you really need legal advice on this. Non lawyers can tell you if the experience sounds fair or not, or sounds legal or not, but that won't help you. only a lawyer can tell you if you really have a case here or not.

If there's 15K at stake, will be worth your while to see a good lawyer about this. A good one will set you back CHF 400-500 an hour, and I think you can get a first idea of whether you have a case or not in 1 hour. 

You can also see the subsidised lawyers who provide this weely service thing for chf 60 an hour (lemme know if you don't know what I'm talking about), but my experience is that in highly specific cases, like yours, those lawyers can't help too much. 

Thanks Nir 

Also just wanted to see if there were any tips or past experience etc so I can hit the ground running as this seems so bizarre to me that it kind of caught me a smidgen off guard 

I hear you bro. 

If you decide to hit a lawyer, I strongly recommend Nicolas at [email protected] (EN and FR). 

In contract to most lawyers I met, Nicolas communicated in a fast, direct, clear way. If he can give you a fast answer, he will. 

’m no expert in situations such as yours, but I would follow Nir’s suggestions and seek legal advice without further delay because you need to know where you actually stand, what has to be done, and how and where to do it, so timing could be crucial.

That’s not to belittle the value of other people’s experiencein similar situations, but the factors surrounding their case-histories will be very individual. You need to defend your interests in today’s work climate and possibly your future employment prospects in CH.

So don’t dilly-dally.  Set up that legal appointment first thing on Monday morning.

Good luck!

R.

Fazram - Firstly, I'm appalled but not surprised by the way you've been treated.

Switzerland has a terrible history of ensuring workers have no "rights" and whilst Employment Law has completely changed from even 10 years ago, some companies still rely on their employees thinking they have no rights to anything.

I completely agree with the need to get legal advice and you can also go to UNIA for assistance (they'll make you join but it's only CHF40 a month and you need to sign up for a year).  They were very instrumental in recent big pharma disputes (Merck and Novartis).

There are a couple of things to consider first though and this is advice/information that I gained from my time on a "employees working group" that I joined when the company I was working for, made everyone redundant.

Most importantly, did they give you the 3-month deal & incentives in writing?  If they didn't, unfortunately, you're entitled to nothing but your notice period.

Also check what is written in your Contract of Employment regarding notice period.

Under Swiss law - this is the MINIMUM that they are required to pay you, whether as notice, redundancy, gardening leave, whatever.  But it does ALL depend on what your contract says.  There are also legal, statutory notice periods, depending on the length of your employment if there's nothing stated in your contract.

They are also legally obliged to pay any outstanding holiday. 

If you are already in a redundancy period (which it sounds like you were) and you go sick for an extended period (I believe it's more than one month, but it may be less), your notice period is "halted" and starts again after you are deemed medically fit to return to work - EVEN IF YOUR JOB NO LONGER EXISTS.

I know this from a friend who got made redundant whilst she was due to go on maternity leave.  They (Novartis) had to pay her entire maternity leave AND her outstanding notice period when her maternity leave was finished (even though they had closed the actual building where she worked, 3 months previously!).  

It sounds also, like your Employer is using the whole "Insurance Company" thing as a smoke-screen to avoid paying you your rights. That whole story sucks and sounds like a load of B.S.

Please don't be bullied into thinking you have no rights as Swiss Employment Law has moved on, in line with other European countries' Employment Laws and you have a much better chance of retrieving your CHF15k than your employer will have you believe.

But only a professional employment lawyer will be able to help you.

Good luck and don't let the b'stards win!

The most efficient way to sort your problem (and btw, it is free)

http://ge.ch/justice/tribunal-des-prudhommes

Good luck!

Kiril:

the prodhomme is a court. You can submit a case to it for free, but doing do without getting an earlier idea of what the law says, and without a lawyer helping you draft your papers and defend you when the corporate lawyers bite back, is likely to get zeroing result and just be a waste of time.

Here is the Geneva office for the inspection de travaile.  They are a free service that will tell you your rights and if you have any recourse.

https://www.geneve.ch/ocirt/

I had a similar situation and they helped me.  All be it was in Lausanne.

If you have "protection juridique", it will provide you with legal advice, lawyers... it's an insurance,  so it will  cover all costs you can have. Unfortunately you can't apply for one now if you don't already have one, because it srarts being effective after 3 months you've been under contract.

@Nir:

yes, agree, this is a court. But it is "closed", and the its main point is find a solution between the employee and the employer. I would not post something that I don't know. A good friend of mine won a similar case recently. 

Going to Unia is too late, you need to take your "membership" during the work contract.

Corp lawyers in CH are aware of Prude'hommes, and are not happy about this ;) 

Not wanting to make direct comparisons but I had a similar case of not receiving termination pay in full.  I went to a lawyer which was expensive but one letter from him was suffcient.  I was talking a much smaller sum - around 5-6000 francs but the lawyer pointed out things that I was not aware of such as I was entitled to a portion of my thirteenth salary so although the lawyer cost nearly ariound 1000 for the one letter it was worth it.

There were no ilnnes complications in my case and that is why you must discuss with a lawyer who is an expert in employment.

Carloyn has suggested a UNIA lawyer which might be worthwhile going to them for an initial assessment - have no experience of them but if they are like the ASLOCA lawyers, they are could as they will go for the jugular and win

I would sugest to first know your rights and whether the company can do what they did.  For this you don't need to see a lawyer.  you can go to the inspection de travail.  If you have been wronged (in the eyes of the law) than that is the time to contact a lawyer. 

Unless it is a non-profit organisation that is providing the legal services or if you have legal insurance, lawyers often will give you advice that benifits their invoicing and not with your best intrests at heart.  I'm not saying all lawyers are like this but enough to be careful.

If you do seek a lawyer make sure it is one that is specialized in work place and work contract law.

Afternoon all, sorry for the momentary radio silence (i've been checking my emails)

Thank you all for the time you took to give me some advice, it put back some of the wind knocked out of my sails. It really is very much appreciated.

I will keep you updated further down the road.

Good to see your post.  I began to wonder whether you’d been knocked for six.

Courage!  R.

Please folks. Leaning from situations like this. If you live in CH, you need LEGAL PROTECTION INSURANCE.

The main ones are Assista (TCS) and DAS. There are others of course, mostly tied into the insurance companies.

A mentioned, a simple lawyer's letter will set you back CHF 500 then follow up etc. etc.

It simply amazes me (no offence to the OP) that well paid expats (your typical Glocals group) live and work in CH and do not have an inexpensive legal insurance (< CHF 200/year).

Enough said. Hopefully I have helped one person today to avoid a situation like this.

Having legal protection is indeed mostly recommended but sadly it doesn't seem that Farzam has one...

So in his case he will have to deal without it, like many expat that were not aware of such cover.

And for reminder, you, Glocals members, have the opportunity to get a legal protection for private, with/without traffic issues with the discount given to Glocals members.

At your disposal if you need further information,

cheers

Aymeric, your Glocals agent 

Be very careful in choosing legal insurance..shop around and read the small print (for which you might actually need a lawyer!)

For those German speakers among us, check out 

http://www.srf.ch/konsum/tests/kassensturz-tests/rechtsschutz-versicherungen-nur-wenige-sind-empfehlenswert

I wholeheartedly agree with Verbier.  In a country like Switzerland, where people are constantly trying to screw you for money, you need a legal insurance.

I have one and I've contacted them 4 times in the last year.

So get one ASAP as it'll be of crucial utility for you when you'll be dealing not only with work issues (the mentality in Switzerland being stuck at XIX century, when workers had no rights and could be exploited by the haute bourgeoisie), but also with housing matters.