Employment 2025

SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Philippe Nordmann, Irène Suter-Sieber, Jonas Knechtli and Gustaf Heintz, Walder Wyss

9. Dispute Resolution 9.1 Litigation Specialised Employment Forums

is presumed if the employee can at least substantiate this with prima facie evidence. Applicable damages/relief Under the GEA, an employee may challenge a dis - missal if it takes place without reasonable cause fol - lowing an employee’s internal complaint of discrimi - nation based on gender or an employee’s initiation of respective proceedings before a conciliation board or a court (so-called revenge dismissal). However, according to an express GEA provision, the employee may also opt against continuing the employment and claim a compensation payment for abusive termina - tion. The GEA also provides for a whole range of remedies against gender discrimination beyond the field of ter - minations of employment. In particular, an employee may claim the (retrospective and future) elimination of a discriminatory pay gap. In the case of discrimina - tion by way of sexual harassment, the employee may, inter alia, claim a compensation payment of up to six monthly average salaries in Switzerland, unless the employer proves that they took measures that have been proven in practice to be necessary and adequate to prevent against sexual harassment and which they could reasonably have been expected to take. In the case of a discriminatory refusal of employment, the employee may claim a compensation payment of up to three monthly salaries. 8.3 Digitalisation While international arbitration proceedings have been highly digitalised for quite some time, the same can - not be said about ordinary civil proceedings in Swit - zerland. However, since 1 January 2025, there has finally been a legal basis in Switzerland for conducting hearings and examining witnesses through videocon - ferencing (or teleconferencing) in ordinary civil pro - ceedings. However, this always requires the consent of all parties involved.

As a matter of principle, employment disputes between private parties are adjudicated by the ordinary judicial instances. Many cantons have established specialised employment court panels for this purpose. Special provisions apply for employment disputes where the amount in dispute is less than CHF30,000, or for disputes that are based on the GEA (see 8.2 Anti-Discrimination ). In these cases, the court gener - ally establishes the facts ex officio, and the respec - tive proceedings are characterised by their simplicity and effectiveness in terms of time and costs (there are no court fees, for example, but, subject to further cantonal exemptions, there are costs for professional representation). (No) Class Action Claims Swiss law does not provide for class action claims. However, the court may decide to order the joinder of separately filed claims. Representations in Court Generally, only lawyers are allowed to act as profes - sional representatives in court proceedings. Cantonal law may provide for exceptions from this principle, however, particularly in connection with employment law disputes. 9.2 Alternative Dispute Resolution Domestic Arbitration While the topic of the domestic arbitrability of employ - ment disputes is intensely debated in Swiss doctrine, the SFSC has recently confirmed that an employee’s claims against their employer are not arbitrable if they arise from mandatory provisions of the law or a CBA. However, the situation looks different for arbitration agreements concluded one month after the termina - tion of the employment: from this point in time, the parties may conclude an arbitration agreement with regard to any and all claims arising from the employ - ment.

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