Hi - I was recently informed that my contract would be terminated with notice and I have paid into the unemployment insurance for about 24 months now. My gross base salary was in excess of 20k CHF monthly.

Some posts on unemployment benefits in the forum seemed to be a bit outdated, so I thought I would ask a few questions:

- what is the monthly amount (gross and net) that I would receive? I have a wife and 3 kids. Is it 10,500 x 80% minus deductions?

- what is the timing of the payments? (monthly - end of month? - and for how long?)

- how many monthly appointments does one usually have with the local office to demonstrate search for employment, etc.? If I need to leave Switzerland for a week or two for searching outside the country, does that impact anything?

Thanks in advance.

srd6

surely you didn't spend all of it each month !

Correct. But it does vary slightly from month to month as you get paid on a daily rate, so you get less in February.

I've forgotten what the waiting periods are, but once payments begin they are made monthly. You have two forms to submit each month, one to the insurance fund and one to your RAV office. The insurance fund one cannot be returned before the 25th of each month. Up until recently I used to return my RAV form at the same time but my new RAV advisor has now told me I shouldn't return it until the end of the month. Both forms have to be received before payment is made, so add about 4-5 days after the last form is received before payment is received in your account.

How long depends on your age. I think over 40 with kids it is 400 working days.

Depends on the advisor. I had one advisor who I used to see every 2 months. And another who I see once a month.

I can't remember the rules for searching for work outside the country. I know it is allowed and I have gone for interviews outside of Switzerland. I've never needed to leave Switzerland to look for work, but I know it is allowed. I remember something about being away for up to 3 months although don't quote me on that.

So the new EF standard salary is 240,000 chf per year, can I live on that?

With that salary you will get nothing for the first 25 working days plus any punishment, you might be given if you have not tried hard enough during your notice period to find work.

I calculate that your gross benefit will be about 388 CHF a working day which varies between 20 - 23 working days a month.

Normal deductions AVH,Accident insurance, invalidity pension etc.

You have to fill in a form about the 25th of every month, you will be paid out within 2 days of the form being received.

Your bebefit is for a maxamium of 400 days ie starting from day 26 or whatever day after any punishment days.

By law you have to accept any work you are offered & reduce any insurance claim, if your offered a job paying 101K you have to accept it as it's above your insured salary, you don't get a further payout. If you take a job for 60k the RAV will top up 80% of the difference.

Any short term contracts should be accepted, even for just 1 day.

Depending on how much effort you put into getting work, 1 appointment a month is normal, I do lots of small contracts & get maybe 6 a year or less. Some people will get weekly or even daily.....

You need permission to be away, they only pay if you are AVAILABLE to work immediately. You can get a weeks holiday every 3 months.

Spending a week in London for a 1 interview is not allowed, overnight would be allowed.

It is important you sign up latest at the first day of your unemployment.
Depending on local rules you usualy sign up with the municipality and the job center (RAV in German, ORP in french). They then register you, give you a schedule for the next couple of meetings and give you the forms that you need for registering with the unemployment insurance office (Caisse de Chomage).

Your monthly insured salary is the minimum of actual salary (typically calculated over the last 6 month) and 10500.
Monthly Gross is then Insured salary * 70% (or if you have kids it can be *80%).
This is then converted to a daily rate (there is 20.7 days in a standard month).
You then get a monthly payout depending on the number of covered working days in the specific month.
In the first month(s) you may be subject to a "deductible". It is always 5 days in the first month, but may be more depending on the salary. See below that I found at http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/837_0/a18.html

It means that with a fully insured salary of more than 10416 you will incurr extra deductible of 20 days. The deductible may not apply if you have dependent kids under the age of 25. Finally the deductible would be longer if you your self had resigned.

Once the payout starts the unemployment benefit is also subject to AHV/AVS etc.

Good luck with the job search.
Art. 18 Wartezeiten1

1 Der Anspruch beginnt nach einer Wartezeit von fünf Tagen kontrollierter Arbeitslosigkeit. Für Personen ohne Unterhaltspflichten gegenüber Kindern unter 25 Jahren beträgt die Wartezeit:
a.10 Tage bei einem versicherten Verdienst zwischen 60 001.– und 90 000.– Franken;b.15 Tage bei einem versicherten Verdienst zwischen 90 001.– und 125 000.– Franken;c.20 Tage bei einem versicherten Verdienst über 125 000.– Franken.2

Note that if you register for unemployment benefit and your mother tongue is not German (I don't know if the French side has equivalent rules), then you will be sent to a RAV induction day conducted in English. This a half day presentation where all the questions asked above are answered and you'll learn a lot about the whole process, the benefits and the potential fines. There are also English versions of the monthly forms you have to complete.

After this you will need to attend a German test, both written and oral. Based on your performance it is possible that the RAV will recommend you take German classes until you have reached a proficiency of B2. These classes are NOT mandatory. You will be offered/recommended to take the classes, but you can politely decline. Be warned that this might have a negative effect on your relationship with your personal advisor.

Fill in all the forms, be polite, try to speak German to the best of your ability, do everything the RAV asks of you and the process - while not fun - is relatively painless. Good luck with the job hunting!

This may well all be true in some gemeinde/kantons, but is not universal. Not everywhere has the induction day available in English, so they may insist you do it in German first and then have a F2F appt with an English speaker. And yes, they may send you to language classes, but not necessarily insist you do a test first. Like much of how they operate, it seems that there's a lot of variation from place to place, time to time, or individual to individual.

You can take up to 90 days to search in the UK and still be paid. Bilateral agreement with EU countries. You will have to speak to your RAV Adviser about the details.

You should demonstrate between 8 and 12 applications per month. So 2 to 3 per week.

You will have a period of waiting for your first payment depending how much you are over the statutory max of CHF 126k. I would estimate you would have to wait at least 2 months given your salary for the first payment. You will then get your salary from the Swiss govt at the end of each month. Your calculation is indeed correct.

Not sure why my text went all funny there, it resisted all attempts at formatting.

That's certainly true. Please note that everything I said in my previous posts holds true for Zurich, but other kantons can of course vary.

Agreed. From conversations I have had, Kanton Zurich is quite willing to send people on language courses, while Kanton Schwyz requires delicate negotiation.

Hello,

My company just announced that they will go to a downsizing. I am in canton Vaud. It is not certain yet with my position and I am trying to clarify my situation if in case they make me redundant.I have a local contract with no end date and I am working with a B permit and I am not from European Union.
It has been announced that there would be a redundancy package. My current Gross salary is 14 000 CHF*13 months and I have a school age kid.I am working for the company for 3 years but I have a continuous service for the company in other subsidiaries for a total of 15 years. I would need your help for the following quesitons;

1- I understood from the below messages that if the salary is above a certain level, they delay the payment .But will redundancy pakage even delay it more?
2-What would be the length of the period that I will get a unemployment salary? Again will redundancy package impact the duration?
3- Finally will the monthly salary change because of it?or will it the usual formula of 80%?

thanks in advance for sharing

25 days waiting., the reduncy package may well mean you don't get anything as your being paid X months salary. Some people have received benefits. 80% of 10,500 is the max.

Best troll ever! Lol

There are several forum members who make that, I have a couple of clients that earn 240k personally, but they do so in a month one of them even still rents!

Very wise of him. He probably saves the money for get through till the unemployment payments are transfered.

So when you say "application", what do you mean? In a senior business position search there is usually not an "application" but you talk with contacts, headhunters, etc.

Not speaking German any better than A2-ish level, is the RAV in the position to be suggesting local area jobs for me (perhaps unlikely given the salary required to meet the maximum benefit - I would think the only employer in the area close to that would be the Kantonalbank and I doubt they will hire a poor German speaker for 100k plus).

Thanks - what kind of jobs (permanent or contract as you do) do they offer? I'll assume you speak the local language well enough, but what if not? Are the jobs they suggest in the same field as the lost job or are they going to require me to work outside in the road repair crew or at the local Migros or something that's entirely off spec?

I'm no expert on the Swiss dole, but I know people who have gone through it. As far as I'm aware, they're not going to offer you any jobs; you have to apply for them (at a high rate if you want to keep getting your benefits).

So unless you apply for a road repair job (I suspect you're not qualified or experienced enough for that), you won't get offered one.

I've also a question on taxation for the unemployed people? The only tax deducted from the unemployment benefits is federal tax and it is very less compared to the normal tax at source. I believe it's because of no cantonal and communal tax deducted. Do unemployment benefits exempted from cantonal and communal taxes?
Or is it re-calculated at the end of the year? As my spouse is working normally, is there any impact on our collective taxation?

Thank you!

Dream on sunshine, it's taxed alright !