Switzerland - Fathers’ right to paternity leave - September 30, 2021

One year after a nationwide vote, most new fathers now have the right to two weeks of paternity leave - the legal minimum - to help look after a new-born child. However, unions complained about the large disparities between different sectors. According to a study by independent workers’ umbrella organisation Travail.Suisse and the Bern University of Applied Sciences, 65% of employees have the right to two weeks of paid paternity leave, 19% can take between 11-19 days and 16% can take more than 19 days. Previously, men were not entitled to any statutory days off after the birth of a child, although they could request one or two days’ leave under the code of obligations in Swiss labour law.

Read on: in English.

For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.