Having problem with my employer, working condition and workload

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hi Everyone,

i am new in switzerland and having some problems with my employer and working conditions. Its my first job (IT support/ mainly computer repairs) so i don’t know how to tackle these problem, like contact a lawyer, arbeitsamt etc

following are the list of problems i am having:

1- since i started working here (January), i work alone in the workshop and have never gotten a proper lunch break ( according to the law, i am entitled to a 60 minutes break)

2- i was hired as a technischen and being paid as one, but i have to do a lot of extra office work ( i confronted the Regional Manager about this Issue, to which he causally replied that you are the manager of this workshop and responsible of everything thing. When i asked him about more salary, he just laughed and said you will hear from us soon ( it was 2 months ago).

3- since march, our company had partnered up with 3 insurances, which means that my workload is doubled/ trippled and again no extra salary etc

4- in last 6 months, i have working 100+ hours as overtime. I talked with the manager about it and he said that we are understaff and for sometime it would be like that. (1 month ago)

5- i noticed that i wasn’t receiving money for overtime (which is hourly salary plus 25% or something like that) so i wrote the HR, she said i have to contact Accountant, i wrote to him and he told i have to clarify it with my regional manager, i wrote an email to the area manager and he said company’s policy is changed and now we dont pay overtime instead you will get holidays, i asked when and he said he need sine time to sort it out (1 month ago)

6- I recently received an email from Company‘s CEO that headquarter will be checking workers activities through security cameras ( i think, its also illegal in switzerland)(it was a general email for everyone)

7- So, last night i was looking at my contract ( to figure this shit out) and something else caught my eye, a competition clause that stats that after resignation i am not allowed to working an IT support Firma in whole switzerland for at least 3 years. so that was shock ( is it normal/legal? i have no idea)

so need some advice on how to tackle this situation, should i contact and lawyer/ arbeitsamt or just resign and what’s about not allowed to work in IT sector for 3 years?

any help and advice will be highly appreciated.

thanks

2
I am sorry to hear that what you have experienced.

I think there was a legal over time limit in a single year, which was 176h max. AFter that can cause serious legal problems to your company. Just to keep this in your mind.

3
Make sure your HR system is logging the hours and your holiday allowance is increasing.

As for lunch, take an hour if that’s what you want, particularly if the working day allows for an hour and you don’t get paid anyhow.

I thought it was 30 mins by law though.

4
No. It's 175 (or maybe 176) hours above the maximum allowed weekly working hours. Not 175 hours in general. If that were the case most companies would be in trouble all the time.

OP, just going to comment on the legal pieces. Any aspects om the content of the work you have no choice but to discuss with your manager and find agreement, suck it up, or leave. Having to deal with extra work or a temporary shortage of staff is something you will encounter more than oncr in your career. So learn how to deal with it. Nothing to do here from a legal perspective.

4) see in part above. 100 hours in 6 months equals an average of some 4 hours a week. Pleasant? No. But also not a ridiculous or unacceptable amount.

5) most companies escape having to pay the 25% by implementing flexible working hours/flextime. That's not the same as overtime and therefore will be paid like any other hour. You either explicitly signed this somewhere or implicitly accepted some policy that will regulate that. Note pretty much every company does it that way so you stand roughly zero chance to ask for anything here.

Extends into your complaint about lunch breaks btw. That said, if you are required to let's say show up at very spe ific times and leave at very specific times, there's some room for discussion here.

6) not allowed afaik

7) not allowed. Non-competition clauses are very hard to enforce and are very rare. Yours essentially leads to you being unable to work anywhere, which is particularly ridiculous as your job isn't even really connected to any extremely confidential material. Heck if CEOs can walk from one company to another in the same industry, an IT support guy surely can walk to another IT support company. As you signed it, it will hold legally, at least per se, but they stand no chance of enforcing that, so no worries.

5
As my mother(R.I.P.) used to say, the more you do the more that is expecting...

- You are entitled to at least a half an hour for lunch, so take it. Just tell people: I’ll have a look at that after lunch or Sorry I can’t get to that before lunch etc.

- Don’t work overtime as a rule. If something comes in late in the day, then simply say I’ll have a look at that tomorrow, unfortunately I have an appointment this evening.

- Don’t stress yourself by trying to do everything. Do what you can within a reasonable time and leave the rest. Anyone asks, simply say I’m sorry, I did not have the capacity to do everything, so I prioritized these two item or whatever.

Eventually your manager will have to address the issue by either taking on someone or asking you to do overtime, so you are in charge.

This won’t change until your manager feels the pain and this approach will do that. His customers will be pushing him to solve their problems.

And in the meantime keep an eve out for a new job.

6
What Jim2007 said. Your manager is delighted that you're sorting out his understaffing problem. As long as you keep enabling him, he's got no incentive to change anything.

I hope you've learned one thing though. Read the contract before signing it next time.

7
thank you everyone, especially Samaire13 and Jim2007.

i will talk with the manager again and give him a couple of months to sort it out, if nothing changes than there are alot jobs out there.

once again thank you very much

8
Talk is good but also cheap and effectively nothing but warm air. Nothing but signed writing counts.

So make sure you get what you agree on in writing, and have the manager and/or HR sign. If they refuse your suggestion, an alternative (for instance when to compensate your surplus hours or when to take then holiday days) should be suggested within ten business days, make sure this "suggested by date" is part of what they sign, or mention that in your communication with them, whichever is appropriate.

1) The duration of the break you're not just entitled to but are actually obligated to take depends on the hours worked. With more than 9 work hours the break must be at least one hour (this may be split up, I believe at least one block must be 30mins or more) whereas with 7-9 hours it's at least 30mins. If daily hours worked vary, the average counts.

5) Don't expect him to sort that out for you, this is your issue not his. Submit your application when you want to compensate the hours for (and also for your holiday days). Request reasonable alternatives suggested by him once he refuses your suggestions (sounds like he will, regardless of what you suggest) within ten working days - if you want to take summer holidays, suggesting November alternatively is not reasonable.

6) May be illegal, subject to details though. It's usually Ok to (at least partially) surveil sales rooms or the storage room, as well as to gather information on productivity, but not on people's actions and behaviour. The tricky part starts when the first can't be done without the second. Perhaps see this brochure .

9
So first of all, i would like to thank everyone of you, for your help and support.

and now a quick update.

i got paid in full for the overtime (+25%) and my working hours had been reduced. so feeling pretty good for now

10
Is there a way you can tell us how you went about it (obviously protecting the ID of yourself and your company)? It might be useful for someone going through a similar thing.

11

Sure thing Sandgrounder.

So i wrote an email to my Manager and the reply was the same as before

"You have to be patience, we are looking for a solution and we will get back to you soon" blablabla

So i waited for an other couple of weeks and wrote another email to the Manager, reminding him of our previous conversations and demanded to assert (geltend machen) Art. 5/7&10 of my contract . I also forwarded this email to the CEO.

Next day manager called and told me that i will be getting my overtime with next months pay. He cannot do anything about lunch break but agreed to recude my hours to 38h. I agreed but asked him to send me a confirmation email, he sent it and it was done.

*sorry for the late reply

12
Super happy that it worked out for you.

2 points for the future.

Normal working hours are up to 45 hours a week unless stipulated differently in your contract. Most companies have a 40 hour a week policy.

Nobody can enforce a clause which would forbid you to work in your field for 3 years. If such a clause meant that you could not find gainful employment, it would not be considered valid.

I’m speaking from memory here, but if I recall correctly, the first point above is in Swiss labour law.