Minus hours – “May the boss offset my minus hours with vacation days?” – Cash desk espresso


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If a company plans to put employees on a deficit, they do not have to make up the minus hours.


The legal situation briefly explained:

What applies to involuntary minus hours is regulated in the Swiss Code of Obligations (Art. 324). There it says: “If the work cannot be performed due to the fault of the employer or if he defaults in accepting the job management for other reasons, he remains obliged to pay the wages without the employee being obliged to make additional payments.”

For example, if an employer has forgotten to obtain a work permit for an employee – or if he generates too few orders and therefore has too little work for his employees, he still has to continue to pay them wages. Employees do not have to make up the lost hours later, nor can the lost hours be offset against overtime or vacation days.

Typical cases of involuntary minus hours

At “Espresso”, employees keep coming back who involuntarily show a “minus” on their time sheet:

The article from the Swiss Code of Obligations cited above applies to all of these cases. If an employee cannot carry out their work because the employer cannot assign them work or accept the work management, they are still entitled to full wages and do not have to make up the time or be deducted from holidays.

How employees can defend themselves

Affected employees should request in writing from their supervisors that the minus hours be deleted. Anyone who is turned off or falls on deaf ears can get support from a trade union. However, some employees do not want to risk a conflict and waive their claims. Here it is good to know that claims from an employment relationship only become statute-barred after five years. It is therefore possible to request back payment for the minus hours later, for example if you change jobs.

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