Does anyone have a copy of an English contract for a nanny I could look at? Any practical information on how to do all the registration of a household employee and the taxes/pension one has to pay? I have offered someone a position that I found through the forum. Unfortunately, Care4Kids couldn't help me nor the other agencies, so I don't have the benefit of all their information on how to register properly and put together a contract here in Switzerland. I have contracts from the US and UK where I have employed nannies before so can work off of those, however don't know what I need to include/exclude here. I have the name of a website for employing household help in Switzerland, but my German isn't that good so I'd appreciate any knowledge out there. thanks, Ellen
I can PM you a copy of ther one we use - my wife is a lawyer & it's a solid starting point for your own version. I will need to do so tonight, though.
Also, re tax and general employer's obligations, we were advised by Grether MacGeorge GmbH. they, and we, are based in Basel. They are set up expressly to advise UK expats in Switzerland on tax and legal issues.
I've not enough time to write much more now, but will try to help where I can.
JC: If you can send me a private message with the contract and the details of the tax/legal firm, I'd appreciate it. I'm in Zurich, but assume they will know that as well. Thanks, Ellen
OK, so at last I have the contract and EF works again. The attached contract was drafted specifically for our needs (being full time Nanny, live out, 2 kids, etc) although it should also serve as a reasonably solid template based on which you can make changes as appropriate to your needs. The only cautionary note here is that inserting / modifying a clause should still be 'reasonable' in the eyes of the law.
thanks so much for the contract. I will look at it - I'm sure it will be great. I already have a UK/US version that I've used for our full time/live-out/1 kid so I'm just trying to make sure I do all the right Swiss stuff. Thanks for your help. Ellen
I've hired a nanny, found through the English Forum. Now I need to figure out the process to register - pension, taxes, health insurance, etc. I have been given a site keine-schwarzarbeit, but even with a little German, having a tough time navigating. Can anyone help with what I need to do to register an employee? What entities I need to go to, what forms to fill in, etc? I live outside Zurich (in Hombrechtikon). THANKS!!!!
I merged these threads because you maybe have to read the cleaner thread again, to know if you need to set up a pension fund (Pensionskasse) for the employee. If that is so, maybe somebody will post a link to an insurer that he uses for a similar employment or considers a good company anyway.
Does anyone know if such a contract is legally valid and binding in the case of a non work permit situation ? Would one do it to have common set of reference ?
If you could send me a PM as well with the contact details of the tax firm you used I would greatly appreciate it! I am in the process of becoming an employer for the first time too (hiring a nanny) and it is not so easy...
I was also wondering about food expenses for a nanny - she is probably eating at an employer's place, right? So do I have to provide her food or is she bringing her own lunch with her? The sample contract does not mention anything in this regard.
Depends on how stingy you are. I provide all of my nanny's food for her while she is working I would not expect her to cook for the kids and them eat something she has brought herself.
My babies are 5 months old, so there is no way she is going to eat the same food .
I have nothing against providing some extra food for her as well, however I am wondering if I have to do some extra shopping for her, like buy vegies, meat, drinks, etc. And how to separate our food from hers - e.g. don't want to come home after work and find out my meal has been eaten already...
Do you discuss with your nanny what to buy for her? And how much extra does it cost you?
As with a lot of things, it comes down to communication and common sense. I would ask the person what would make the most sense to her. You could give her an "allowance" to purchase food and bring her lunch with her. This might be the simplest for everyone. You could agree to have her do the shopping for herself and leave the food at your place. You could do the shopping etc. etc.
Lunch would probably not cost more than CHF 10 per day if she is making it herself.
Together we came up with a system whereby I marked all the food I bought specifically for meals I intended to cook with a red pen and she would not use these items. Everything else she could use, she would also give me lists of what she would like me to buy for meals she was preparing. It does not need to cost that much extra, that would depend on whether she is eating only lunch at your place or evening meal too. If only lunch then I would think sandwiches or simple things would be perfectly acceptable. You should talk to your nanny and see what she thinks about the food situation.
We have recently moved to Switzerland and have found a nanny to hire. I notice on this forum that you posted a sample nanny contract some time ago. Would you be able to repost it or send it to me separately?
Or if anyone else has a sample contract, would they be able to post it?