SWITZERLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Philippe Nordmann, Irène Suter-Sieber, Jonas Knechtl and Gustaf Heintz, Walder Wyss
employees who perform telework to organise their working hours more flexibly by extending the period for daytime and evening work and shortening the daily rest period, allowing for up to six days of “Sunday work” (it is generally prohibited to work on a Sunday or public holiday in Switzerland) of no more than five hours per day without the employer requiring a spe - cial permit, as well as introducing an employee’s right to disconnect during specific times (eg, during daily rest periods, on Sundays or while on vacation). It is currently still unclear if and when these changes will come into effect as parliamentary discussions are still on-going. New Case Law Regarding the Gig Economy On 5 February 2025, the SFSC ruled that a Geneva- based food delivery service company was engaged in a staff leasing operation. The delivery service compa - ny had entered into a licence agreement with Uber to use the UberEats app in order to process orders and had employed approximately 400 couriers to deliver the food orders to customers in the Geneva area. The SFSC dismissed the delivery service’s appeal against the ruling of the Geneva Cantonal Court, which had also classified the Geneva-based company’s activities as constituting staff leasing. While it remains unclear how many other Swiss-based companies have been operating under the same set- up, this recent decision will likely impact the gig and platform economy in Switzerland given that staff leas - ing is a highly regulated industry. Companies who wish to engage in staff leasing in Switzerland are subject to a generally applicable collective bargaining agreement if staff leasing is the company’s main activity, are gen - erally obliged to use government approved employ - ment and service contracts and generally have to obtain a governmental licence. Non-compliance with these regulations can even result in criminal prosecu - tion, not only of the service provider engaging in staff leasing operations, but also of the service recipient. Revision of the Swiss Civil Procedure Code On 1 January 2025, a revised version of the Swiss Civil Procedure Code came into force and with it several amendments to provisions that affect employment- related civil proceedings.
Under Swiss civil procedure law, the claiming party generally has to pay an advance on the estimated court costs before the court will review said party’s claim. This obligation of upfront payment has been widely criticised by consumer protection advocates in particular, who claimed that it limited access to the Swiss civil court system for persons with limited finan - cial means. While Swiss procedure laws do foresee free access to the Swiss court system, such legal aid is limited to situations where the aid-seeking party does not have the necessary resources to pursue their claim and their claim does not appear futile to the competent court. In order to increase the accessibility of the Swiss civil court system, the new Swiss Civil Procedure Code now places a limit on the advance payments courts can require from the claimant party. Under the new regime, such advances are limited to a maximum of 50% of the estimated court costs with exceptions applying to a few specific proceedings (eg, concili - ation and appeal proceedings where the authorities may still request an advance of up to 100% of the estimated court costs). While no court fees can be levied on the parties if an employment-related court proceeding is limited to an amount in dispute of a maximum of CHF30,000, no such exception applies to disputes in excess of this threshold. This means that the new cost regime will also provide a certain degree of relief from advance costs for parties with employ - ment-related claims in excess of CHF30,000. Further - more, under the new Swiss Civil Procedure Code the court has to refund the winning party any advances on court costs it might have paid and can no longer offset such advances against the court costs incurred. Thus, the parties to the proceeding no longer bear the collection or credit risk of the other party for the state’s court costs. Rather, it is now the state that has to claim such costs from the losing party. Also, while there had been a brief exception during the COVID-19 pandemic, until recently Swiss civil courts have not had a legal basis on which to conduct hear - ings by video or telephone conference. This has now been amended under the new Swiss Civil Procedure Code. As of 1 January 2025, Swiss courts may, upon request or on their own initiative, conduct oral pro - ceedings by video or telephone conference provided
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