Hi all,

Recently I got dissapointed to know, that eventhough I worked overtime for
tens of hours, the HR in my company said that they cannot pay out my overtime, because it is under 60hrs/year.

They told me that there is a law in Switzerland saying that only overtime above 60 hrs in a year can be paid out.

Is it true?
Can somebody point me to that?

regards,
Ollie

Hi Ollie I have not seen a law but it seems to be common for a limited amount of overtime to be expected and not compensated outside of the normal salary.

My experience has shown the limit to be around 40 hours per year, more depending on your business rank.

We don't get paid for overtime, but get to take the hours off instead. They get recorded up to a maximum of 100 hrs.

Hi,

I have never heard of such a law and if existed it is likely to be at cantonal level rather than national level. Normally, your employment contract will indicate whether you get paid for overtime. Where I work I am judged on results and not presence time so there is really no notion of overtime. I just work to get the job done, which often means long weeks but sometimes short days.

Martin

Here is what I found on overtime legislation:

http://www.jobwinner.ch/(0ljbjh55fd54mpz5xktakbuz)/content/employee/RechtArbeitszeit.aspx

The section on Überzeitarbeit is interesting.

AIUI, upto 60 hours, overtime hours must be able to taken as time off in lieu within 14 weeks and it must be paid out if for some reason you can't take the time off before the end of the year.

I never work free of charge.

Cheers,
Nick

Thank y'all for the reply...

Ollie

I can already hear the argument from the company - "salary mentioned in the contract takes account of expected / limited overtime. If overtime payment is forced, we will need to review your salary."

Better idea. Just don't do it unless paid. I also don't work for nothing.
dave

Too right. There is a name for people who do something without payment - amateurs.

Cheers,
Nick

There is a slight problem with that, most contracts specify that overtime is a requirement "as and when neccesary", some will go as far as to specifiy if / how this is compensated.

The main problem over here is that employment contracts are very easy to terminate, a company can terminate your contract with no reason as long as they pay your notice period.

If you don't work over time, it's not an issue unless the company forces the matter, at which time you have to consider if you are in the right position or if you are prepared to move on.

Unless of course you are in one of the periods where they are not permitted to do this but still might try - such as being pregnant or in the military or...

While it is true that many contracts state that overtime is to be done they need not as this is written in law that an employee must do overtime. The compensation is also specified and an employer can only enhance the legal minimum. However...

It is important to understand that there is a subtle point that most people are not aware of. The law actually only applies to those in a large negotiated contract (gesamtvertrag) or working as a "worker". It explicitly excludes management almost irrespective of how high that management is. The point at which it stops is Kader which can be more or less anyone...

Is it just me or do a lot of companies here try to pull the wool over the eyes of its employees, particularly foreigners?

If I was working for a company that was so cheap, not to pay out a little overtime or let me take days in lieu, I would start looking for a new job. Esp with the overtime I sometimes have.

Ollie, I don't really know what type of position you have in the company that you work for, but if you cant be replaced easily and/or have valuable intellectual property, then to me you have a great bargaining tool. Replacing someone 99% of the time costs a lot more than compensating overtime, so don't be scared to press the issue. Ask other employees too if they have the same situation and how they feel.....then build an army

my understanding is that if your contracted to work 40 hours per week then the 1st 4 hours of overtime per week on an annualised basis are ignored - all O/T hours over 208 per year are payable unless you are a 'legal director' of the organisation where you work; so if you are at UBS / CS, etc and are the 'Tea Making Director', or some other equally important 'Director' then you are legally entitled to claim overtime if you personally demand that it is paid and you are working excessive hours in order to get your work done; and that these hours are authorised by your immediate manager on a weekly / monthly basis

any claim for unreasonable hours above that after taking into account time off in lieu would be successful in a legal claim for payment was made - suggest you really have to be pissed off before taking such action, but most probably you would be successful in any claim that you persue

That is certainly not the case. As a director you are "expected" to work all overtime for free. The time keeping system even automatically clocks the standard 42 hours per week and we are not allowed to enter more.

I personally think it is not right to expect anyone to work more than they are contracted to. The real guilty parties are the ones who rack up huge amounts of overtime because they don't have a personal life, and the dumb-ass managers who believe that working 12 hours a day is a sure sign of dedication and anyone who works less should be labelled "under-performer". These bozos make our life so much more difficult.

I'm in a situation at work (as a cook) where i have 150 over hours from last year. The ex sous chef, who was responsible for timekeeping, made an error in his calculations and told me in Feb 2006 that i had X amount of minus hours that i'd have to make up by coming in an hour earlier each day. So i did my bit and tried to claw back the "minus hours" by doing an extra hour each day.

Then in October we got a new sous chef who questioned why i was coming in an hour earlier each day. I checked my contract and something wasn't quite right, so i requested all my timesheets that i'd filled in and had signatures from my superiors and painstakingly controlled every hour that i'd worked and it transpired that i have 150 over hours. I never had minus hours to begin with.

As i work in catering, my contract is governed by LGAV and as i'm a foreigner i'm not exactly sure if the quote above from Nickatbasel is applicable in my situation, so i'd appreciate if anyone can clarifly my thinking that the 150 over hours (17.8 working days) are owed to me by my employer by 1st April (14 weeks) and if so, does anyone know of a link to Swiss law that i can print out and take to my employer to back my case up with.

Cheers.

My Chef comes in at around 7.30 and is there all day until around 12.30 or sometimes even later. His timesheet is recorded as 15.5 hours a day and he does this 5 days a week. Sad but true.

Just to update this dated thread about the law on Overtime ( Überzeitarbeit ):

http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/822_11/a13.html

http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/822_11/a12.html