> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hr-easy.nlead.ch/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Sick pay (OR Art. 324a)

> Salary continuation during illness, the three regional scales, and how KTG insurance changes the picture.

## The obligation

Under OR Art. 324a, where an employee is prevented from working through no fault of
their own — illness, accident, pregnancy, the performance of a statutory duty — the
employer must continue paying salary for a **limited period**, provided the employment
relationship has lasted or was agreed for more than three months.

The law says "a limited period" and specifies only the first year (three weeks). For
subsequent years the courts apply one of three regional **scales**. Which one applies
depends on the canton of the workplace.

## The three scales

The applicable scale defaults from the employee's canton and can be overridden per
employee — for example where a GAV specifies one.

Years of service below are read as half-open ranges — `1–2` means "at least one year, less
than two" — which is exactly how the platform resolves them.

### Berner scale

The most widespread — Bern, Aargau, Solothurn and others.

| Years of service | Weeks |
| ---------------- | ----: |
| 0–1              |     3 |
| 1–2              |     4 |
| 2–4              |     9 |
| 4–10             |    13 |
| 10–15            |    17 |
| 15–20            |    22 |
| 20–25            |    26 |
| 25 and over      |    30 |

### Basler scale

Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft. More generous early — nine weeks from one year of
service, where the Berner scale gives four.

| Years of service | Weeks |
| ---------------- | ----: |
| 0–1              |     3 |
| 1–3              |     9 |
| 3–10             |    13 |
| 10–15            |    17 |
| 15–20            |    22 |
| 20–25            |    26 |
| 25 and over      |    30 |

### Zürcher scale

Zürich. Eight weeks from one year of service, growing steadily.

| Years of service | Weeks |
| ---------------- | ----: |
| 0–1              |     3 |
| 1–3              |     8 |
| 3–10             |    13 |
| 10–15            |    17 |
| 15–20            |    22 |
| 20–25            |    26 |
| 25 and over      |    30 |

<Note>
  All three converge from four years of service onwards. They differ exactly where most disputes
  arise — the first three years.
</Note>

## What the platform computes

For an employee and a date it resolves the applicable scale, the service years, and the
weeks of entitlement — and reports how much of that entitlement the current absence has
consumed. The employee sees their own entitlement in the [portal](/guides/portal); HR
sees it on the record.

## Daily-sickness-benefit insurance (KTG)

Most Swiss employers carry a KTG policy, which changes the arrangement materially:

* The insurer pays a daily benefit — typically 80% of salary — after a waiting period.
* The employer's Art. 324a obligation is discharged provided the insurance is **at least
  equivalent** to what the scale would have produced.
* The employer usually continues paying during the waiting period.

The insurance contracts configured in
[payroll master data](/guides/payroll/master-data#versicherungen) determine how the
absence appears on the payslip and in the declaration.

## Accident is not illness

Accident is covered by mandatory **UVG** insurance, with its own benefits, its own
waiting period, and its own Lohnart. This is why the platform records `ACCIDENT` as a
distinct absence type from `SICK`: recording an accident as illness routes the payout
through the wrong item and produces a wrong declaration.

## Medical certificates

Most contracts require a certificate from a defined day of absence. The platform tracks
the requirement, chases it, and stores the document — with access checked per request,
because a medical certificate is the most sensitive category of data the system holds.

## Protection against termination

Separately from pay, OR Art. 336c protects an employee against termination during
illness or accident for a period that grows with service years — 30 days in the first
year, 90 days from the second to the fifth, 180 days thereafter. These protection
periods do **not** apply during [probation](/swiss/probation).

<Warning>
  The platform computes salary-continuation entitlement. It does not compute Art. 336c protection
  periods or block a termination. That determination stays with HR.
</Warning>