Does the work certificate really have to mention everything?

Does the work certificate really have to mention everything?

Under article 330a of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), employees may request a certificate from their employer at any time regarding the nature and duration of their employment relationship, as well as the quality of their work and their conduct.

The law does not specify precisely what can or must be included in an employment certificate, but it is generally accepted that it must be complete and truthful.

Absences of a certain duration - which must be assessed by comparing the duration of the employment relationship with the total duration of the absence - must therefore in principle be mentioned in the employment certificate.

In a 2018 ruling, the Federal Court ruled that the following statement in the certificate of a person who had been employed for nine years, four of them as a senior manager, and who had been absent due to illness for just over six months before the end of the employment relationship was admissible: "since [date], A. has no longer worked for the employer and was subsequently released from his contractual obligations". In this situation, the judges held that the long absence during the last four-year period of employment, during which the executive position had been held, had had a tangible influence on the employee's performance; failure to mention this would be tantamount to providing inaccurate information in the work certificate.

The employer must also indicate the reason for the absence in the work certificate (e.g. illness, unpaid holidays or military service). In this respect, it should also be noted that our Supreme Court considers that the mention of an employee's maternity is not supposed to be prejudicial to her.

If the terms of the employment certificate drawn up by the employer are disputed by the employee and no agreement can be reached between them, the employee may apply to the industrial tribunal to have the certificate rectified.