I was under the impression that maternity leave was 14 weeks at 80% pay. However, I have heard others say that it is 16 weeks, and I was told by one nurse that there is an additional month - so 5 months leave - for women who are breastfeeding. I can't find any information anywhere to confirm that, though. Can anyone else shed any light on this?

https://www.ch.ch/en/maternity-leave/
https://www.ahv-iv.ch/p/6.02.d
https://www.projuventute.ch/de/elter...schutz-schweiz

I heard it was 6mo if nursing. The best is to ask your pediatrician, you will need his certif anyway, if you decide to stay 6mo at home.

It’s confusing but maybe this will help.

16 weeks refers to the protection of a woman’s employment.
No employer is permitted to fire a pregnant woman or a mother in the first 16 weeks after giving birth.

14 weeks refers to the paid maternity leave

https://www.vaudfamille.ch/N5379/ass...maternite.html

PDF brochure to download here in English

https://www.seco.admin.ch/seco/en/ho...y%20employment

Thanks, everyone. I had seen most of those documents before, which is why I was confused, as they don't say anything about extra time off. But this was a nurse in the same canton as me who said this, and she had recently had a child herself so I would imagine that she had experience of it. I guess I will ask the gynaecologist and see what she says.

Im a guy responding, but went through it with my girl friend.

The minimum is 14 weeks paid leave (that may be 80% depending employer)

If you worked at the company a while, usually not very long a year or so, most companies give you 16 weeks.

As an individual, you could take the 14 weeks minimum and request to have 2 weeks extra, this would be unpaid if the employer only gives 14 weeks. But they cannot turn it down or get rid of you, you sort of have to self certify I think to go back to work, and you dont have to until after 16 weeks but then those 2 extra weeks are on you.

Then I think if you are breast feeding, the employer must find a room (not a toilet) for you to pump, they must allocate a decent amount of time frequently over the day to pump.

Its not very generous in Switzerland. But your HR and the web links given will be able to help

Federal is 14 weeks paid maternity leave, with upto 80% of salary, upto a max of 196 francs a day. Many employers top this upto 100% of actual salary.

Geneva gives 16 weeks, aligning maternity pay to the protected period of 16 weeks.

Since 1 July, mothers whose newborn baby must remain hospitalized for a long time, can extend their paid maternity leave by upto 8 weeks.

Since 1 July, parents of seriously ill children can now, with a doctors certificate, take upto 14 weeks of paid leave (shared between both parents) to care for their sick child. Same salary limits as for maternity, and long term baby hospitalisation.

Breastfeeding mothers are entitled to between 30 and 90 mins paid time off a day depending on the length of their working day. The law also prohibits them from working more than 9 hours a day.

Hi there !
The additional one month for breastfeeding is only for people working for the state - nurses, teachers,... - or if you work for a very generous company !