Your last day as a cleaner or nanny: final pay and documents

First, confirm how the employment is ending

Check the employer named in your contract, the contract type and the household employment rules for your canton, which a cantonal standard employment contract may set. A fixed term job normally ends on its agreed date. Leaving earlier requires a separate lawful basis. On an open ended contract the notice period is one month in the first year of service, two months from the second to the ninth year and three months after that, always to the end of a month; during probation it is seven days (Art. 335b and Art. 335c CO). After probation, a written agreement or your canton's standard contract can change the notice period, but neither can set it below one month (Art. 335c para. 2 CO). During probation, either can also shorten the seven day notice (Art. 335b para. 2 CO), and some cantons' standard contracts do. Our notice period reference has the starting points.

If you want to resign

For an open ended job, give clear notice in the required form and keep evidence that the household received it. What counts is the day the household receives your notice, not the day you post it. Writing is compulsory where the applicable contract or rules require it; a written record is useful in any event. The federal portal has a short page on giving notice.

If the household is ending your employment

Note the day the notice reached you. If you are ill, injured or pregnant, get the proposed end date checked promptly. After probation, a notice from the household is void if it is given while illness or an accident through no fault of your own keeps you fully or partly from working, for 30 days in your first year of service, 90 days from the second to the fifth year and 180 days from the sixth, or during pregnancy and the 16 weeks after the birth; a notice given earlier stops running during that time and resumes afterwards (Art. 336c CO, SECO answers on notice). None of this applies when you resign or a fixed term simply runs out. Your canton's standard contract can extend this protection.

A cancelled visit does not end a job. Ask what the household means and clarify the remaining work and pay. Do not use the last scheduled visit alone as your employment end date.

Compare your hours, payslip and payment

Begin with the work record

List the period your final wage should cover. For hourly work, compare the agreed visits with the hours actually worked. Leave changes and cancellations visible rather than silently removing them from the record. Whether a cancelled hour is paid is a separate question; your list only shows that it was cancelled.

For a monthly wage, check which employment period the final payslip covers. If the last working day differs from the employment end date, record both. An instruction to stop attending does not, by itself, explain how the remaining period has been treated.

Use records you already have: your calendar, timesheets, payslips and messages about the schedule. Note where the household's record and yours differ. Store only relevant employment evidence, without collecting private family documents or photographs of children.

Read the calculation on the payslip

Match the period and recorded wage or hours to the final payslip. Read gross pay, each addition, each deduction and net pay separately. If an adjustment refers to an earlier month, find that payslip too. A final total is easier to understand when you can trace what changed.

Ask what an unfamiliar line means. For a correction, identify the original item and the change you think is needed. File the household's explanation with the payslip. The Federal Supreme Court requires a clear written wage statement that lists each addition and each deduction.

Check what reached you

Compare net pay with your payment records. Note the amount, date and pay period of each payment already received. If a transfer combines several periods, ask for the allocation before treating it as the final settlement.

Store the payslip and the payment evidence together. A payslip sets out a calculation; it does not by itself prove that you received the money. A bank transfer will not tell you how the hours or the holiday were counted, so you need both.

Check holiday and other outstanding items

Holiday already taken or paid

Bring together your holiday record and the relevant payslips. Check holiday earned, holiday taken and any holiday compensation already shown. Do not add an estimated balance to your wage without first checking these items.

Holidays should normally be taken as time off. Payment for a remaining balance is possible only when the conditions for a final cash settlement are met. Whether holiday can reasonably be taken during the remaining employment needs a case specific check.

For hourly work, an amount labelled holiday pay does not settle every question by itself. Check whether compensation was validly paid and avoid counting the same entitlement twice. If you cannot reconcile the records, ask for the holiday calculation. Our hourly wage and holiday pay guide shows the detail to look for.

Extra hours and contractual payments

Record extra hours separately from your ordinary hours, with the day and any instruction or agreement about them. Whether the work was ordered, necessary or accepted can affect how it is settled. Unless something else is agreed in writing or set by your canton's standard contract, overtime is paid at your normal wage plus at least 25 percent, or made up with time off of at least the same length if you agree (Art. 321c CO, SECO answers on overtime).

Check any thirteenth salary or other contractual extra only if you are entitled to it. An entitlement under the contract and a discretionary bonus need separate checks. Ask which agreement or rule was used if the final statement includes or omits such an item.

Necessary work expenses

List outstanding necessary employment expenses separately from wages, with the date, purpose and any receipt. Check what has already been reimbursed. Do not confuse these expenses with ordinary commuting or a service refund. Article 327a of the Code of Obligations requires the employer to reimburse all expenses necessarily incurred in performing the work.

If an item is missing or looks wrong

Write down the item, the period and the document supporting your question. Say whether you need a missing payslip, an explanation of a calculation, a correction or clarification of a payment. These requests are easier to answer than a message saying only that the final amount is wrong.

You can adapt this message:

I am checking the final pay and documents for my employment. My work record and the payslip appear to differ on the hours recorded. Could you explain which hours the payslip covers and check the difference with the record I am attaching? Please also confirm which payments have already been included and when I will receive the outstanding employment documents.

Replace the example issue with what you actually found. Send only the relevant record, keep a copy and retain the reply. If the household provides a corrected payslip, keep it with the original so the change remains understandable.

If a disagreement continues, take the contract, notice, payslips, payment evidence and correspondence to a qualified adviser. Bring everything; an adviser will want the papers, not a summary.

Keep the right documents for this job

Ask for what applies to the payroll procedure used for your employment, and clarify when and how it will reach you.

SECO lists the ordinary payroll documents, and the simplified procedure for household employers is set out on a compensation office page.

For an employment reference, you can expressly request a simple confirmation covering only the nature and duration of employment instead of a full reference. It is not a salary certificate.

“A good employment reference should let the next household understand the work without having to decode it. Clear duties, honest wording and the right dates respect both the Helper and the household.”

Gilberto de la Fuente, Helpore

Your final pay and documents checklist