm really curious who the employer is. If only to avoid working for them in the future.