Switzerland: social partners agree over changes to the recording of employee working time

On February 20, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER announced that a compromise agreement had been reached with the social partners over the issue of restricting the recording of working time. Generalized working time recording has long been a bugbear for Swiss business leaders. Federal Councilor J. Schneider-Ammann’s compromise agreement no longer obliges businesses to declare working time for employees earning more than 120,000 CHF a year. For all other employees the recording of working time will be greatly simplified. The new procedures will nonetheless have to be negotiated at branch level. After what is expected to be a fast track process through parliament the new provisions should be implemented in the third quarter 2015.
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Lightening the administrative load. It is almost five years that Swiss business bosses, the Federal Council and Parliament have discussed doing away with the recording of working time. The practice was initially aimed at eliminating abusive working time and now applies to almost all employees. However all agree that changes in the marketplace leading to a faster working pace and staffing rationalization means that the practice is applied less and less. Indeed that the task of recording working

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