Compatibility of family and work
The Federal Act on the improvement of the compatibility of work and family care includes several amendments to the law. The aim is to enable those affected to better coordinate employment and care for relatives and thus reduce their burden. With these legislative changes, the Swiss social security system has received valuable additions to reconcile work and family life.
The legal provisions that are meant to improve the reconciliation of family and work are essentially the following: Art. 324a and Art. 329h of the Code of Obligations, Art. 16o-16p (DE, FR, IT) of the EOG Ordinance on Compensation for Loss of Earnings, Art. 36 para. 3 and 4 (DE, FR, IT) of the Labour Act.
Care leave for short-term absences
Since 1 January 2021, employees who have to take care of relatives who are ill are entitled to three days off work and continued payment of salary per occurrence or 10 days per year of service. This limit does not apply to the care of children with health problems. The payment of wages is subject to the provisions of the obligation to continue to pay wages.
Further information on caring for dependants can be found here.
(Source: Loyens-Loeff, November 12, 2020)
14 weeks of care leave to care for children with serious health problems
With the provision that came into force on 1 July 2021, parents are entitled to financial support if they have to interrupt or limit their employment in order to care for seriously ill or injured children. Compensation is paid out through the Income Compensation Ordinance (EO). The entitlement of 98 paid days of care leave can be divided freely between the parents either as a whole or on a daily basis within a framework period of 18 months. The amount of the allowance is based on the compensation for maternity allowance and amounts to 80% of the salary subject to AHV contributions with a maximum of CHF 196.00 per day.
You can find all information on the childcare allowance here.
(Source: Loyens-Loeff, May 3, 2021)
Longer maternity leave in case of hospitalisation of the child
In addition to the care leave allowance, another measure to support working parents will come into force on 1 July 2021: For mothers of new-borns who have to stay in hospital for a longer period of time directly after giving birth, the paid maternity leave will be extended by up to 8 weeks. The prerequisite is that the mother continues to be gainfully employed after the leave.
All information on the extended maternity allowance can be found here (DE, FR, IT).
Comment
With these legislative changes, the Swiss social security system has received valuable additions to reconcile work and family life. Concerns about the workplace, which in addition to concerns about the health of the child or relatives, constituted a considerable additional burden for those affected, can be alleviated by the federal law, at least in the area of the work situation.
