Pregnancy and maternity: protection regulations and maternity compensation

• Employment Law
• Private Clients
• SME

The law provides for various special provisions on any incapacity for work during pregnancy and on the entitlement to maternity leave and maternity compensation after the birth of the child.

Incapacity to work during pregnancy and continued payment of wages

A pregnant employee’s inability to work for health reasons, like any other inability to work due to illness, must always be documented by a medical certificate. The employer is obliged to continue paying wages. For the payment of wages, according to the length of service, different tables have been developed in practice. If the company has taken out daily sickness benefits insurance, there is an entitlement to the benefits in accordance with the respective contractual provisions.

Entitlement to maternity leave

All mothers who are in an existing employment relationship at the time of the birth and who have been employed for at least five of the last nine months before the birth of the child are entitled to 14 weeks or 98 days of maternity leave. Maternity leave begins on the day of the child’s birth and must be taken in one piece. The mother is absolutely prohibited from working for eight weeks after the birth. From the ninth to the 16th week, the employee can only be employed with her consent.

Amount and duration of maternity allowance during maternity leave

The actual amount of maternity allowance to which the employee is entitled after the birth corresponds to 80% of her income subject to AHV contributions. The maternity allowance is limited in the sense of a maximum amount per day, but there is no minimum amount. As of January 2023, the maternity allowance has been increased to a maximum of CHF 220 per day. The employer pays the maternity allowance; it is reimbursed to the employer by the compensation office on the basis of the Income Compensation Act (EOG).

If part-time or full-time employment is resumed before the end of the 14 weeks, the entitlement to maternity allowance ends prematurely. If the newborn child is hospitalized, the maternity allowance has been extended by the duration of the hospitalization since July 2021. This extension is limited to a maximum of eight weeks or 56 days. The prerequisite is that the child must remain in hospital for at least 14 days after birth and the mother must prove that she has decided to return to work after the end of the maternity leave.

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