You have found your first suitable employee and have negotiated the most important conditions for the employment relationship. Now it is time for administrative work and dealing with the authorities. It is best to proceed in the following order:
- Draw up a written employment contract
- Obtain work permit if necessary
- Take out employee benefits
- Integration into the company
- Rights and duties during employment
In general, Switzerland guarantees freedom of contract. An employment contract can be settled informally. However, it is advisable to record the employment relationship and the associated modalities in writing. Templates from the Internet are particularly useful for this purpose. Here, however, you must make sure the source is trustworthy and the contract is in accordance with Swiss law. The following points should be regulated in the contract:
- Contracting parties
- Start and duration
- Scope
- Place of work
- Remuneration
- Working hours and holidays
- Probationary period
- Notice period
To be safe, show the contract to a lawyer for examination.
If questions of labour law arise later that were not regulated in the contract, then the Swiss Code of Obligations (OR) from Art. 319 onwards may provide remedy and clarity.
It is also important to check whether the contract is based on a collective labour agreement (GAV) or a standard labour agreement (NAV). If so, regulations in the GAV or NAV may not be violated by the employment contract (according to OR law), unless it is explicitly mentioned in the GAV or NAV.
Do I Need A Work Permit?
As soon as a person with foreign nationality is employed, it must be checked whether a work permit is required. For those who have a permit for settled foreign nationals (C permit), no other permit needs to be obtained. In all other cases, please contact the immigration office responsible to find out whether a permit is required. If yes, an application must be submitted, including the employment contract, CV, certificates, passport copy, references and job description. The application must explain in detail why exactly this employee is needed in the company (uniqueness & skills) and how the awarding of this position to a foreign national serves the overall economic interest of Switzerland.
What Staff Insurance Is Needed?
The following insurances must be taken out for the employee:
- OASI, DI, IC, ALV
- LOB (compulsory for gross salary of CHF 21,510 and up; as of 02.06.2021)
- Occupational accident
- Non-occupational accident (from 8h / week)
The OASI/DI/IC/ALV contributions are all settled together. The contributions are deducted from the salary and settled with the compensation fund by 30th January of the following year by means of the salary declaration.
The compensation funds request employers to join a pension fund within 2 months. In doing so, you can join an existing fund, set up your own or join a substitute occupational benefit institution. If you know that the entry threshold will be reached, the employee must be registered with the relevant fund.
Quotes for occupational and non-occupational accident insurance are obtained and compared from insurance companies.
