Working from home: CET-S proposes more flexible rules

Context

TL;DR

• CET-S supports less strict rules for working from home
• The explicit right to disconnect would be struck out
• Sunday work would remain subject to current restrictions
• CET-S vote: 7 in favor, 2 opposed, 3 abstentions

Key facts

• Body → Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee of the Council of States
• Vote → 7 in favor, 2 against and 3 abstentions
• Dossier → Council of States during the winter session
• Working from home → maximum window from 14 to 17 hours; rest period from 11 to 9 hours
• Disconnection → explicit right provided for by the National Council; CET-S wants to strike it
• Sundays → maximum 5 hours without authorization, up to 9 Sundays a year

BERN - The competent committee of the Council of States has aligned itself with the National Council in supporting more flexible rules for working from home. Its support does not, however, extend to the entire bill: it wants to amend the provisions concerning disconnection and Sunday work.

The bill under discussion

A year ago, at the end of a heated debate, the People's Chamber had increased from 14 to 17 hours the maximum window within which the working day may be carried out. The minimum rest period, however, should be reduced from 11 to 9 hours. The National Council's text also provided for an explicit right to disconnect for all employees, not limited to those who work from home or outside their company.

CET-S, that is, the Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee of the Council of States, intends to remove the right to disconnect from the bill. According to the prevailing view in the committee, this protection would be guaranteed even without an explicit statutory provision.

Sunday work also divides the two chambers. The National Council intends to allow, without authorization, a maximum of five hours of work on no more than nine Sundays per year. The committee of the Council of States, on the other hand, proposes deleting the provision entirely, as a compromise, leaving the current restrictions in force.

The bill received 7 votes in favor, 2 against and 3 abstentions from CET-S in the overall vote. The Council of States will examine it during the winter session. In the People's Chamber, the groups of the Swiss People's Party, The Centre, the Radical Liberals and the Green Liberals had voted in favor.

For the majority, the bill updates labor legislation to current conditions while maintaining health protections. The Social Democratic Party and the Greens, on the other hand, fear a deterioration in working conditions, weaker health protection, an unnecessary increase in bureaucracy and insufficient consideration for solutions agreed between the social partners and for those specific to individual sectors.

Operational details

The practical point for anyone working in Switzerland is to distinguish between the flexibility of working from home and the safeguards that accompany working hours. The source puts less strict rules for teleworking on the table, but indicates a different approach to disconnection and Sunday work. The next step indicated is the Council of States during the winter session.

The comparison between the two texts

The comparison shows that CET-S does not reject the idea of making working from home less strictly regulated. Instead, it intervenes on two specific elements of the text approved by the National Council: the explicit wording of the right to disconnect and the opening to Sunday work without authorization.

For an employee, the first difference concerns how the safeguard is presented. In the National Council's text, the right to disconnect would be set out in writing and would apply to everyone, not only to those who work from home or outside their own company. Under CET-S's position, according to the committee majority, the safeguard should exist even without an explicit provision in the bill.

The second point is measurable. The National Council's proposal indicates a maximum of five hours without authorization and up to nine Sundays per year. The Council of States committee wants to remove this new provision and maintain the current restrictions. The difference therefore concerns both the duration of Sunday work and the number of Sundays affected.

Daily working hours should also be understood as a proposal by the National Council: a maximum span of 14 to 17 hours and minimum rest of eleven to nine hours. These figures should be kept separate from disconnection and Sunday work, because the source places them in different parts of the debate. Those comparing working hours with their own busta paga svizzera can use this outline as a reference; those assessing new opportunities can consult the annunci di lavoro, without attributing to the source contractual conditions it does not specify.

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Key points

To follow the dossier without confusing the parliamentary positions, it is advisable to use a monitoring sheet based on the steps already described. The objective is to separate the flexibility measures from the amendments proposed by CET-S.

Four useful steps

1. Start with the text of the House of the People. Mark the extension of the maximum span from 14 to 17 hours and the reduction of rest from eleven to nine. Indicate that this is the decision reached by the National Council a year ago, after heated debate.

2. Isolate the chapter on disconnection. In the National Council's text, the explicit right applies to all employees, not only those who work from home or outside their own company. Next to this item, note CET-S's proposal to strike the provision and the view that the right would in any case be guaranteed.

3. Put Sunday work on a separate line. Report the limit proposed by the National Council: a maximum of five hours without authorization, up to nine Sundays a year. Alongside it, record the Council of States committee's intention to remove the provision and maintain the current restrictions.

4. Add the next institutional step: the dossier will reach the Council of States during the winter session. The vote of 7 in favor, 2 against and 3 abstentions should instead be indicated as the result of CET-S's overall vote.

For those who work from home, this grid helps distinguish working-time flexibility from the issue of disconnection. For those who work on Sundays, it makes it possible to compare the proposal concerning hours and Sundays with the restrictions maintained by the committee. The reference remains the parliamentary proposal described by the source, without turning its different versions into a single rule.

To complete the comparison with income, use calcolatore stipendio.

Source: tio.ch