Paid and Unpaid Leave

Paid leave is granted as required for certain family events and for attending to personal matters. The legal basis for this is §§ 84 et seq. of the implementation ordinance of the employment act of the Canton of Zurich (VVO).

see Legal Foundations and Employment Conditions

The number of working hours used for this must be kept to a minimum.

Unpaid leave can be granted with the agreement of the line manager, operational interests permitting. The application for this must be submitted to the Human Resources Department as early as possible before the start of the unpaid leave in the form of an employment order ("Verfügung") from the responsible HR representative.

If unpaid leave lasts more than a month, the risk insurance for death and disability from the pension fund will lapse. The employee can maintain this cover at their own cost, however. The application for this must be submitted to the pension fund (BVK or VSAO) no later than one month before the start of the unpaid leave. If the application is submitted late, it will no longer be possible to maintain the risk insurance.

Application for maintenance of risk insurance form (BVK)* (external form in German)

Application for maintenance of risk insurance form (VSAO) (PDF, 98 KB)* (external form in German)

Mandatory accident cover for non-work-related accidents lapses for employees on unpaid leave after 31 calendar days. They can, however, take out interim accident insurance to extend their accident cover for up to six months. This is recommended for people who are planning to take unpaid leave of more than a month.

Further information:

AXA interim accident insurance

Fact Sheet on Unpaid Leave (PDF, 107 KB)

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