Holidays: Who is Entitled to Paid Days Off?

In Switzerland, August 1 is the only federally regulated holiday. Other holidays are determined by the cantons and range from 8 to 15 days per year. Employees are usually off on these days unless operational needs require work. If a holiday falls on a workday, wages must still be paid.

Home Office: The same rules apply to holidays in a home office. Holidays that fall on regular workdays are paid and off, unless otherwise agreed.

Vacations: Holidays falling during vacations are not counted as vacation days. Employees are entitled to an additional day off, but only for holidays falling on a workday.

Part-Time: Part-time employees with fixed working days are off and paid if a holiday falls on one of these days. For flexible schedules, holiday entitlements are calculated proportionally (e.g., at 50% workload: 5 holidays for 10 holidays annually).

Hourly Wages: Hourly paid workers are typically not entitled to paid holidays. Instead, a surcharge of around 3.2% is often added to their gross wage to compensate for holidays.

Flexible models like annual working hours, trust-based working hours, or work time accounts help ensure equal treatment and allow holidays to be managed flexibly or credited as time off.