Salary payment in the event of illness

In the event of illness, the employer must pay wages for a limited period of time if the employment relationship lasted (or was entered into for) more than 3 months. The period of continued payment of wages is 3 weeks in the 1st year of service and thereafter "a reasonable period" according to the wording of the law.

To determine this "reasonable period", different scales are applied in court practice depending on the part of the country (Basel scale in BL and BS, Bernese scale in AG, BE, OW, SG and Western Switzerland and Zurich scale in GR and ZH), which (depending on the year of service) can lead to different continued salary payments of up to one month.

However, this obligation to continue to pay wages is often covered by a sickness benefit insurance, which replaces the statutory obligation to continue to pay wages, provided that it is at least equivalent to it. In most cases, the daily sickness benefit insurance pays 80 per cent of the insured wage for 720 days, which is considered equivalent, for example, if the employer pays at least 50 per cent of the premiums and if there are no more than 3 so-called "waiting days" without wage entitlement.