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On-call work is hardly regulated by law. A lawyer explains what you need to look out for when concluding a contract.
On-call work brings a lot of flexibility. It is hardly regulated by law. This can cause problems. Jonas Achermann is a lawyer at Streiff von Kaenel with a focus on employment law. Achermann knows what people need to watch out for when they do on-call work.
First of all, he points out that work on call is not the same as work on call. It is important to distinguish between real and fake work on demand.
- With real on-call work, there is an obligation to work, the employee must be available for assignments.
- In the case of fake work on call, the employee can follow the call, but there is no obligation.
This is how you do everything correctly when signing the contract
Achermann advises the following when signing an on-call employment contract:
- Read the entire employment contract carefully.
- If you have any questions or are unclear, you should definitely seek support
- Check whether you have to comply with a request from your employer or whether you are free to refuse an assignment.
- If you are not free to decline an assignment, clarify when (on which days and at what times) you must be available.
- Check whether the on-call service is compensated. In most cases, this must be compensated for real work on call.
- Check how high the compensation is for on-call time (approx. 0-50 percent of the “normal” wage, depending on the intensity of the on-call time) and for actual working hours (check whether minimum wages are observed). The compensation for the on-call service can in principle also be integrated into the “real salary” as a supplement or paid as a lump sum.
- Check whether a minimum number of hours / assignments are guaranteed or whether an average working time is set.
- Check whether you can deal with this flexibility with regard to variable working hours and fluctuating income.
- Check the notice periods. In the case of real work on demand, there are regular notice periods. Check how and whether these are recorded. The employer must not set the workload to zero overnight.
- If real on-call work is intended, this must be stated in the contract and the contract must also be designed in this way. The same applies if you explicitly want to do fake work on demand.
If you do not agree with individual contractual provisions, you can try to renegotiate them.
fight back
If an employer does not comply with the contractual agreements, you can defend yourself with various means. As a first step, Achermann advises confronting the employer with the grievance. In the best case, the situation can be clarified immediately, for example if there is a mere misunderstanding or the employer is not aware of the legal situation.
If the employer does not show understanding, legal help is advisable. “For this you can contact a legal information center, the legal protection insurance, a lawyer or a lawyer.”
If this attempt also fails, one can first turn to the conciliation authority and then to the court. In employment law, there are no court costs up to a value in dispute of CHF 30,000.