Employment contracts and high-risk sport!
Employment contracts and high-risk sport!
"Can my employer prevent me from taking part in so-called high-risk sports (such as combat sports or motocross) by requiring me to sign a supplement to my contract? What would happen if I signed and practised anyway, then injured myself during training or a race? "
S, Aïre
The point you raise has a particular impact on the employer's obligation to pay wages to the employee in the event of incapacity for work.
Article 324a of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) states that if an employee is prevented from working through no fault of his own for reasons inherent in his person, such as illness or accident, the employer must pay him his salary for a limited period.
The risk of the employee's incapacity for work is therefore partially borne by the employer. Most of the activities practised by the majority of employees, including relatively dangerous sports such as skiing, diving and horse-riding, are considered by case law to be activities which, in the event of an accident and incapacity for work, do not affect the employee's right to salary.
However, certain activities in which the employee assumes a high risk of accident are considered to be "reckless undertakings", and entitlement to pay may be reduced or even withdrawn.
The Federal Law on Accident Insurance (LAA) and its ordinance (OAA) provide a clearer definition of this rule: reckless undertakings are those by which the insured exposes himself to a particularly serious danger without taking measures to reduce the danger to reasonable proportions. In the event of a non-occupational accident due to recklessness, cash benefits are reduced by half or refused in particularly serious cases (article 50 OAA).
According to the doctrine, for example, base jumping or dangerous off-piste skiing, motocross races or mountain bike competitions, as well as training for these activities, are considered to be reckless undertakings.
So, whether or not you sign the addendum to your employment contract, your salary may be paid only in part or even withdrawn if you suffer an accident and become unable to work as a result of your motocross activities or extreme combat sports. On the other hand, your employer cannot contractually prohibit you - on pain of losing your right to salary - from an activity that he himself considers risky if the case law does not consider it to be so. Employees retain their constitutional rights, which take precedence over specific contractual clauses and allow them to freely pursue their hobbies.
