My watchmaking holiday ...

My watchmaking holiday ...

"I work in the watchmaking industry and I have 5 weeks' holiday a year, 3 of which are set by my employer at the end of July. Can he impose this on me?

David, Vaud

Relations between employers and employees are governed primarily by the provisions of the employment contract, but also by the law and by the various collective labour agreements. The latter consist of contracts concluded between one or more employers' associations on the one hand, and one or more employees' associations on the other, within the framework of a given branch of activity. Compulsory agreements apply to all companies in the industry in question, while voluntary agreements apply only to those parties who are members of the associations that concluded them. However, the Federal Council may make them compulsory by extending their scope.

Under art. 329a of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), employers are required by law to grant their employees at least 4 weeks' holiday per year, and 5 weeks if the employee is under the age of 20. Holidays are generally taken during the corresponding year of service and contain at least 2 consecutive weeks. When deciding on the date of holidays, the employer must take account of the employee's wishes, insofar as these are compatible with the interests of the company. Case law authorises the employer to close the company for 2 weeks and set a uniform holiday date for all staff, which must be determined at least 3 months in advance.

The collective labour agreement for the Swiss watchmaking and microtechnology industries applies only to companies affiliated to the signatory organisations and to workers affiliated to the Unia union. Under the terms of this agreement, the minimum holiday entitlement is 5 weeks per year, 6 weeks for workers under 20 or over 50 and 7 weeks for workers under 17. The employer may either close the company for 3 or 4 weeks a year, or waive a general closure and grant holidays on an individual basis. If the employer decides to close the company for 3 weeks, these will be the last 2 weeks of July, with the 3rd just before or just after them.

Therefore, if the company you work for is subject to the above agreement, your employer may require you to take 3 weeks' holiday at the end of July during the general closure of the company. If the agreement does not apply, he may decide to close the company and impose a uniform 2-week holiday for all his employees.