Hello All,

Although this is my first posting here, I have been visiting this site in the last months. I would really appreciate any help or comment on my question/situation.

I am in the UK and I was offered a position in Zurich by my current employer. This position will be under a local Swiss contract meaning that I will not be an expatriate there.

The problem is my employer refuses to say the amount of working hours I will have to work there. They argue that the normal Swiss working contract does not specify any amount of hours per week that employees should work. Instead my contract says I should "dedicate and devote my full time to the business and work as much as necessary in order to have the business done". Obviously, overtime will be not paid.

Seriously I have never seen such a thing in my life and I am talking about a multinational consumer goods company here... No, I am not an executive (my level is analyst) and I am afraid this is going to give my employer a full control of my life.

For the ones out there who have a Swiss contract:

1) Have you ever seen something similar?
2) Do you have in your employement contract the amount of hours you are supposed to work?
3) If so, how many hours per week is the standard?

Thanks very much for your help.

1. No I have never seen anything like that.
2. Normally the contract stipulates the number of hours a week
3. 42 hours per week is standard, although I have seen 45 (42 practically, the extra 3 was used to absorb the shift penalties).

Having said that, a lot depends on your employment role. If you are at a level of management that affects the day to day running of the company, you may not be entitled to overtime. At middle management and below you are covered by Swiss employment law which is quite restrictive on working hours, minimum breaks between shifts, etc. At your level you can only work a maximum of around 50 hours a week legally.

It is a must for you employer to state your working hours in your contract.

Most go by weakly rate but my contract state a consolidated hours for a year.

Maybe they are try to get around working hours limits. Its all very strange. I would write or email them to highlight "their omission" from your contract, and if no reply is received then you will assume a standard 40 hours (or whatever). It shouldn't come to that.

Check with some locals at swiss branch and see what their contract says...

The only time I have seen it excluded is in either fixed price contracts (payment on job done) or consultants (that don't want this document to show the number of hours they will be booking).

dave

I believe hours per week also vary from canton to canton as different cantons have different numbers of public/bank holidays during the year so you may find that 41 hours is common in one canton while 42 might be common in another.

Just to fill you in here. It is normal to state the working hours but it is not necessary in the same way as it is not necessary to state the starting time and ending time of a day. Standard hours are dependent on industry sector and are either 45 or 50. Over that overtime is obligatory ie they are legally obliged to pay it unless you are in the Kader - ie a management grade.
There is no such thing as standard working hours per Kanton or Gemeinde as in other points that are written int he forum. The reason for leaving this out is to avoid a cut-off point after which you would be entitled to compensation in some form for overtime worked.
Standard hours in Switzerland is 42 per working week.

The clause in your contract that states that you should work full-time is probably a translation issue. It was beneficial to be "full time" in the past although the legal position has since greatly changed.
It is legally a non-sentence in that an employer cannot tie you to your job and as such the part of the sentence that ignores or breaks the law is ignored or at least you can ignore it - the actually phrase is however standard that you work as much as is necessary to get the job done - to the legal limit of 50 hours per week before compensation is needed.

the working hours point aside, i would suggest that a potentially bigger issue is that your employer is not offering you an expat contract.

As you are already employed by this company, this sounds unusual to me.

Expat contracts often have valuable benefits, and can subsequently be converted into local contracts if both parties want this.

You should clarify what 'local status' means and why they want you to have a local contract and be aware of what this means for you.

Best of luck!

If it's not in the contract, then it should be regulated in the "personalreglement" which is an integral part of the work agreement and should lay out disciplinary procedures etc etc. and be available to all employees.

If it's in neither it doesnt sound very serious to me... take care.

I wouldnt make too much of it not being an expat contract. We have a few juniors with no family ties etc where we helped with the move and some free accomodation but not much more.

Daniel

Hi,
I'd like to add to this thread, as I'm in a bit of a similiar situation.

I've been offered a job in Geneva, but the contract is very bare. It does include weekly hours, but not disciplinary procedures, maternity leave etc etc.

The contract is in accordance with the 'Code Federal des Obligations', but I've not been able to find this on-line.

Does anyone have a link to a clear description of the work contract obligations for the Canton of Geneva?

Cheers...

Been burned once, employer did not produce a contract prior to the first working day. My advice; do not start working till the contract is agreed and signed by both parties (and you have a copy in your hand).

Otherwise, here are a couple links I found on a first search:

Swiss Labor Laws

Employment and Work Permits (including Employee Protection, Wages and Hours, Permits, Organizations and "Black" Employment).

ch.ch has some good lnfo-Links.


Good luck!
bests

Work law is at a national rather than cantonal level hence "code federal".

Check with the company if they have an employee handbook. This would be an integral part of your contract and may summarize eg disciplinary procedures, working hours and the like.

If you want the short version of Swiss employment law: employees have minimal rights. eg Notice periods pretty much cut both ways.

Statutory vacaction is 4 weeks plus bank holidays (I think it goes up to 5 years over age 50).

Daniel

I wish holidays did go up to 5 years after 50! It would certainly help the countdown to retirement!

Partial English translation of Swiss Code of Obligations
http://www.cfoinstitute.ch/18204.asp

The original in French (also available in German, Italian)
http://www.admin.ch/ch/f/rs/22.html

That sounds pretty much as a standard contract as I know them (and I've seen a few :-). A contract normally states function, salary, working hours, holiday and starting period. Not much more. It is not really common to put anything in the contract that isn't better than the Code of Obligation. Not even this is necessary as it can equally well be regulated through an employee handbook or even an oral agreement.

There really isn't much need to do it in any other way as anything contractually agreed can be changed by the employer as long as the statutory notice period is kept.

You may want to ask though if there is an employee handbook that you can have a look at before you sign. And of course, try to find out as much about Swiss Employment Law as you can before you sign. This site is a great source for that :-)