I've been in Geneva a few days and just began my new job. I am a teacher at an international school. I understood that I had a monthly salary. My contract says that I get paid for every month of the year. Being a teacher, I naturally have a break over the Christmas holidays. I was told today that since I began work late in the year, the Swiss government has a rule that says I would not get paid over the holiday. In other words I would only get paid for December for the days I work, and not for the the holiday part.

Is this legit, or am I getting ripped off?

sounds weird to me - what does your contract say ?

Do the parents pay less school fees when there is less school ?

The parents pay their fat tuition of 18,000 francs per year. I was told this was due to Swiss govt. rules. Is that true, or not?

Doesn't sound legit. Maybe a misunderstanding? Many Swiss get a 13th monthly salary around the holidays, maybe they meant you won't get that since you started late in the year? Just guessing ...

It sounds very odd and if your contract says that you are to be paid monthly then it should be straight forward. A temp teacher is the only one I know off who gets paid for the school days and not the holidays but if you're contracted for the remaining year then you should be paid a monthly salary without deductions. Curiously, what on earth has the government to do with employment contracts for a private international school.. somethings not right. All of this, however, is speculation and I would take your contract to a lawyer specialising in employment law and get the correct advice.
BTW did they recruit you from overseas or are you locally employed?

I was hired from overseas. The govt should have nothing to do with a private school, as far as I know. Except, this is Switzerland and I don't know the rules. My employer flatly said that I wouldn't get paid for the Dec holidays because of a government rule which relates to my late arrival in the year. My contract simply states that I get a monthly salary, with nothing mentioned about holidays. I think I'm getting ripped off.

I guess you will need to clarify with your employer.

I know in Australia we had 'Christmas leave-loading' which was an additional payment which was on top of the normal salary at Christmas time (similar to the 13th month salary) - and it was pro-rated so if you only worked part of the year you only got part of the Christmas bonus, but you still got your normal salary.

Why not ask your employers to show you this 'law' in writing/online? They must have this, if they are applying it.

Also ask them if your loss in motivation for teaching at their school is worth the money they are saving...

My understanding is that you earn around 2 days of paid vacation per month you've worked.

Depending for how long you've started and how many vacation days you need to take to cover the christmas break this might explain the issue.
In a company not having a mandatory christmas break you'd just go working and take whatever you have already accumulated.

I know for a fact that the Migros school teachers are not paid during the summer/christimas vacation. They are paid a bit more during the rest of the year to compensate. What i don't know is whether this is a Migros school rule or a Swiss rule.

Does your contract refer to any Swiss regulation?

Not sure if you teach english, but you might want to contact these folks:

http://www.e-tas.ch/other/index.asp

or these

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/swissenglish/

There is such a clause in the Swiss labour law that allows the employer not to pay its employee for their leave and for any Swiss public holidays which falls on a work day.

It depends on your employment contract. I know a few temp staff who also won't be getting paid during the Chrismas - New Year weekend.

Ask your employer.

Really? Care to point out exactly where that clause is?

As others have mentioned, the issue here is probably the holidays and not the salary. If you have to take holiday during certain periods of the year (not uncommon practice), then that would mean that you don't have enough holiday accrued for the Christmas holidays if you started late in the year. Thus, you don't get paid for the days you don't have to work but can't count as holiday. I'm sure it is all written in your employment contract in one form or another.

So it has nothing to do with a "gov rule" but rather with the labor- and contractual laws of Switzerland.

The problem with private schools in Geneva is that there is no collective agreement which would clarify the application of Swiss labour law to the specific employment circumstances and additionally protect the employees.

Such an agreement exists, for example, to protect the employees of creches and other daycare institutions in Geneva and it specifies that teachers have the right to fully paid 7 weeks of holidays per year. One full year of service is counted if the employee started to work at the latest on 1 July of the year.

Even in the absense of such an agreement, general provisions of Swiss labour law apply, which means that, unless hired temporarily, you definitely have the right to 4 weeks of fully paid holidays during the year in addition to official holidays (up to a maximum of 9 days per year).

You can do several things: ask the school administration to show you the exact provisions of the law that justify their action; if you feel comfortable, ask some of your colleagues whether they have the same terms of contract; go to permanence juridique (http://permanence-juridique-geneve.ch/) with whatever information you find and your contract, and get legal advice or talk to a trade union, for example http://www.unia.ch/Home.1.0.html?&L=1 or http://www.sit-syndicat.ch/Sit-présente.htm).

General advice -- try to learn as much as possible about your rights -- although you may think that you will never get into contract-related disputes with your employer, it is better to be prepared. Remember that employees in Switzerland are generally well-protected.

Which is of course pro rated if you start during the year.

If you start 15.11 and the school ends the 18.12 e.g, you would have to take 4 days unpaid in 2008 which is equivalent to approx. 1/5 of your monthly salary that you would get less for Dec.

I checked back with my employer, and it only has to do with labor laws and accrued holiday. There had been a little language misunderstanding, and now it is ironed out. I'm expected to work from home a few days during the holidays to make up. No problem, no more. Happy holidays.