Employing someone in Switzerland requires you to establish the applicable canton and sector rules, arrange insurance from the correct start date, and run separate payroll filing and payment calendars. Ending employment requires another check: a valid notice period can be interrupted by illness or overridden by a protected period.
Three distinctions matter throughout: federal rules coexist with local obligations; reporting a worker is different from insuring them; and paying notice does not resolve every dismissal restriction.
Rules checked 16 October 2026. This guide addresses ordinary private employment habitually performed in Switzerland. Public employment and special sectors require their own rules. Cross-border work or a foreign-law clause needs a separate applicable-law assessment; overriding Swiss requirements can still apply.
Which employment rules apply to your hire?
Start with the employee's actual work and employment arrangement. The Code of Obligations governs private contracts. The Labour Act adds working-time and health protections, subject to business and worker exclusions. A managerial title alone should not determine exemption.
Zurich and Geneva illustrate local payroll differences below. Their procedures cannot be applied automatically to every canton. A foreign employer's tax position and the employee's Swiss social-insurance coverage also require separate answers.
Employer obligations at a glance
Contracts and the start of employment
An ordinary employment contract can be oral, but written terms make the agreement and mandatory information provable. Complete them in a language the employee understands as a practical safeguard. The statutory one-month information period is distinct from signing and from insurance commencement. Use a fixed term only after deciding whether an early termination option is needed.
For indefinite employment, probation defaults to one month. Written agreement, a collective agreement or standard contract can vary it, normally up to three months; specified absences extend actual probation. Default probation notice is seven calendar days. Fixed terms have no automatic probation. Check these conditions before assuming the first three months permit short notice. SECO explains the distinctions.
Arrange cover for the exposure date
Affiliate with the competent AHV compensation office and family-allowance fund when covered employment creates liability. Obtain the worker's AHV number; a missing number requires immediate reporting for assignment. The old blanket one-month new-employee reporting rule was repealed in 2016. Do not treat it as a registration grace period.
Notify the accident insurer immediately for the first insured employee. Occupational accident insurance is compulsory; non-occupational cover applies at at least eight hours weekly with the same employer. That wider cover begins when employment or salary entitlement starts, which can precede the first shift. Check the insurer's acceptance and policy rather than waiting for a wage return. Suva guidance separates these start rules.
Eligible occupational-pension cover also starts during probation. In 2026 the ordinary entry threshold is annual salary above CHF 22,680; indefinite or longer-than-three-month employment is generally covered. For otherwise eligible workers, compulsory death/disability cover starts on 1 January following the 17th birthday; retirement saving starts on 1 January following the 24th. A plan may provide more generous cover. Check the 2026 employer guide and exceptions rather than treating three months as a waiting period.
For source-tax payroll, establish the cantonal employer account and employee details. Geneva requires DPI registration as soon as a subject employee is engaged. Zurich and Geneva normally require employee notification within eight days, with a monthly electronic reporting alternative. Capture residence, permit, family circumstances and other tariff inputs. Geneva registration is separate from AHV affiliation.
Pay, working time and employment records
Establish the wage and hours before processing payroll
Check cantonal, municipal and agreement floors. Geneva's ordinary minimum is CHF 24.59 per hour in 2026, subject to exemptions and separate agricultural/floricultural rates. The announced CHF 24.73 starts on 1 January 2027. In Zurich city, the court upheld the municipal measure, but the city's current notice still leaves commencement open. Approval and commencement are separate. Geneva's rate is already operative.
Salary is normally paid monthly at month-end unless lawful agreement or applicable rules provide otherwise; give a written payslip. A thirteenth salary is not a universal statutory payment, but becomes payable under applicable agreement or contract terms. Contract guidance explains that distinction.
For covered workers, statutory weekly maxima are generally 45 hours for industrial, office, technical and specified large-retail staff, and 50 for others. Ordinary daily rest is 11 consecutive hours, with limited exceptions. Night/Sunday work generally requires an exemption or permit. Working-time rules also limit statutory excess work to exceptional circumstances and normally 170 or 140 hours annually respectively.
Contractual extra hours are Überstunden: default compensation is equivalent agreed time off or pay plus 25%, subject to lawful written/collective variation. Hours above the statutory maximum are Überzeit, with separate mandatory protection. For specified office, technical and large-retail staff, the statutory compensation requirement applies after 60 excess hours annually. A contractual waiver cannot erase that protection. SECO's overtime FAQ separates the two.
Provide minimum breaks of 15 minutes when daily work exceeds 5.5 hours, 30 minutes above seven, and one hour above nine. Breaks count as work if the employee cannot leave the workstation. Keep ordinary start/end, duration and qualifying break records; Labour Act records normally remain for at least five years. Remote work or trust-based scheduling does not itself waive recording. Break guidance supports the thresholds.
Separate deductions, documents, declarations and cash
Many Swiss-resident citizens, C-permit holders and qualifying spouses pay income tax through ordinary assessment; many foreign residents without C permits and nonresidents require wage source tax. A subsequent ordinary assessment does not itself stop withholding.
Direct remuneration from a foreign employer without a Swiss establishment ordinarily follows ordinary assessment in the verified Zurich/Geneva branches. Swiss establishment financing, a Swiss economic employer or specified overseas staff leasing can change that answer. This tax treatment does not remove social contributions: EU/EFTA employers can remain liable without a Swiss branch.
For pensions, the employer must fund at least as much as all employee contributions combined; Article 66 evidence distinguishes the statutory outer limit from earlier institutional payment terms.
The AHV leaflet, Zurich instructions and Geneva payment rules govern different liabilities. Geneva's operational guidance refers to salary payment; its statutory rule uses the taxable benefit's due date, so delaying wages does not create a tax extension. An accepted declaration is not evidence that money reached the collector.
Issue an annual salary certificate, immediately on departure abroad or death. Geneva's source-tax receipt is a separate document. The 2026 certificate guide does not impose one nationwide 31 January delivery date. Keep Zurich withholding-support records for ten years.
Add the cantonal employer liabilities
In the Zurich and Geneva examples, family-allowance contributions are employer-funded. AHV administration charges also belong to the employer. Establish the competent family fund and include declarations and payments in the calendar.
Geneva's family-fund law connects liability to the cantonal establishment or applicable domicile rule. Relevant cantonal payroll also attracts employer-only childcare and vocational contributions. They use AHV collection modalities/intervals, with permitted family-fund schedules; include the levies in that fund's assessment and wage declaration process. The standard AHV payment clock is day 10 after the assigned period, while a permitted alternative fund schedule must be confirmed. Geneva maternity/adoption contributions are shared equally, with the employer remitting both shares. These childcare rules, vocational rules and maternity rules are distinct.
Zurich's vocational fund is employer-funded and collected annually through family funds. Payroll below CHF 250,000 and qualifying training or sector-fund cases are exempt. Check January membership, eligibility and the annual fund invoice; do not deduct this levy from employees or assume paying AHV settles it.
For routine HR data, collect what is needed for suitability, employment performance and lawful administration; inform employees, secure access and retain data only for justified purposes or legal retention. Payroll outsourcing still requires those controls. Monitoring primarily to control behaviour is prohibited; legitimate systems need proportionality and prior information. FDPIC guidance applies to workplace technology too.
Leave, benefits and ongoing employer duties
Grant at least four weeks' paid annual holiday, five before age 20, including at least two consecutive weeks. Apply more generous terms and the relevant cantonal holiday calendar. Holiday guidance explains the statutory baseline.
For faultless illness, statutory full-pay continuation applies where employment has lasted, or was concluded for, more than three months: at least three weeks in service year one, appropriately longer thereafter. Later duration depends on the applicable court scale and agreement. An equivalent agreed sickness-insurance arrangement can replace this mechanism; check coverage, waiting days and employer premium share. Daily sickness insurance is not universally compulsory. SECO's absence guidance separates wages from insurance benefits.
Federal parental allowances for maternity, the other parent and adoption ordinarily require nine months of prior insurance and at least five months of paid work during that period, and qualifying employment at birth or adoption. Special rules can apply, including to unemployment or incapacity. Qualifying EO generally replaces 80% of prior earnings, subject to the statutory cap. Verify allowance eligibility separately from leave and contractual pay. Employers submit maternity/other-parent claims to the competent compensation office. Geneva adds qualifying maternity cover over 16 weeks; identify the work canton in the claim. Hospitalisation and surviving-parent rules can extend federal rights.
Maintain accident and pension cover, process family-allowance claims and remit mandatory contributions. Assess physical and psychological risks, prevent harassment, provide safe equipment and adapt work to medically established limitations and maternity protections. These health duties continue during remote work and return from absence. Sex discrimination in recruitment, pay, promotion and dismissal is prohibited. At 100 or more staff, check the statutory equal-pay analysis, verification and information duties and exemptions; repeat analysis can be required after four years.
Inform and consult staff on health/safety, business transfers and mass redundancies. At 50 workers, employees can elect representation; a qualifying one-fifth request triggers a ballot, or 100 requesters in businesses over 500. Organise the process jointly. Without representatives, participation rights belong directly to workers. The Participation Act, reproduced on printed pages 136 to 140, sets these duties.
Changing terms and ending employment
Obtain agreement to changes outside existing contractual authority, or assess a lawful termination-and-reoffer process. Written notification within one month of a specified change taking effect does not create consent to a pay cut.
After probation, default notice is one month in service year one, two in years two to nine, and three from year ten, normally ending at month-end. Lawful contract/collective variations apply. Notice takes effect on receipt; give written reasons if requested. Swiss ordinary dismissal does not generally require prior authority approval, but abusive motives, discrimination and mandatory procedures remain relevant. SECO's termination FAQ explains these distinctions.
For nonpersonal dismissals within 30 days, collective thresholds are ten in establishments normally employing more than 20 but fewer than 100; 10% at 100 to 299; and 30 at 300 or more. Social-plan negotiation has another test: employers normally at 250 or more planning at least 30 nonpersonal dismissals within 30 days. Dismissals over longer periods arising from the same operational decision are counted together. Check these statutory exit rules, including relevant exceptions, before issuing notices.
Settle final salary and other due claims at employment end, subject to lawful exceptions; provide a requested employment reference and explain insurance continuation. Abusive dismissal can trigger compensation even where employment ends; protected-period nullity is a different consequence.
For IP, define duties and rights early. Duties-based employee inventions/designs belong to the employer; acquiring work-created inventions outside duties requires written reservation, a decision within six months of employee notification and appropriate remuneration. Employee software has a special employer-use rule; other copyright, pre-existing and commissioned material need a rights-chain agreement. The Copyright Act does not automatically transfer every employee-created work.
Three situations that change the employer's action
1. The first employee starts before the first shift
Illustration: a 30-year-old Geneva employee has an indefinite CHF 60,000 contract for 40 hours weekly, with genuine employment/salary entitlement starting Sunday 1 November 2026 and the first shift on Monday 2 November. Arrange accident and eligible pension cover for the contractual start, including probation. An existing AHV number and later annual wage return do not defer either duty. Separately activate applicable Geneva payroll accounts and levies.
2. Illness interrupts an otherwise valid notice period
Illustration: a third-year employee, past probation, receives notice on 16 September 2026. With the default two-month month-end rule, the relevant notice period is 1 October to 30 November. Qualifying illness from 1 to 7 November suspends it for seven days; the month-end rule moves termination to 31 December. Recalculate final settlement. Illness before the relevant notice period, or notice received during a protected bar, requires a different analysis.
3. An overseas EOR proposes a posting notification
Illustration: an overseas agency plans to employ someone who will work under a Swiss client's direction. Typical EOR/payrolling is labour leasing; inbound leasing from abroad is prohibited. A posting notification does not cure that restriction. Verify a permissible Swiss licensed employing arrangement and the individual's work/change-of-job rights before work starts. SECO's leasing directives change the action here.
Managing these obligations through an EOR
A substantiated EOR arrangement administers employment contracts, payroll, contributions and benefits. In Switzerland, SECO's directives specifically classify typical EOR/payrolling as labour leasing. Verify the Swiss employer's cantonal licence and, where relevant, federal authorisation. New third-country admission for leasing is generally restricted; a provider's country listing does not establish candidate eligibility.
Permit duration also matters. Since 1 January 2026, EU/EFTA temporary-agency assignments longer than three months but shorter than one year use an L permit determined by the assignment, rather than an indefinite umbrella contract implying a B permit. Check current SEM guidance for the actual case.
The client must still supply accurate hours, leave and workplace information, manage safety and obtain decisions before changing terms or dismissing. Allocate these responsibilities expressly; employment administration does not establish the client's corporate-tax position. Our Switzerland EOR guide addresses the adjacent arrangement decision.
Questions employers ask about employment law in Switzerland
Must every employment contract be signed before work starts?
Ordinary contracts need not always be written. The one-month written-information duty and particular form requirements still apply. Insurance and work authorisation have their own start requirements; signing later does not defer them.
Does every employee have salary tax withheld?
No. Establish residence, permit, employer nexus and any treaty exception. Ordinary assessment and wage source tax are different, and the competent canton controls reporting and payment.
Does probation postpone pension cover?
No. Eligible cover starts with employment. Check annualised salary, age, contract duration and the pension plan.
Can an employer dismiss an employee who is sick?
After probation, qualifying incapacity creates time-limited notice protection. Notice during that bar is void; incapacity during valid notice can delay the end date. Salary continuation is a separate calculation.
Does an EOR remove the client's employment-law work?
The arrangement can administer employment obligations, but needs a lawful Swiss delivery structure and accurate client inputs. Working conditions, role changes and termination decisions still require coordination.
Borderless AI's EOR service supports contracts, payroll and benefits administration. Ask us to assess the proposed Swiss arrangement, worker eligibility and responsibility split before committing to a start date.
