Unpaid salary from a fixed-term contract not finish, is it legal ?

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hello everyone,

I check and never seen another subject on this! And I checked many hours the federal law.

I was animator in club, so I had a fixed term contract from a Swiss company for a job in Greece.

I quit my job before the date fixed because of a lot of problems in the job, I tell my agency 15 before and I left at the date we agreed.

In my contract, it was written :

"In case of anticipated rescission of the contract by part of the employee, the employer reserves the right to withhold the amount of one salary as reimbursement expenses"

But now I checked the Swiss federal law and I find this article 337d :

" 1 If an employee fails to start work or quits abruptly without just cause, the employer is entitled to compensation equal to one quarter of the monthly salary.

2 The judge may reduce the compensation at his discretion if the employer suffers no loss or if the loss is less than the compensation provided for in the previous paragraph.

3 If the right to compensation is not extinguished by compensation, it must, on pain of lapse, be exercised by legal action or prosecution within 30 days of the non-installation or abandonment of employment."

My contract states that I must refer to Swiss federal law:

"OTHER DISPOSITIONS

For all not specifically regulated in this contract, take the norms of the Swiss obligation code and the federal Law of job.

After several reminders by e-mail with the legal texts, I got no reply, and by telephone, they told me that their lawyers were very good and that it was legal to withhold a salary.

Is it really legal ?

Every year, every season, many young animators like me are scammed by this kind of agency with false promises, derisory salaries and broken promises, this subject could help more than one.

Thank you very much for your help

2
If you were employed in Greece, wouldn’t Greek employment law apply?

3
If your contract said one (month?) salary penalty then that would apply, unless somewhere in the employment law it says the one quarter is a maximum rather than a default which I don’t think is the case.

4
In fact I couldn't find anything about it

All I know that I have the Swiss contract who refer to the Swiss federal law!

5
It is the maximum, the employment law say : Art. 337d

1 If an employee fails to start work or quits abruptly without just cause, the employer is entitled to compensation equal to one quarter of the monthly salary.

6
That is not a maximum, it’s a default. Unless specifically stated a contract may override it.

For examples of clear limits see a lot of clauses in the laws on property rental where it actually says maximum or minimum.

7
You're in France, the company is here, your workplace was in Greece. This is too complex for this forum.

Your contract will mention the relevant location, this determines the competent canton. Contact the Amt für Arbeit und Wirtschaft (or similar name) of that canton. English will do fine, French may work as well.

8
That's not correct. 337d (OP didn't copy the full text): Where the employee fails to take up his post or leaves it without notice without good cause, the employer is entitled to compensation equal to one-quarter of the employee’s monthly salary; in addition he is entitled to damages for any further losses.

The employer should be able to exactly specify the further losses. It can't be a flat rate.

9
Regarding these expenses - did they provide support other than the salary (e.g. flights, accommodation)?

Taking a simple reading of the law, you've lost 1/4 month salary maybe illegally, but if they can provide reasonable evidence their costs were higher then you could lose more. IMO the potential gain is worse than the potential extra loss.