Hi,

I am looking for a good lawyer who specializes in labor rights, can anyone here recommend me one?

cheers,

Hi there, I might know of one. It is one of the biggest law firm in Switzerland. They speak english, and if they can't help I am sure they know someone that can. They are called Baker and McKenzie, located in Zurich. Their number is (44) 385 14 14. They also have a website. www.bakernet.com . Have a look and see if it help.

bye

Baker & McKenzie are indeed a good law firm with offices worldwide. I should imagine it would take an annual salary to get them out of bed!
Also, unless you are Jack Welch (or Marcel Ospel), they might not be too enthusiastic about getting involved in the day-to-day grind of labour litigation. Of course, you don't say what you are looking for a lawyer for...so you might indeed be Marcel Ospel!!

If you are a mere mortal however, it will probably be cheaper (and possibly better in terms of interest and commitment) finding a local law firm with less overheads.

If you go to this link: http://www.zav.ch/anwaltssuche/suche.html

it will allow you to search for a lawyer in Zurich by specialty and by language.

For a start, go to the city authorities for gratis information and if necessary, gratis assistance.

The Zurich Arbeitsgericht are very friendly and have helped me tremendously in a dispute I'm involved in. Good people to have on your side

I recomend doing this as a first step as well. I found the Zug Arbeitsamt very helpful.

Dr. Gabriela Wyss,
Wyss & Häfeli Rechtsanwälte,
Dufourstrasse 95
Zürich
044 422 65 64

She often writes about labor law in the NZZ newspaper and sounds competent. Never met her. Unsure how good she really is.

Zurich Bar Association
Online "matchmaking" service AdvoFinder
http://www.zav.ch/anwaltssuche/

I work for Baker

Not all lawyers charge and arm and a leg, there are associates (vs. partners) who work as well and their rate is cheaper.

If you are interested send me a PM and I can find out more for you on Monday.

Oh well, no disrespect was intended in my earlier post. I have dealt with your company on a corporate level in both London and Hong Kong.

I have also just noticed that the original post was made in January...so hopefully the OP was able to sort himself/herself out already or it wasn't that urgent.

I am also interested in affordable help. I have a disgruntled employee who still has a key to the building. I have requested it's return in a registered letter, but the date is one week gone. I have been told I can contact the police, who will turn up on the employee's doorstep and demand the key...

Does anyone know what needs to be done to faciliate this?

That's actually excellent advice. We had a similar issue once (I won't go into details) and went to the local police station. They called the person holding the key and gave them 24 hours to hand it over to the nearest oolice station (they lived in Bern and we were in Zuerich). It was amazing how getting the police involved encouraged the person holding the key to focus!!!!

Anyway, I would certainly give that a try before contacting a lawyer.

Thanks Snoopy! Can I simply call the police or do I need to show up in person? What documents do they need?

HOK

Last time I worked at an office, I had to sign a receipt that I've recieved a key. If you can present the police a copy of such a document (Schlüsselquittung in German), this would help your case.

I would certainly turn up in person. I think that the police here try, if possible, to keep things low key (although YMMV). If you turn up in person they may try and call while you are standing there and get the guy to make a commitment to hand it back to you within a certain time and then tell you to come back and see them if you don't get the key back as agreed. That way they don't have any paperwork...

As for what paperwork you should take with....well anything that you can to prove your point. Have you written to the employee asking them to return the key?

Good luck anyway!

Try Seiger and Partner GmbH. They are quite nice, affordable and good at work.