Submission Deadlines#
Standard Swiss employment contracts require a doctor's note from the 3rd or 4th consecutive day of absence, though employers can contractually demand it from day one.
Strict Medical Confidentiality#
The certificate specifies the degree (e.g., 50% or 100%) and expected duration of incapacity, but strictly omits the clinical diagnosis, which is protected by medical secrecy laws.
Statutory Sick Pay and Daily Allowance Insurance#
Under collective daily sickness allowance insurance (KTG), employees typically receive 80% of insured gross wages for up to 720 to 730 days following an agreed waiting period.
Statutory Dismissal Protection Periods (Art. 336c CO)#
Employers cannot terminate sick employees during statutory black-out periods: 30 days during the 1st year of service, 90 days from years 2 to 5, and 180 days from the 6th year onward.
Independent Medical Examiner Evaluations#
Employers may request a second opinion from an independent company doctor (Vertrauensarzt) at their own expense to confirm physical work capacity.
Partial incapacity and a phased return#
Doctors often certify partial working capacity (for example 50 %). During that period you deliver half your usual work and the rest of your salary is covered by the daily sickness benefit insurance. Agree your limits openly with your line manager.
Reporting sick in factual terms: a template#
Most conflicts arise not from the illness but from the communication. A short notification with five details fulfils your obligations and avoids follow-up questions:
- Subject line with name and personnel number
- Start of the incapacity for work with date
- Expected duration, if known
- Medical certificate: available / will follow / will be presented on request
- Availability for urgent questions
Formulated as an email: “Dear Ms M., I am reporting myself unfit for work due to illness as of today, 12 November. I have the medical certificate and am sending it to you. I expect to return on 18 November and am reachable by email for urgent questions. Kind regards.” Nothing more is needed – and above all no diagnosis.
Volunteering a diagnosis is rarely wise: it opens up questions which you may not be able to control later.
Return and reintegration: the first weeks count#
After a longer period of incapacity for work, the return phase decides whether the position holds. Four points should be clarified in advance:
- Describe capacity for work precisely. “100 % fit for work” and “80 % fit for work, no night shifts” are different statements – have the certificate issued accordingly.
- Agree a phased return. A step-by-step plan over four to six weeks is easier to implement in the company than an immediate full load.
- Relapse into the same illness. Anyone absent again due to the same illness does not automatically lose the salary entitlement – the rules on continued salary payment continue to apply depending on the agreement.
- Conversation instead of monitoring. A return-to-work conversation with the line manager is customary and legitimate. It does not have to answer questions about the diagnosis – you may stay with capacity for work.
Tactically important: put the step-by-step plan in writing. Verbal arrangements about a reduced workload percentage are the most common cause of disputes over salary in the return phase.