Suspicious payslip deduction rates

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
1

In the last 18 months I moved from Employer 1 (a Swiss federal research institute) to Employer 2 (a small US company, employed via an intermediary) to Employer 3 (a larger US company, employed via another intermediary). My salary increased 1 → 2 → 3, but not drastically.

I compared the payslip deductions and rates between the three jobs:

Deduction     | Employer 1 | Employer 2 | Employer 3
--------------|------------|------------|-----------
AHV (OASI)    | 5.3%       | 5.3%       | 5.3% 
ALV (UI)      | 1.1%       | 1.1%       | 1.1%
NBUV (SUVA)   | 0.491%     | -          | 0.73%
KTG (DSA)     | 0.294%     | 0.411%     | 0.6395%
Extra acc ins | -          | -          | 0.1340%

My question is, do the rates at my current employer seem high to you, especially for SUVA (non-professional accident insurance) and DSA (daily sickness benefits)? SUVA baffles me; I know someone who is out of work and had to take out a non-professional accident insurance themselves, and they and paid less than a half of my deduction.

The vibes I’m getting from both the current employer and the intermediary is that they would bend the rules if it saved them money, hence my suspicions.

2

As they are out of work, I assume they got the accident insurance via their health insurance? It’s normal that the health insurance add-on is significantly less expensive than e.g. SUVA NBU as the health insurance covers a lot less. The main difference is that the health insurance only pays healing costs while SUVA also replaces 80% of the lost income, in the worst case (permanent disability) they pay some amount for the rest of your life.

A smaller difference is that there is no franchise/deductible at SUVA. They pay the complete healing costs. For accidents covered by the health insurance, the regular franchise/deductible system applies.

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3

The NBUV part depends on the employer, the kind of work, and the recent insurance claims, see https://www.suva.ch/de-ch/download/dokument/praemientarif-der-suva-2025/2024--2925-24.D

Employee deductions up to 1-3% are not uncommon, depending on these factors. In general, these fees are paid by the employee, though employers may voluntarily pay some/all themselves. I don’t think there’s any incentive for employers to make these higher (and pocket any difference, that would be illegal).

Why the unemployed version through the health insurance is cheaper, I don’t know. It’s possible that the unemployed, as an entire class, are less risky, maybe because they don’t spend as much on risky activities?

As for KTG, that should be explained in the employment contract. Higher fees should result in higher benefits for yourself, see KTG-Beitrag: KTG-Abzüge in der Schweiz erklärt

Why don’t you ask HR for the explanation of the percentages?

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4

NBUV and KTG are essentially health insurances. The first is accident cover, the second is basically you missing work cover. Neither are mandatory for an employer to deduct from employees salary. For me I only have AHV, ALV, and pillar 2 (including risk portion) deducted.

Someone already posted why if you are unemployed and get accident insurance via the health insurer it is cheaper and also why it can differ between companies. On the KTG there just is some flexibility and the higher the payment the higher the benefit if you need to make use of it.

I must admit I have never seen the extra acc insurance. NBU is already there and BU should be covered by employer so it can’t be that but acc surely stands for accident. I would just ask your employer.

The rest, nothing suspicious here. Other than some employers being better than others in terms of how much of these insurances they cover.

5

The NBUV rate depends on the insurer, the risk profile of the company and the history (nb of claims in the past)
The KTG rate depends on the insurer and the history (nb of claims and duration in the past). Also, some KTG starts to give money at 1, 2 or 3 days after an illness which would have an impact on the rate.
Extra acc ins is offered by some employers and cover more than the standard NBUV.

6

Thank you all for your replies, very helpful. I am going to ask HR too, but wanted a second opinion.