Switzerland and social rules….

Two weeks ago, my boss told me that one of my colleagues was losing her job. No warning, no misconduct, no nothing. From one day to another, it was finished. To me, she was the hardest working girl of our team or at least she seemed to. I have no idea what people do behind their computer but she was never late for anything. She was the one who keeps my colleague and me in line, reminding us what we should be doing as we are both a bit loopy.

The only thing that I could say is that she was a bit miscast in her job as she was never really used to work with journalists. However, in Belgium this would never be possible.
This colleague received also an outstanding evaluation a few months before. Now I don’t want to bash my work but since this incident we have been looking into Swiss Labour law and it is quite outrageous…

Apparently in Switzerland no need for a written contract, although it is highly recommended. But even with a contract the employer can sack you without any reason from one day to another. How much time he gives you is up to your contract. If you were a bit silly and signed a contract that says that you can be laid off asap well there is the door and no need to come back.

If you believe you were sacked for unlawful reasons, which would be my colleague’s case, you must know that in Switzerland there are only three unjustified reasons:
1. Getting sacked during maternity leave
2. getting sacked while sick
3. and to be honest I don’t remember what the third reason was but something quite silly.

Even if you are found right in a court of law, you have no right to get your old job back… you only get 6 months pay, however long you have been working there.

People here take their work very seriously. Must be a reminiscent of Protestantism in its hardest form. Contracts are an average 42 hours/week work, you have 20 days holidays but you have to built it up: two days a month. If you leave before the end of your contract, your already taken days will be taken off your last pay (ok to be honest I think it’s the same in Belgium).

Swiss people also like to vote all the time. Well at least in Geneva. They vote on everything. Should Geneva hold a party for the Euro 2008, should there be a smoking ban, should dangerous dogs be forbidden in a park and so on. So of course when it comes to work Swiss people vote, what else is there to do on a Sunday in Geneva?

So when they were asked if they would like to have 5 days more holidays paid per year they voted… NON. And the government had to organise three different rounds to finally get people to agree on prolonging maternity leave with… one week…

Must be the cheese that drives them nut!