Sick leave by country / Switzerland
Sick leave and sick pay in Switzerland
Who pays when someone is ill, how much, for how long, and what the certificate rules are — in plain English, whether you run a team in Switzerland or work on one.
Switzerland has no statutory sick-pay insurance. Under Article 324a of the Code of Obligations the employer must continue salary for a limited period: three weeks in the first year of service and then a longer period rising with tenure, set by the court-developed Bern, Basel or Zurich scales. Most employers instead take out daily sickness benefit insurance (Krankentaggeld), typically 80% of salary for 720 days, which replaces the legal minimum if it is at least equivalent overall.
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How it works
Article 324a gives employees with more than three months of service (or a contract of more than three months) the right to their salary during sickness 'for a limited time' — three weeks in the first year, then 'a reasonably longer period' that the courts have translated into scales: on the Zurich scale, eight weeks in the second year, nine in the third and fourth, ten in the fifth, and so on. The obligation is per year of service, not per illness. Article 324a(4) lets a written agreement replace this with a scheme that is at least equivalent, which is how the market standard arose: collective daily benefit insurance paying 80% of salary for 720 days within 900, with premiums shared at least half by the employer and a waiting period the employer bridges. Without such insurance, a long illness quickly exhausts the legal minimum and salary stops.
Worth knowing: Under Article 329b an employer may reduce annual holiday by one-twelfth for each full month of absence beyond the first month of sickness in a year — one of the few places in Europe where long sickness reduces holiday.
If you run a team in Switzerland
Check whether you have Krankentaggeldversicherung; if not, you owe salary for the scale period and nothing afterwards, which is a real risk for both sides. Set out in the contract or staff rules when a medical certificate is required — day three is common. Continue pay from the first day of the illness; sickness does not consume holiday, and holiday may be reduced only after a full month of absence (Art. 329b).
If you work in Switzerland
Ask what sick-pay insurance your employer has — it determines whether you are covered for three weeks or two years. Notify your employer immediately and supply a certificate when the contract requires it. Your holiday entitlement is only reduced after a full month of sickness in a year.
Sickness and annual leave
Certified illness during holiday is not counted as holiday and the days are taken later. Holiday is reduced by one-twelfth per full month of sickness after the first full month in the year (Art. 329b OR).
The annual leave entitlement itself is covered on our Switzerland annual leave page — 20 working days minimum.
Keeping the record straight
Sick pay rules turn on dates: the day the illness started, the day the certificate was due, the day the employer's obligation ends and the benefit takes over. In Switzerland those dates decide who pays and how much, and they have to be provable months later — to a payroll auditor, an insurer, or the employee. A shared spreadsheet rarely survives that; a tracker like Leavo records each absence with its dates and approvals alongside annual leave, so the record exists before anyone asks for it. We compare the options in our leave management software guide, and the policy side — carryover, payout, accrual — in our guides.
Sick leave in Switzerland: common questions
How long does my employer have to pay if there is no insurance?
Three weeks in the first year of service, then a longer period by tenure under the applicable scale — for example eight weeks in the second year on the Zurich scale, rising to about six months after 20 years.
Is Krankentaggeld mandatory?
No, except where a collective agreement (GAV/CCT) requires it, which many do. Most employers take it out anyway because the legal minimum is short.
Who pays during the waiting period of the insurance?
If the policy has waiting days, the employer must bridge them with salary, because the insured scheme must be at least equivalent to Article 324a overall.
What happens if I fall ill during my annual leave in Switzerland?
Certified illness during holiday is not counted as holiday and the days are taken later. Holiday is reduced by one-twelfth per full month of sickness after the first full month in the year (Art. 329b OR).
Source
Primary source: Obligationenrecht (OR) Art. 324a; Bern, Basel and Zurich scales; daily sickness benefit insurance (KTG) by contract. Rates and caps change — often every January or April — and collective agreements frequently improve on the statutory scheme. Confirm against the current text before acting. See our methodology.