Which is fully within the bounds of what Swiss law permits.

• The duration does not exceed 3 years. ✔
• There is a geographic limitation. ✔
• It is limited to certain specific activities. ✔
• The other conditions are fulfilled. ？

If I am not mistaken you can read German: https://www.weka.ch/themen/personal/...ist-zu-achten/



https://www.weka.ch/themen/personal/...ist-zu-achten/

Nonsense, the first Swiss company I worked for provided a contract in a language that I didn't understand at the time (German)

Tom

Mine was in French, and that was an international organisation.

yes its a non compete clause you are talking about.

the OP is talking about a "non work clause" - OP can you please clarify?

I would agree and would also depend how senior OP is. Say he works in sales, he can go do sales in a completely unrelated company whilst the way the clause is expressed would bar him for working in any sales job for 2 years in Zurich which would not be upheld in court as the company could not successfully claim that doing any sales job would damage them.

I don’t believe that it has anything to do with how “senior” a person is. I’ve had friends that have also signed this type of contract over the years here. One was just trying to get a foot in recruitment services after a bog standard Swiss education without Matura.

Swiss law specifies:

“The prohibition of competition is binding only where the employment relationship allows the employee to have knowledge of the employer’s clientele or manufacturing and trade secrets and where the use of such knowledge might cause the employer substantial harm”

I don't think it is, its applicability is much more limited, see the 2nd part of §340. Otherwise the outcome is what OP thinks of, a general ban on working in his profession.

A software developer working for a Swiss bank for instance can't be prohibited from switching to another one just on the grounds that they're both banks and both jobs happen to be in Zürich. Automated trading software, say, has nothing to do with the software used to administrate mortgages, or the software that covers the handling of physical securities and valuables like precious metals.

Even what seems to be a reasonably a narrow field like automated trading software may be out of scope. While both banks directly compete on the various exchanges, it's probably impossible to prove damages.

As a software developer, you will not be allowed access to a live, unencrypted data-base within a Swiss bank. Regardless of the equity or commodity traded.

Nor did I say you do.

As usual you're barking up the wrong tree.

I disagree. Depending on the industry/role, the more senior you are the more you will have access to certain info and client data etc. For example if you are a junior sales person with 3 local clients being served by a local manufacturing site, is very different than if you are a sales director with global customers being served across Europe etc. The law will uphold the non compete differently even if companies use a standard format for all their employees.

For a recruiter, there could be a non-solicitation agreement. I don't think a clause to stop someone working in the recruiting industry for a certain period or a certain geography would be valid.

I don’t think it is necessarily to do with seniority either.
It is mostly related to the sector they’re working in and how sensitive or niche their job is.

These types of clauses are usually only applied in specific circumstances, it’s not a general thing.

Common and most often unenforceable.

Oh, are you a lawyer so you know this?

As Urs Max says, it depends on the job. Non-compete clauses may not prevent someone pursuing their profession.

I think she was actually agreeing with and supporting your argument with an additional example.

That is the theory…. But not the reality… it depends on how bad the pain is and how desperate they are to have you fix it. I never had a problem getting access to production environments as a consultant.

Then that’s because your company has already agreed the terms contractually. No way in Hell will a Swiss bank give access to any external Tom, Dick or Harry to a production environment that contains unencrypted Client Identifying Data

It happens from time to time, unoficially.

Well, I would echo Jim's comment about it being so in theory. I was once given such access by a Swiss bank and while my company did have a relationship with said bank already, they weren't exactly strict about things as I was only asked to personally sign a legal document months later.

I did not work for any company, I worked as an independent consultant with a direct contact with the banks, so of course I signed the appropriate agreements. But the point I correct you on was your statement that developers don’t get full access on production which is not the case. Just as your statement on encrypting client data, in theory yes, in reality it is regularly turned off for performance reasons. In the late afternoon and particularly at month end, when the pressure is on to get client and fund manager instructions executed and so on, lots of things happen that you clearly are not aware of.

For a while there I did some work for a fintech servicing 39 banks around the world and they also had no problem getting access to production. It usually just requires filling in some electronic form, waiting perhaps half an hour or so and you had access.

__________________
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." - Nelson Mandela