In Spain, the two extra payments in June and December are laid down in the Workers’ Statute. You arrive in Switzerland and ask about the equivalent, and you’re told that there’s nothing like that in law here. What does exist is the 13th salary, which isn’t set out in any federal legislation, but which is nevertheless received by a very significant proportion of Swiss workers. The difference lies in the individual contract and the sector’s collective agreement.
Specifically: if your individual contract stipulates the right to a 13th month’s salary, that right is legally binding. Your employer is obliged to pay it, in exactly the same way as your monthly salary. The same applies if you work in a sector covered by a collective agreement that includes it: construction, hospitality, chemicals, banking, the watchmaking industry, and retail. There are dozens of collective agreements that provide for it. If you don’t specifically look into it, you could go years without knowing whether you are entitled to it or not.
It is usually paid in December, although some companies split the payment into two instalments, in June and December. The amount is equivalent to a full month’s salary. And if you leave your job before the end of the year, you are entitled to receive the proportionate amount corresponding to the months worked. This is not a favour from the company; it is what the Code of Obligations stipulates when the entitlement exists. What happens in practice is that many people do not even realise they have this entitlement, and leave without claiming it.
To find out if you’re entitled to it, the first step is to re-read your contract. The second is to check whether your sector has a collective agreement in force. SECO publishes the up-to-date list. And if you’re in any doubt, it’s worth asking HR or the trade union directly, because in this country nobody is going to go out of their way to explain what you’re entitled to be paid.