I had my last 'monthly' meeting with the RAV on the 22 July and my next is on the 12 October, by which time, if all goes well, it'll probably be quite obvious that I'm pregnant. Do I need to phone and tell him now that I'm pregnant, or should I just ignore the fact and continue as usual?

Will it have any effect on my payments? Can they refuse to keep paying me my monthly installments as realistically I'm not likely to find a job now? I'm still applying for jobs (part-time) and have potentially been offered one but won't find out for certain til December.

Advice/experiences?

Quoting here from the Canton NE rules, but I would imagine that it's the same in BE:

"Une maladie, un accident ou une maternité doivent être immédiatement annoncés à votre ORP. Après l'accouchement, les indemnités sont versés par la LAPG (allocation pour perte de gain en cas de maternité)".

So yes, you need to tell the RAV/ORP about this.

Edit: in fact the document I was quoting from is a federal document, not a cantonal one - so the rules are the same everywhere.

Can you give me the name of the document/link it for me please. Thanks

The one I have is a printed document called "Etre au chômage", which the ORP gave me when I went to sign on.

Can be downloaded from here in French:
http://www.espace-emploi.ch/download...n/arbeitslose/

or from here in German:
http://www.treffpunkt-arbeit.ch/down...n/arbeitslose/

How pregnant are you? I wouldn't call until after the 4th month.

Brilliant, thanks.

I've just had the 12 week scan, so early days still. Not told anyone yet apart from the grandparents!

Not quite on topic but on a related note: I was pretty surprised (read: annoyed) that they made a big to-do about my childcare arrangements. I had to fill in two different forms stating the details of my son's nursery at the time and how many days he was there plus the threat of penalties hung in the air if the childcare wasn't matched up to the 100% job search I was doing (i.e. if I was looking for full time work and being paid unemployment benefit at 100% but my son was only part time in daycare they would penalise me).

A (male) friend of mine who became unemployed around the same time as me and was at the same RAV didn't have to answer any such questions nor fill in any forms despite being a dad of two. His wife also worked 100%.

The RAV seems to be a bit skewed in equality in my experience.

Only the RAV

Happy that the 12 week scan went well

Yeah, might be better to wait a little. My friend made time off work arrangements, etc and when she lost the baby, it was a mess to fix things and she couldn't cope because of the grief so her husband had to handle all arrangements for her.

I jokingly told a colleague I had too much beer & sausages when she noticed I'd gotten "fatter". Germans can be so blunt

It wasn't anyone's business until I was ready to make arrangements to leave.

I wouldn't suggest doing this with the RAV, these guys are absolutely rubbish most of the time, if they know you lied for any reason, they can cause you endless trouble....the law is clear, you know you inform immediately, anything else is at your own risk.

In the end, i don't see any problem telling them, it won't change much, it's just the paying authority being changed, that's pretty much it.

- and all of EF

Congrats :-)

Doc.

It's not about lying - it's about waiting to tell until you're sure the pregnancy is quite safe. I think any authority can understand this. It's reasonable to wait until after the 1st trimester - even with family and friends.

So, in order to receive RAV payments you were expected to have your son in childcare 100% even though you weren't working and he could have been home with you?

Once you're through the first 12 weeks, the risk of miscarriage drops to about 1% so you should definitely tell them if it's required. From what I've heard, the RAV will extend your payments and treat you in a better fashion if they know you're pregnant...but that's just what I've heard. I don't have any personal experience with RAV.

I would not make this assumption at all. Authorities are not the same as family and friends.

I understand your point but in CH they give one week to announce changes in the martial status or residence, therefore i would suggest the OP inform them within this time frame as they might ask for a letter from the doctor confirming pregnancy and she doesn't want that to be a month or 2 old in such a case.

You are supposed to be available for work from one day to the next, technically. If you have to wait until you can get care for your child then you are not meeting their criteria.

It's fair enough, in my eyes, but what I object to is that they seem not to make the same demands on fathers. Only mothers.

It's unusual for mothers to work in CH, which is the reason they ask.

Given the amount of daycares/nurseries and the massive waiting lists, I would say that's not exactly true of Zurich so the local RAV offices should take this into account.

I informed the guy I had that I had worked 100% since my son was a baby and had managed daycare perfectly well thus far but it somehow didn't make him see sense.

The tax system does not favour working wives. There won't be that many fathers child minding & mothers working so there is little reason RAV to 'take this into account'

It's very simple, to receive RAV payments you must be available to work immediately.

I can't think of any reason not to give the information immediately to the RAV, failing to disclose could result in penalties, in the most serious cases a criminal record!

Oddly enough they don't make such a distinction when deducting insurance payments each month for unemployment benefit while I am working. All things are equal then, though, aren't they?