If an employee on sick leave loses his or her job, the former employer’s sick pay insurance continues to apply. Unemployment insurance only begins to pay benefits once the period of coverage has expired.
In a landmark ruling by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, the judges found that unemployment insurance (UI) daily benefits are subsidiary to other insurance benefits. This means that the former employer’s daily sickness benefit insurance must pay benefits for the part corresponding to the employee’s sick leave. Unemployment insurance takes over for the remainder. (Ruling 4A_42/2017 of January 29, 2018)
