Sick pay (OR Art. 324a)

Salary continuation during illness, the three regional scales, and how KTG insurance changes the picture.

The obligation

Under OR Art. 324a, where an employee is prevented from working through no fault of their own — illness, accident, pregnancy, the performance of a statutory duty — the employer must continue paying salary for a limited period, provided the employment relationship has lasted or was agreed for more than three months.

The law says “a limited period” and specifies only the first year (three weeks). For subsequent years the courts apply one of three regional scales. Which one applies depends on the canton of the workplace.

The three scales

The applicable scale defaults from the employee’s canton and can be overridden per employee — for example where a GAV specifies one.

Years of service below are read as half-open ranges — 1–2 means “at least one year, less than two” — which is exactly how the platform resolves them.

Berner scale

The most widespread — Bern, Aargau, Solothurn and others.

Years of service	Weeks
0–1	3
1–2	4
2–4	9
4–10	13
10–15	17
15–20	22
20–25	26
25 and over	30

Basler scale

Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft. More generous early — nine weeks from one year of service, where the Berner scale gives four.

Years of service	Weeks
0–1	3
1–3	9
3–10	13
10–15	17
15–20	22
20–25	26
25 and over	30

Zürcher scale

Zürich. Eight weeks from one year of service, growing steadily.

Years of service	Weeks
0–1	3
1–3	8
3–10	13
10–15	17
15–20	22
20–25	26
25 and over	30

All three converge from four years of service onwards. They differ exactly where most disputes arise — the first three years.

What the platform computes

For an employee and a date it resolves the applicable scale, the service years, and the weeks of entitlement — and reports how much of that entitlement the current absence has consumed. The employee sees their own entitlement in the portal; HR sees it on the record.

Daily-sickness-benefit insurance (KTG)

Most Swiss employers carry a KTG policy, which changes the arrangement materially:

• The insurer pays a daily benefit — typically 80% of salary — after a waiting period.
• The employer’s Art. 324a obligation is discharged provided the insurance is at least equivalent to what the scale would have produced.
• The employer usually continues paying during the waiting period.

The insurance contracts configured in payroll master data determine how the absence appears on the payslip and in the declaration.

Accident is not illness

Accident is covered by mandatory UVG insurance, with its own benefits, its own waiting period, and its own Lohnart. This is why the platform records ACCIDENT as a distinct absence type from SICK: recording an accident as illness routes the payout through the wrong item and produces a wrong declaration.

Medical certificates

Most contracts require a certificate from a defined day of absence. The platform tracks the requirement, chases it, and stores the document — with access checked per request, because a medical certificate is the most sensitive category of data the system holds.

Protection against termination

Separately from pay, OR Art. 336c protects an employee against termination during illness or accident for a period that grows with service years — 30 days in the first year, 90 days from the second to the fifth, 180 days thereafter. These protection periods do not apply during probation.

The platform computes salary-continuation entitlement. It does not compute Art. 336c protection periods or block a termination. That determination stays with HR.