Continued payment of salary during illness: what employers owe

Continued payment of salary during illness: the basic rule

If you fall ill and cannot work, it is not your health insurer that pays your salary. Basic health insurance covers the costs of doctors, hospitals and medicines; it does not provide any replacement income. Your salary is governed by employment law: your employer must continue to pay it for a limited time. This is the continued payment of salary under Art. 324a CO.

The obligation applies under three conditions (Art. 324a para. 1 CO):

1. You are prevented from working for reasons relating to you as a person, such as illness or an accident.
2. You are not at fault.
3. The employment relationship has lasted more than three months or was entered into for more than three months.

For a fixed-term assignment of two months, there is therefore no entitlement. Legal scholars and the courts do not agree on when the entitlement starts under an open-ended contract with a probationary period; in the event of a dispute, the labour court decides.

The overview shows what is paid, and in what proportion, if you are ill:

How long your employer pays: the Basel, Bern and Zurich scales

The law only sets an exact period for the first year of service: 3 weeks. After that, the employer owes your salary “for an appropriately longer period”, depending on how long the employment relationship has lasted and on the particular circumstances (Art. 324a para. 2 CO). To determine this, the courts apply scales. SECO lists them as follows:

Year of service	Basel scale (BS, BL)	Bern scale (BE, AG, OW, SG, French-speaking Switzerland)	Zurich scale (ZH, GR)
1st	3 weeks	3 weeks	3 weeks
2nd	2 months	1 month	8 weeks
3rd	2 months	2 months	9 weeks
4th	3 months	2 months	10 weeks
5th	3 months	3 months	11 weeks
6th to 9th	3 months	3 months	12 to 15 weeks
10th	3 months	4 months	16 weeks
11th	4 months	4 months	17 weeks

From the second year of service, the Zurich scale rises by one week every year. Which scale applies depends on the canton in which the labour court decides. According to SECO, the following also applies:

• Per year of service: The entitlement is calculated per year of service and starts again with each new year of service.
• Absences are added together: Several illnesses in the same year of service are added together.
• Full salary: Continued payment of salary also includes other salary components that would have been paid without the illness. There are no unpaid waiting days.
• More is allowed: An employment contract, collective employment agreement (CEA) or standard employment contract (SEC) may provide for a longer period.

Daily sickness allowance insurance instead of continued payment of salary

Many employers replace the obligation under Art. 324a CO with daily sickness allowance insurance. It pays a daily allowance, usually 80 % of the salary, but for much longer than the scales. The law only allows such a deviation under two conditions (Art. 324a para. 4 CO):

• Form: a written agreement, a standard employment contract or a collective employment agreement. An oral agreement is not enough.
• Equivalence: The solution must be at least equivalent for the employees. According to SECO, this applies to daily allowances of 80 % of the salary for 720 days if the employer pays at least half of the premium. According to case law, 1 to 3 unpaid waiting days are permitted.

Daily allowance insurance can be taken out under the KVG or under the ICA (Art. 67 KVG). Daily allowance insurance under the KVG pays from an incapacity for work of at least 50 %, from the third day unless otherwise agreed, and for one or more illnesses for at least 720 days within 900 days (Art. 72 para. 2 and 3 KVG). Most employers take out collective insurance under the ICA; the general insurance conditions then govern the waiting period, the benefit period and exclusions. The policy and the insurer’s general insurance conditions are decisive.

For daily allowances, the waiting period is the number of days between the start of the incapacity for work and the first daily allowance. A longer waiting period lowers the premium. How salary is paid during the waiting period must be set out in the employment contract.

Sample calculation: with and without daily allowance insurance

Example with fictitious people. Sara (34) is in her first year of service on an open-ended contract with an SME in Zurich. Her gross salary is an assumed CHF 1,500 a week. She is completely unable to work for five weeks.

The example shows why the 80 % solution counts as equivalent: for short absences it can pay less than 100 % of the salary, for longer ones considerably more. Whether there is insurance in your case and how long the waiting period lasts is set out in your employment contract and the staff regulations.

Protection against dismissal during illness

After the probationary period, your employer may not give notice while you are wholly or partly unable to work because of illness or an accident through no fault of your own. The protected period lasts (Art. 336c para. 1 let. b CO):

Notice given during the protected period is void. If notice was given beforehand and the notice period is still running, it is interrupted and only continues after the protected period (Art. 336c para. 2 CO). The contract may not deviate from these rules to your disadvantage (Art. 362 CO). The protected period is independent of the continued payment of salary: it can be longer or shorter than the period for which salary is owed.

In the event of an accident, accident insurance applies

After an accident, compulsory accident insurance pays a daily allowance of 80 % of the insured earnings from the third day after the day of the accident (Art. 16 para. 2 and Art. 17 para. 1 UVG). For the days before that, the employer must pay at least 80 % of the salary (Art. 324b para. 3 CO). If the insurance covers 80 %, the employer’s obligation to pay salary is thereby settled (Art. 324b para. 1 CO).

If you work at least eight hours a week for the same employer, you are also insured against accidents in your free time (Art. 13 UVV). You can then have accident cover excluded from your basic health insurance and save on premiums (Art. 8 KVG). If your job ends or your working hours fall below eight hours, your health insurer’s accident cover applies again (Art. 8 para. 2 KVG); notify your insurer, otherwise it can claim the premium plus default interest retroactively (Art. 10 KVG).

What SMEs should clarify as employers

For an SME with its first employees, continued payment of salary is a financial risk: without insurance, the company bears the full salary of the person who is ill and often also the cost of a replacement. This is how to proceed as an employer:

1. Set out the rule in the employment contract: Does Art. 324a CO apply with a scale, or a daily allowance solution? A deviation must be in writing (Art. 324a para. 4 CO).
2. Check the CEA and SEC: Many sectors prescribe daily allowance insurance and its benefits.
3. Compare quotes: waiting period, benefit period, share of salary, exclusions and reservations. The general insurance conditions are decisive.
4. Split the premium: For equivalence, according to SECO, the employer pays at least half.
5. Cover the waiting period: Set out salary during the waiting period in the contract.
6. Regulate the medical certificate: It is best to state in the contract from which day a certificate is required; according to SECO, it may be required from the first day.

What else you need to consider with your first employees is explained in the article SMEs: your first employees. If you would like to discuss a daily allowance solution personally, you can submit a request.

Special cases

• Partial incapacity for work: If you are 50 % unable to work, you work the remaining hours and receive your normal salary for them. Daily allowance insurance under the KVG only pays from an incapacity for work of at least 50 % (Art. 72 para. 2 KVG).
• Pregnancy: If you are prevented from working because of pregnancy, your employer owes your salary to the same extent as for illness (Art. 324a para. 3 CO).
• Sick child: According to SECO, there is paid leave to care for a sick child under the same rules as for your own illness, for a maximum of three days per occurrence.
• Self-employed people: If you are self-employed, you have no employer to continue paying your salary. Loss of income is only covered by your own daily allowance insurance; more on this in the article Becoming self-employed and the article Daily sickness allowance for the self-employed.
• Short employment: For an employment relationship of three months or less that was not entered into for longer, there is no entitlement under Art. 324a CO.

Common mistakes

• Believing that your health insurer pays your salary. Basic health insurance pays for treatment, never replacement income. Daily allowances are a separate insurance.
• Agreeing a daily allowance solution only orally. Without a written agreement, SEC or CEA, Art. 324a CO applies, with 100 % of salary according to the scale.
• Looking at absences one by one. Several illnesses in the same year of service are added together.
• Missing the transfer when changing jobs. If you leave collective insurance, clarify your right of transfer in good time.
• Forgetting to notify your health insurer. If you lose your job or work less than eight hours a week, tell your health insurer so that accident cover resumes and no retroactive claim arises.

You can find all topics for the self-employed, employers and SMEs in the topic area Self-employed and SMEs. Compare basic health insurance premiums in the premium calculator, and the insurers’ key figures in the health insurer profiles.