Pay for holidays is a recurring topic of discussion, as each canton has a different number of holidays. Many people are unaware that the payment of wages for holidays is not fully regulated by law.
“Employers are required to pay full wages only on the Federal Holiday, in accordance with Article 1 of the Ordinance on the Federal Holiday.”
August 1 (Federal Holiday) is the only federal holiday. The cantons may designate up to eight additional holidays; these vary from canton to canton. If a holiday falls on a non-working day (e.g., Saturday or Sunday), there is no entitlement to compensatory time off.
Distinguishing Between Types of Holidays
| August 1: National Day | Enacted under federal law and to be paid by the employer. |
| Holidays Equivalent to Sundays | Under federal law, cantons may individually set a maximum of 8 days. There is a ban on work similar to the ban on Sunday work, but no obligation to pay wages. |
| Holidays That Are Not Equivalent to Sundays | Municipalities and cantons may designate additional holidays beyond the 8 days, on which work may also be prohibited in accordance with local regulations governing days off. There is no obligation to continue paying wages. |
How many days are actually paid by the employer?
When it comes to holidays, it is essential to distinguish between the obligation to pay wages and the prohibition on working on holidays.
As mentioned above, each canton designates eight public holidays in addition to August 1. On these days, work is prohibited, just as it is on Sundays (Art. 18, para. 1, ArG). If work is nevertheless performed, a corresponding permit or exemption is required in accordance with ArGV 2.
Unless otherwise agreed in the employment contract or work regulations, it is assumed that an employee is not subject to any wage deduction for non-working holidays, just as is the case when regular time off is granted (Art. 329 Swiss Code of Obligations), whereas hourly, daily, or piecework wage earners have no entitlement to wages. For these employees, this circumstance is usually already taken into account when calculating wages.
Practice
Many employers already include the eight public holidays—which are treated the same as Sundays—in the annual working hours as time taken in advance, or specify the entitlement to paid public holidays in the employment contract or work regulations, which ultimately also affects the annual working hours.
For example, an employer has offices in Zurich and Schwyz. In Zurich, employees have 9 days off per year for cantonal holidays, while employees in the canton of Schwyz have 13 days off.
In its employment contracts, the employer sets the entitlement to paid holidays at 9 days so that all employees are treated equally across all cantons.
Consequently, all employees are prohibited from working on the 9 statutory holidays—which are treated the same as Sundays—and are paid for those days. Employees in the canton of Schwyz are free to work on the remaining cantonal holidays (provided this is not prohibited under the cantonal regulations on days of rest, Art. 71(c) of the Labor Act) or to make up the hours during that time so that they do not fall below the annual working time requirement.
www.payrollplus.ch, Switzerland’s leading payroll and accounting portal