Posting: legal basis

The Posting of Workers Act regulates the working and wage conditions for employees posted to Switzerland. It ensures that minimum wages, working hours, and health protection are respected. Together with other labor and immigration law provisions, it forms the legal framework for postings to Switzerland.

Entsendegesetz

The Posted Workers Act (PWA, in German) and its related ordinance (in German) ensure minimum working and pay conditions for workers posted to Switzerland by applying certain Swiss regulations to posted workers.

• Applicable rules

  The applicable rules and those areas concerned mirror those in the European directive on the posting of workers (96/71/EC). The following areas are regulated:

  • Work and rest periods
  • Minimum annual paid holiday
  • Minimum pay
  • Occupational health and safety
  • Protection of pregnant women, women who have recently given birth, children and young people
  • Equal treatment of men and women

  insofar as the regulations are contained in:

  • Federal acts and Federal Council ordinances
  • Collective employment contracts that have been declared generally applicable
  • Standard employment contracts.

• Notification procedure

  The PWA also lays down the notification requirement, which has replaced the permit requirement for job postings of up to 90 days from an EU/EFTA country. As the name suggests, the notification requirement merely requires that notification be submitted for eligible postings; no permit is required.

• Inspections and sanctions

  The PWA also prescribes inspections as well as sanctions for offences. Compliance with minimum pay and working conditions is inspected through spot checks by the social partners committees (for industries with a generally applicable collective employment contract), cantonal tripartite committees (for industries with standard employment contracts stipulating mandatory minimum pay), cantonal labour inspectorates (working hours, and health and safety) and Suva (health and safety).

  Violations of the PWA may result in:

  • Administrative sanctions (fines up to CHF 30,000, exclusion from the Swiss market for one to five years, inspection costs covered by offending employers)
  • Criminal sanctions (fines up to CHF 1,000,000, seizure of assets such as unlawful earnings), and
  • Sanctions set out in the generally applicable collective employment contract.

  Under the PWA, sanctioned companies are added to a public list that can be consulted under Costs and sanctions > Imposed service bans to determine whether a service provider has previously committed a major infraction. Finally, the PWA lays down the right of labour or employer organisations to bring action seeking an investigation of possible violations of the PWA.

  The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs is responsible for supervising enforcement of the PWA.

Further legal basis

When posting foreign employees to Switzerland, the main labor and immigration law provisions must be observed:

• Agreement with the EU on the Free Movement of Persons

  • Agreement with the EU on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP), Art. 5 AFMP and Art. 17–23 Annex 1 AFMP (available in DE, FR, IT)
  • Freedom of Movement Introduction Ordinance (FMIO) (available in DE, FR, IT)

• Posted Workers Act

  • Posted Workers Act (PWA) (available in DE, FR, IT)
  • Posted Workers Ordinance (PWO) (available in DE, FR, IT)

• Law on foreign nationals

  • Federal Act on Foreign Nationals (FNA)
  • Ordinance on Admission, Period of Stay and Employment (ASEO) (available in DE, FR, IT)

• Employment contract law and collective employment law

  • Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), Art. 319–362 CO
  • Federal Act on the Declaration of the General Application of Collective Employment Agreements (DGAA) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Collective labour agreements declared universally binding (available in DE, FR, IT)
  • Standard employment contracts with mandatory minimum wages (available in DE, FR, IT)

• Regulations relating to occupational health and safety as well as work and rest periods

  • Employment Act (EmpA) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance 1 to the Employment Act (General Ordinance) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Maternity protection ordinance (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance 2 to the Employment Act (Special Provisions for Specific Groups of Businesses or Employees) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance 3 to the Employment Act (Health Protection) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance 4 to the Employment Act (Industrial Plants, Planning Approval and Operating Licences) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance 5 to the Employment Act (Youth Employment Protection Ordinance) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance on hazardous work for young people (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • EAER ordinance on exceptions to the prohibition of night and Sunday work during vocational education and training (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Federal Act on Employment in Public Transport Companies (Working Hours Act, WHA) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance on Employment in Public Transport Companies (Working Hours Ordinance, WHO) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance on Working Hours and Rest Periods for Professional Vehicle Drivers (Drivers Ordinance, WHRPO 1) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance on Working Hours and Rest Periods for Professional Drivers of Light Passenger Transport Vehicles and Heavy Automobiles (WHRPO 2) (available in DE, FR, IT)
    
  • Ordinance on Safety and Health Protection of Employees in the Construction Industry (Construction Industry Health and Safety Ordinance, CIHSO) (available in DE, FR, IT)

Related topics and applications