Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody could help me with this; I’m in the process of booking my holiday off work for the coming year and now my boss has informed that I have to use half of my allocation (that’s 2 weeks for me) in one go (consecutively) whereas I would like to take it as separate weeks.
I’ve read the company rules and it clearly states that the company ‘recommends’ you to do this, but the word recommend obviously doesn’t mean it’s obligatory. My boss is now telling me it is. Has anybody else had this problem and does anybody know if it is a Swiss law that this is so? I’ve tried looking on the internet but it’s not easy to understand.
Das Gesetz sieht vor, dass je Dienstjahr mindestens zwei Ferienwochen zusammenhängen müssen (Art. 329c Abs. 1 OR).
Sprechen keine konkreten betrieblichen Interessen gegen den Bezug von drei Wochen Ferien am Stück, so hat der Arbeitgeber dem Arbeitnehmer diese zu gewähren.
Thanks for the quick reply. That’s a real downer that Switzerland actually has this as a law, but then again it is Switzerland so it doesn’t surprise me. Thanks again for your help
Its actually there for the protection of the employees. To make sure they get some adequate downtime at least once a year. I, for one, think its a good thing. Together with some other Labor laws in Switzerland.
Didn't know this and neither my employer said anything since in the last 5 years I only took 2 weeks consecutive holidays once. So, today I've learned something new...
Take the two weeks in the time from Christmas to New Year. If you have Boxing Day (26.12) and Berchtoldstag (2.1) and the day fall right you get a two week period without contributing much holiday days.
Ascension and Pentecost are just 10 days apart, Pentecost and Corpus Christi 11 days. If those are local holydays at your place of work you can also use them to your advantage. Pentecost falls depending on first spring new moon on 10. May to 13. June. A nice time for travel. Not too hot not too cold, already green, not too many folks with kids.
Also August 1st and August 15th for cantons Aargau, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Fribourg, Jura, Lucerne, Nidwalden, Obwalden, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Ticino, Uri, Valais, Zug.
Also check what your company/employer gives you over Christmas/New Year. Husband’s firm gives him Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve this year so to be off from 24th December through to 2nd January he only needs 3 days of his holiday allowance.
Thanks for the advice regarding taking those free days, some of them I’ve already booked I have to work enough overtime in order to be able to have time off through the Christmas period. The other problem is tying my holidays in with my girlfriend as she’s restricted to what months she can take hers (regarding school holidays)
Yeah I know a few countries have a similar concept as here, but I was saying I’m not surprised Switzerland falls into that group. It really is a ‘work priority’ country.
That’s all well and good but it actually has the opposite affect for me for various reasons. It might be a good thing for people like you and many others but I don’t see why they should assume everybody is in the same situation, that’s not the way it works unfortunately.
If you work in Finance, you are often required to take two weeks of consecutive leave for another reason: it is an important fraud control. The idea is that if you've been covering something up, two weeks with someone else doing your job is enough to detect the fraud. The FSA guidance around this came directly as a result of the hidden trades of rogue trader Jerome Kerviel, at Societe Generale.
Yeah, damn those Swiss and their crazy ideas about 'quality of life'. Things like this must be why the country is such a chaotic and miserable shithole.