Swiss household employment
Lohnfortzahlung: paying the wage while your Helper is ill
Also written: Lohnfortzahlung · Maintien du salaire · Continuazione del pagamento del salario
What is Lohnfortzahlung, and when do I owe it?
Lohnfortzahlung is the full wage you keep paying, as the employer, for a limited time while your Helper is ill through no fault of their own, unless an equivalent insurance replaces it. How long depends on your canton's standard contract for household work and on how long the employment has lasted (Art. 324a CO).
Full wage or a share of itWhat it means if you employ someone at home
When your Helper reports ill, keep paying the wage as usual and write down the sick days and the hours missed. Then read your canton's standard contract for household work together with your written contract. They set how long you pay, from which day you may ask for a medical certificate, and whether a daily sickness insurance is required.
You are the employer. With Helpore Admin, Helpore fills in a contract template if you want one and, under your signed power of attorney, files the declarations and produces the payslip in your name; with Admin Light, Helpore prepares the maths and the documents and you file and pay. Both are optional. You stay the employer in every case and can also do all of this yourself.
What the Code of Obligations says
Art. 324a of the Code of Obligations protects the wage of an employee who cannot work through no fault of their own, for example because of illness. Your household, as the employer, then keeps paying the wage for a limited time.
Only an arrangement that protects your Helper at least as well can replace this duty. It must be agreed in writing or set by a standard or collective employment contract. Usually, that is a daily sickness insurance.
Full wage or a share of it
Without insurance, you pay the full usual wage for the days your Helper cannot work, as if they had worked. Where your canton's standard contract requires a daily sickness insurance and you have not taken it out, you can owe your Helper what that insurance would have paid.
With a daily sickness insurance agreed in writing, the insurer pays a daily allowance for the days it covers, usually a share of the wage. Whether you still owe something, for example during a waiting period, depends on the policy, your contract and your canton's standard contract. The page on daily sickness insurance (KTG) explains when it replaces your duty.
How the wage is worked out
You pay what your Helper would have earned by working: the agreed hours or the planned visits that fall in the illness, at the usual rate, with the parts of the wage that would have come with them, and a fair amount for any board or lodging your Helper loses.
When the hours vary, use a representative average of the hours your Helper worked for you before the illness, so a week without a planned visit does not make the wage zero.
Sources: Code of Obligations (CO), Art. 324a; SECO's questions and answers on inability to work; and the cantonal standard contracts for household work.
Common questions
Do I have to pay my Helper when they are ill?
Yes, for a limited time. As the employer, you owe the wage when your Helper is ill through no fault of their own and the conditions of Art. 324a CO or your canton's standard contract are met. This applies to every household job, such as cleaning, childcare or care, paid by the hour or by the month.
Does my Helper get the full wage while ill?
Without a daily sickness insurance (KTG), yes, for the limited time the law or your canton's standard contract sets; where that contract requires it and you have none, you can owe what it would have paid. With insurance, the insurer pays a share of the wage for the days it covers. The KTG page explains when that replaces your duty.
Are the hours paid when my Helper is ill?
Yes. With an hourly wage you pay the hours your Helper would have worked for you during the illness: the agreed hours or the planned visits. When the hours vary, use a representative average from the time before the illness, so a week without a planned visit does not make the wage zero.
How is the wage worked out during illness?
You pay what your Helper would have earned by working: the usual wage for the hours missed, with the parts that normally come with it, not only the hourly rate. Write down the sick days, the hours affected and the amount you paid, so you and your Helper can both check the sum.
My Helper also works for other households: who pays?
Each household is a separate employer and pays only for the hours agreed with it, under its own contract. The length of employment also counts separately in each household, from the day that employment began. Your Helper reports ill to every household whose work is affected.
Does sick pay start again with every illness?
No. All sick days in a year of service are added together until your Helper's entitlement for that year runs out. A new year of service starts on the anniversary of the employment's start, not automatically in January. How long depends on your canton's standard contract for household work and on how long the employment has lasted (Art. 324a CO).