Unemployment benefits after sabbatical

Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
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Let’s say you plan an unpaid sabbatical, a few months to begin with. What are the options in terms of a backup plan on unemployment benefits if wanting to go back to work?

Best option would be in agreement with the employer, as you still have the work contract, and the employer pays social contributions at least for some time. Of course, you could “hope” for a mass restructuring with a nice social plan.

If those are not available, you could just quit. How would it work regarding unemployment benefits? I could think of 2 options, or a combination thereof

  • You don’t register at first. But once you look for work and register, what income is considered? If I understand correctly, it’s not the last months (with salary being 0), but the last months being employed and insured?

  • You do register, and face up to 60 suspensions days. I assume if you quit on your own, you’d get the max 60 days? Are you supposed to job hunt during suspension days? I guess the answer is yes, but couldn’t find a satisfying answer, yet. And if you don’t, you’d get additional suspension days?
    With job hunting, it wouldn’t really be a care-free sabbatical, so it’s not an option. I’m not considering shady games like pretending to job hunt with minimal effort.

Anyone has experience or other options?

Asking for a friend :wink:

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I have a friend that did it.

My understanding is that:

  • your previous salary is used, but you lose how many months you used for you sabbatical to the total duration. So if you take a 6 months sabbatical, you will have your 2 years (18 months? I don’t remember) - 6 months of unemployment.
  • there was some shenanigans about the waiting period. If I remember correctly, they didn’t have any waiting period after the 6 months sabbatical, although I’m not sure how they managed
  • yes you’re supposed to job hunt during the waiting period. You’re supposed to job hunt from the moment you know your contract will end, even if you’re still employed for months yet. Anything else will result in penalties (extra days without unemployment benefits).

I think the best is, baring an arrangement with your employer, to contact unemployment very early and be transparent with them, and understand when it’s best to register.

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Hello,

Your legal question has made me curious. I’m not an expert in social insurance, but here’s what I understand from the Federal Act of June 25, 1982, on Compulsory Unemployment Insurance and Compensation in the Event of Insolvency (LACI, RS 837.0).

1) Payment

This is explained in art. 18 para. 1, after waiting for five days and confirming that you are unemployed, you can start getting unemployment compensation. If you don’t have to support kids under 25, the waiting period is longer : 10 days if your income is between CHF 60,001 and CHF 90,000 (let. a), 15 days if your income is between CHF 90,001 and CHF 125,000 (let. b), or 20 days if your income is above CHF 125,000 (let. c).

The full daily allowance is 80% of the insured earnings (art. 22 para. 1 LACI). However, this allowance is only 70% of the full amount (art. 22 para. 2 LACI) for insured persons who do not have a maintenance obligation towards children under the age of 25 (let. a), receive a full daily allowance exceeding CHF 140 (let. b), or do not receive a disability pension corresponding to a disability rate of at least 40% (let. c).

2) How long the benefit payment period lasts

According to art. 27 para. 2 LACI, the insured person can get a maximum of 260 daily allowances if they can prove a total contribution period of 12 months (let. a), a maximum of 400 daily allowances if they can prove a total contribution period of 18 months (let.b), or a maximum of 520 daily allowances if they can prove a contribution period of at least 22 months and meet at least one of the following conditions (let. c): they are aged 55 or over (point 1) or they receive a disability pension corresponding to a disability rate of at least 40% (point 2).

3) What happens during after sabbatical?

When an insured person takes a sabbatical, they remain employed by their employer. They are therefore not required to register with an employment office. If the employee terminates their employment contract after their sabbatical, they must register with an employment office as soon as possible (art. 17 para. 2 LACI). Insured persons who have been on sabbatical leave are entitled to daily allowances if they have worked and paid contributions within the two-year reference period (art. 9 para. 3 LACI). The duration of the allowance depends on the number of months of contributions within this reference period (Art. 27 LACI).

In this case, if your friend wishes to take 12 months’ sabbatical leave and has contributed for a total of 12 months over a period of 24 months, he will be entitled to 260 daily allowances (art. 27 para. 2 let. a LACI).

Therefore, a sabbatical is not an obstacle to unemployment, but depending on the length of the leave, the number of daily allowances may be significantly reduced!

4) Looking for a job during your sabbatical?

Normally, termination of employment involves a notice period of several months before the end date of employment (often three months’ notice). Employees are expected to look for new jobs during this notice period. In the case of a sabbatical, if we imagine that your friend decides to terminate his employment contract three months before the end of his sabbatical, he will be expected to look for a new job and make himself available for interviews. If he fails to do so, he can expect to face penalties. In any case, if he terminates his employment contract, he will incur daily penalties (sanctions). I do not know if this amounts to the maximum penalty of 60 days.

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The penalty days are working days, i.e. 60 days = 3 months. Likewise, the initial waiting period is 1-4 weeks, depending on personal circumstances.

Waiting period and penalty days are added to each other, so the max period without unemployment benefits is 20 + 60 days = 4 months

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Thanks a lot you for responses.

I understand the difference between penalty and waiting days (not sure I translate it correctly) and did read the regulations, used online search and AI.

In my case (“asking for a friend” was meant as an out-dated joke, I’m not good at those), the waiting period is 5 days, and I contributed long enough to qualify for 400 days (I’m well below 55).

What I don’t get is how the case is handled when you voluntarily leave the workforce and then want to go back.

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Scenario 1: You voluntarily terminate your employment contract, register with the unemployment office as soon as possible, and are unable to find a new employer within the notice period. Penalties will apply (max: 60 days).

Scenario 2: You voluntarily terminate your employment contract and leave the workforce for personal reasons (e.g., to travel around the world). You do not register with the unemployment office and do not wish to receive unemployment benefits.

It is possible to be exempted from the obligation to contribute in order to receive unemployment benefits if one of the criteria in art. 14 LACI is met.

For all these reasons for exemption, there must be a causal link between the absence of a contribution period and the inability to work for more than 12 months. If the insured person is unable to contribute for less than 12 months, they still have enough time during the contribution period to acquire the minimum contribution period.

The fund will only approve exemption from the contribution period requirements if the insured person was unable, for one of the above reasons, to engage in salaried employment, even on a part-time basis, or if it was unreasonable to expect them to do so. In order to check whether there is a causal link between the absence of a contribution period and the inability to engage in contributory employment, the fund must examine on a case-by-case basis whether the insured person was actually prevented from working and to what extent. An insured person whose working capacity was, for example, reduced to 50% due to illness cannot be exempted from the conditions relating to the contribution period, as they could have used their remaining working capacity to acquire a sufficient contribution period (ATF 121 V 336).

In summary, if the reason for leaving the workforce is to take “retirement” and enjoy that “retirement,” then no unemployment benefits will be paid when the person wishes to return to work. They can still register with an unemployment office, but they will not receive unemployment benefits.

Subject to interpretation, without conviction, if you leave the workforce for a period of less than 12 months over a 24-month period, you will still have contributed for 12 months to an employer and will be entitled to benefits. However, the obligation to register with an unemployment office as soon as possible seems to me to contradict this interpretation. Futhermore, the “retirement” is not one of the reason provided by the law, so you will not met the condition for the exemption. Therefore, I would tend to be cautious and say that you will not be eligible for unemployment benefits.

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Some answers have been given, so maybe I repeat (or contradict :laughing: ) these.

Correct, the last months with a salary (the salary you paid ALV insurance/deductions on) count for the.insured income. Unemployed months/sabbatical simply reduce the number of days you are eligible to receive unemployment benefits for.

Ideally register (6M-1d) or (12M-1d) after your last workday.

The 60d are for maximum fault of yours for being unemployed. Quiting yourself weighs heavy here, but looking for work in the 3M before registering should lower your fault (maybe reducing suspension to 15 to 30d YMMV). Depending on your profession, this can be 6 to 15 job applications per month (YMMV). YMMV = Since the rules are not “precise”, a lot can depend on the RAV person that you get assigned to.

In the “worst case”, you job-search during the last 3M of your “unpaid” sabbatical, still get hit with 60d suspension (=~3M) when registering (plus some wait days), and thus actively job-search for over 6M before seeing any money.

I’d say if actively quitting and having a 6M or 12M sabbatical, then ALV is more an insurance in case you expect to need >6-10M to find a job (which is not great but of course nice to fall back on).

PS If you have a child under 10y, this opens some additional flexibility.

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I do, how do they factor in beside the shortened waiting period? For RAV, maybe sabbatical isn’t the best term. I don’t plan to travel the world, but spend more time with the kids.

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That’s the reason RAV has “extra rules” for parents with children.

Basically the law and RAV want you employed again ASAP. “Breaks” looking after children is an exception. Understandably parents of young children sometimes can’t or don’t want to work “immediately”. So law allows a delayed start at RAV with no loss, and breaks during RAV normally not possible.

One can’t take an unpaid travel sabbatical directly after finishing job, without losing day allowances one would’ve been entitled to without the break. After the 6M or 12M travel sabbatical, one will only get day allowances corresponding to working 18 months or 12 months in last 24 months correspondingly.

However, if “the break” is to take care of children, the break is not relevant for one’s total daily allowance entitled to. After the break one is entitled to the same as if one had just ended the job.

Also longer unpaid “children” breaks during the registered unemployment time become possible, which are not possible otherwise.

See info.Mutterschaft Info.Mutterschaft

Best to ask and get confirmation of “your personal situation” via RAV since it can get complicated.with all the time limits!

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