Been reading the forum for a while and impressed by the support and information people share.

Firstly, I appreciate that the title is a little dramatic but I find it hard to interpret it any other way.

We both work, and are currently expecting our first child. My wife informed her employer at 12 weeks, and apart from regular scans, has been working her normal long hours. Her employer initially appeared to be pleased for us, but has now started making unreasonable demands on her working late, travelling etc. They then arranged an unscheduled appraisal of her work and marked her down for most items. She has worked for them for nearly 10 years and continually received praise for exceeding their expectations. They are now talking about making redundancies and have hinted that she is at risk.

Unfortunately neither of us are experts on the Swiss employment laws, but I'm surprised they can make a pregnant lady redundant. I wonder if they are preparing a case for poor performance. Is this an option for them in Switzerland.

A Swiss friend mentioned that she is protected until the birth, and then for four months after. Can anyone confirm that this is true.

Also, if they "fire" her while she is on maternity leave, do they need to pay notice, and can she claim unemployment benefits if she can demonstrate that we have made arrangements for her to return to work.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I don't know about the legalities, but it sounds to me as if there's something fishy going on and that maybe an excuse is being set up to fire her. Does she have a "Personalrat"? If so, the first port of call would be to discuss it with them. If not, is there a union in her company? If so, it might be worth joining to get their backup (including free legal advice in some cases). If not, look for an employment lawyer.

Under Swiss laws, there is protection for pregnant women and maternity leave and what they are doing sounds illegal and unethical to me.

Sorry for your situation. I believe there are ways to tackle this delicate situation. My friend was bullied too and when the situation was unbearable she consulted her doctor who recommended to stay on sick leave in order to keep her health. Then it was Unia syndicate who advised on how to tackle the situation and gave her a legal advice. The law here says that the employer should look after employee's health. So written notice to the company made them understand, got settled and saved her health in the end. Good luck to you and to your wife!

If it worsens and she'll be fired she would have to file in proof of job applications up to 3 months before the date she claims unemployment benefits.

Your wife cannot be fired during her pregnancy and for up to 14 weeks after the birth. If the company wants to get rid of her they cannot give her notice until after the statutory maternity leave is finished.

That's not strictly true. You should start job applications from the moment you know you are going to be fired. This time can vary a lot - some people have only one or two months notice so wouldn't therefore know they would be fired three months beforehand.

I'm so sorry to hear about this. She's protected during pregnancy and during maternity leave - see the attached document. She will qualify for unemployment as well.

Presently, she must not work her "normal long hours" as there are regulations in place to prevent this from occurring.

They can, however, fire her when she returns from her maternity leave although this does have to respect her contracted notice period. She could, in theory, then file for unfair dismissal, in which case she might obtain a maximum sum of six months of pay.

Honestly though, if she sees things going awry already, she should take this as a good opportunity to look for a new role. In fact, she may even find one that starts after her maternity leave.

Any employer who makes unreasonable demands and has a pregnant woman doing long hours is not worth working for. Your baby is the most important thing here; I seriously can't stress this enough.

If you do end up needing contact details for an employment lawyer (hopefully won't be the case), feel free to pm me for details. I hope your wife is coping okay - please send her a collective hug from the english forum!

Thanks all for the comments so far, especially little_Isabella. My wife started to cry as I read out the messages, especially the group hug comment.

I'm humbled by your kindness all.

A hug is clearly in order and Isabella is correct, they cannot dismiss her during pregnancy or maternity leave, and if they dismiss her when she gets back, the normal notice period has to be respected (even with "poor performance", which the line manager may change his mind about once she's back and outperforms previous performance due to mummy hormones which are amazing).

This will pass. Its "just" a job ( and Ii say that knowing it is more than that to you). Don't let them get you down. Be strong and be happy and relax and enjoy the pregnancy because it's gonna get loud in your house soon! Nobody ... certainly not this line manager ... Is going to thank you for the long hours so don't overdo it ... but work the hours you are paid (of course) and ensure you can prove you did so. See a doctor, and listen to him if he says to reduce your hours. The company will survive without you (and will while you are on maternity leave).... so do what is right for you and the baby.

A happy mummy also works better! So get happy and congratulations! Wonderful news.

Lisa

Oh Dear!

I find this attitude disgusting coming from her employers. She is in a very hard time in her life where her body is working so hard to create a new life. It is very important that she rest, take care of herself and not stress!

To put a pregnant woman in this situation is very low from them. If this is the way they treat her when she should get their support and understanding, I can imagine if she become sick and has to miss work for a while (a friend of mine got fired that way).



Best of luck, Please tell her to try to not stress and get the infos and help you can.

Nil

I am so sorry to hear about this especially she has been with them for 10 years! They should be happy for her and support her, not doing what they are doing.. at the end of the day, it is a job, her health is more important! I know you do not want to lose a wage but you do not want to store up health problem for later as well. So best take it easy, go to doctor for sick note if needed and look for another job. She might not be able to get one but if she keep on top of training etc, she can start applying for a new job once the baby is born.

Good luck, remember that is just a job and you can replace that but not your health! Take care.

Thanks for all the replies.

The games continue. She was called into a meeting today and told she will be required to find a permanent backfill for her post, but based from UK. She asked if this means her role in CH would be redundant but they refuse to comment. The writing on the walls is pretty clear to me.

Does anyone know if this is within Swiss rulings. They could probably sell it as cost reductions through offshoring to UK operations.

Hi

Pregnant women are protected against dismissal, as already discussed in the thread.

Otherwise you know here employees have basically two rights: the right to shut up, and the right to leave-

I would advice your wife to leave if she can afford to, and focus on the pregnancy. An alternative would be to seek legal advice, I would recommend UNIA but they must be awfully busy at the moment...

If anyone wonders why birthrate is very low in Switzerland (vs UK for instance)...don't look further!

Don't know exactly what the legal stance on this is but, to be honest, it sounds like your wife is working for a company of lowlifes. It's hard now but it's probably for the best that she leaves the company and its prehistoric work ethics in the toilet where it belongs.

Sorry she's got to go through this.

The company if free to move their positions somewhere else -it seems to be very trendy at the moment. I believe they have to make your wife an equivalent position (note, this could also well be one of the exceptions to the law). Probably they will tell her that after her maternity leave there is nothing for her...

It is not the first time I across bulling pregnant women until they resign and leave their jobs (actually, I see this happen very close me). It is a really dreadful situation and I can only imagine how your wife must feel.

While it is clear that she is protected from being fired for the time being, your wife should also protect her mental health. Having been mobbed before, I know only too well how traumatic and undermining this experience can be. Even if she goes to HR and they recognize there is a problem, they won't know what to do and how to solve the situation. Here the tradition of just leaving and start a different job is too ingrained, and they won't seek any other solution. I wish I could give her better news, but unfortunately this seems to be the sad reality.

I would strongly advise her to talk to a counselor outside the company to provide her guidance. Mobbing is a very complex situation that might require specific counseling and approaches.

The Zurich Social Services have this department that specifically handles with mobbing: http://www.mobbing-beratungsstelle.ch/. I have not used it, but I know they speak English and understand the situation.

Above all, let her know that is not her fault, that she is as good worker as she was before. And, to keep calm and handle the situations as coldly as possible (better said that done, I know... and I not exactly the one to set the example).

Yes, my opinion too

Then name and shame!

Unfortunately this is very common in CH. Bullying is basically legal because anyone (except pregnant women) can be sacked without any reasons given, contrary to most other countries. Therefore employees have to accept what would be unacceptable elsewhere.

An important point is to do everything in writing, ideally by recorded delivery. Otherwise they may simply say they were not informed and get away with it.

Good luck!

True in the UK but not here in CH. If she was not pregnant they can simply sack her (notice period or payment in lieu will apply) and look for someone else, in Switzerland, UK, and anywhere else.

If she is prepared to drag the whole process out, it would probably not be difficult for her to get a medical certificate from her boss and go onto permanent 'stress leave'...

Has your wife actually told them that what they are doing sucks ?

Some employers forget that employees are human - they have an agenda and they just push you until you break...

Her negotiating position may now be very good. If she can get in writing that they want to offshore her job once she goes on maternity leave, then my recommendation would be to negotiate for her full notice period plus maternity leave plus redundance pay.

Whilst I totally support the right of the woman to have her job back after childbirth, I am a mother of three and I never took maternity leave - I carved out a new job around 18 months to 2 years after each of them.

When you leave a job - even for holidays, long service leave, or maternity leave, people try to replace you before you've even left! It's a psychological instinct - they move on before you've even left... that can be hard to cope with - especially when you aren't ready to leave quite yet !

Correct. But, she is pregnant now and while she on "maternity circumstances" they have to give her something to do and they cannot demote her.

Do they do this with guys? I've never been anywhere in the world where women are allowed to work, and this includes the US, where such rampant attitudes towards women with children were so unabashedly and unashamedly displayed. Sure, in countries like the Nordics where women can take up to 3 years of leave for a child, it has some chilling effects on hiring women but, with much lower immigration, it's less of an issue. I don't think CH has much of an advantage on the US (if any at all since there are seemingly more legal protections for women of child-bearing age in the US) in terms of being a woman, especially a woman with children who wants to work either full-time or part-time. It is a very striking difference for CH from the rest of the EU.