My boss and my extended holidays

My boss and my extended holidays

During the Easter holidays, I learned that my return flight had been cancelled and that the first available seat on the next plane was two days after my planned return to work! My employer is usually understanding, but he still told me that the days I didn't work because of the air travel problem would be deducted from my holiday pay. Is that right?

Jean-Claude, Geneva

Whether you are prevented from going on holiday by bad weather, strikes, political instability, air traffic disruptions or other exceptional circumstances beyond your control, the basic rule is the same: if you are not personally prevented from working, as in the case of an accident or illness, for example, your employer is entitled to demand that you compensate the absence with holiday.

The employer may also deduct wages. Under Article 324a of the Swiss Code of Obligations, the employer is only obliged to pay wages if the employee is prevented from working through no fault of his own for reasons inherent in his person (for a limited period of time and provided that the employment relationship has lasted more than three months or has been concluded for more than three months).

With regard to this notion of non-culpable impediment, the Federal Supreme Court has already had occasion to consider the case of an employee who was prevented from working because he had been placed in detention for criminally reprehensible behaviour; in such a context, our High Court considered that the employee's absence must generally be considered as culpable, so that the employer is released from the obligation to pay the salary.

In your case, the fact that you are unable to work is certainly beyond your control and not the result of any fault on your part, but it is not directly linked to you. The basic principle therefore applies here: no work, no pay. That being the case, you should not be subject to any other sanction whatsoever from your employer.

It should also be noted that in such circumstances, it is strongly recommended that you contact your employer as soon as possible if you are prevented from working in this way, in order to inform him, as unjustified absence may be considered as an abandonment of post...