Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

For members

COVID-19 VACCINES

Can you call in sick with vaccine side effects in Switzerland?

Employees in Switzerland are not allowed to take sick days for voluntary medical procedures - but what about side effects from the Covid vaccination?

Published: 8 July 2021 13:16 CEST

Can you call in sick with vaccine side effects in Switzerland?

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Switzerland has repeatedly reaffirmed its position that the Covid vaccine is and will remain voluntary.

Under Swiss labour law however, people are not entitled to take time off sick for medical procedures which are voluntary.

Switzerland’s SRF news outlet reports that some employers are refusing to sign off on people’s sick days if they take place as a result of vaccination – and have encouraged them to use their vacation days instead.

According to legal experts, employers are not allowed to do this as vaccination is in the public interest.

This means people who get vaccinated and experience side effects are not “culpable” for their incapacity to work.

Therefore, anyone who is sick as a result of vaccine side effects can use their sick days.

READ MORE: What are the most common side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine in Switzerland?

Legal expert Gabriela Baumgartner told SRF, employees are “entitled to continued payment of wages for the days on which they were sick”.

While employers are therefore required to pay you for your days off, they can demand evidence of vaccination such as a medical certificate in order to prove that you have undergone the procedure and/or that you are ill as a result.

Generally speaking, employers can ask for a medical certificate from the third day of sick leave – although this will differ depending on the terms of the collective agreement.

Workers in Switzerland generally receive 80 percent of their wages when taking sick leave and can take a maximum of 720 days.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Italy's constitutional court upholds Covid vaccine mandate as fines kick in

Judges were asked this week to determine whether or not vaccine mandates introduced by the previous government during the pandemic – which applied to healthcare and school staff as well as over-50s – breached the fundamental rights set out by Italy’s constitution.

Italy became the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for healthcare workers to be vaccinated, ruling in 2021 that they must have the jab or be transferred to other roles or suspended without pay.

The Constitutional Court upheld the law in a ruling published on Thursday, saying it considered the government’s requirement for healthcare personnel to be vaccinated during the pandemic period neither unreasonable nor disproportionate.

Judges ruled other questions around the issue as inadmissible “for procedural reasons”, according to a court statement published on Thursday.

This was the first time the Italian Constitutional Court had ruled on the issue, after several regional courts previously dismissed challenges to the vaccine obligation on constitutional grounds.

Photo by Pascal GUYOT / AFP

One Lazio regional administrative court ruled in March 2022 that the question of constitutional compatibility was “manifestly unfounded”.

Such appeals usually centre on the question of whether the vaccine requirement can be justified in order to protect the ‘right to health’ as enshrined in the Italian Constitution.

READ ALSO: Italy allows suspended anti-vax doctors to return to work

Meanwhile, fines kicked in from Thursday, December 1st, for almost two million people in Italy who were required to get vaccinated under the mandate but refused.

This includes teachers, law enforcement and healthcare workers, and the over 50s, who face fines of 100 euros each under rules introduced in 2021.

Thursday was the deadline to justify non-compliance with the vaccination mandate due to health reasons, such as having contracted Covid during that period.

Italy’s health minister on Friday however appeared to suggest that the new government may choose not to enforce the fines.

“It could cost more for the state to collect the fines” than the resulting income, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci told Radio Rai 1.

He went on to say that it was a matter for the Economy and Finance Ministry, but suggested that the government was drawing up an amendment to the existing law.

READ ALSO: Covid vaccines halved Italy’s death toll, study finds

The League, one of the parties which comprises the new hard-right government, is pushing for fines for over-50s to be postponed until June 30th 2023.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had promised a clear break with her predecessor’s health policies, after her Brothers of Italy party railed against the way Mario Draghi’s government handled the pandemic in 2021 when it was in opposition.

At the end of October, shortly after taking office, the new government allowed doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to return to work earlier than planned after being suspended for refusing the Covid vaccine.

There has been uncertainty about the new government’s stance after the deputy health minister in November cast doubt on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, saying he was “not for or against” vaccination.

Italy’s health ministry continues to advise people in at-risk groups to get a booster jab this winter, and this week stressed in social media posts that vaccination against Covid-19 and seasonal flu remained “the most effective way to protect ourselves and our loved ones, especially the elderly and frail”.

Url copied to clipboard!