Employment & Pensions

The Pestalozzi Employment practice group assists Swiss employers and senior executives in every aspect of Swiss employment, labor, immigration and pension law.

Our expertise

Clients choose Pestalozzi because we have built up a thorough understanding of Swiss employment rules and standards. Our successful practice addresses all the main issues relevant to employment, labor and immigration.

These include contracts, long-term incentive plans, bonus, share or option plans and employment issues arising during mergers and acquisitions.

At the operational level, we efficiently handle the domestic and cross-border transfer of employees, business restructuring, termination of employment agreements, downsizing, outsourcing and the closure of production lines as well as workforce restructuring and mass dismissals.

We also cover the drafting of employment agreements, policies and regulations, and help Swiss employers obtain work and residence permits for foreign employees and their family members.

Our services

We offer a comprehensive range of advisory services covering the following areas:

Senior executives

• Employment agreements for senior executives
• Development and implementation of compensation packages
• Compliance with Swiss say-on-pay rules
• Retention agreements
• Post-contractual restrictions (non-compete, non-solicitation); exiting of senior executives: negotiation of settlement agreements

Bonus programs

• Developing employee participation programs (e.g. ESOP) and variable compensation systems
• Implementing bonus schemes of foreign parents for Swiss subsidiaries

Standardisation

• Template agreements
• Employment handbooks
• Policies (on IT, data protection, sexual harassment, etc.)
• Working time regulations for white and blue collar employees

Restructuring and reorganisation

• Business transfers (Swiss TUPE)
• Staff reductions, mass dismissals, redundancy programmes
• Negotiations with trade unions

Pension funds

• Compliance with Swiss pension system
• Optimisation of remuneration packages under Swiss pension rules
• Partial liquidation of pension funds

Privacy and protection of trade secrets, IP rights

• Data protection and personal rights
• Internal investigations
• Protection of confidentiality obligations
• Protection of intellectual property rights of the employer

Representing employers in employment law disputes

• Litigation in employment law proceedings, often in conjunction with employee participation programs and terminations

Immigration

• Short and long-term permits for non-EU nationals’ permits and registration procedures for EU service providers
• C-permit applications for management functions
• Residence permits without gainful activity