Social insurance deductions
Benefits from the following social insurance institutions are mainly funded from contributions paid by both employers and workers:
- old age pension and survivors’ insurance (OSI)
- disability insurance (DI)
- loss of earnings allowances (LEA)
- unemployment insurance (UI)
- accident insurance (AI) and
- occupational pension (OP)
In all these cases, the employer is required by law to deduct contributions from the worker’s salary and to pay these to the institutions responsible for the relevant insurance policies, with their own employer’s contributions. These deductions are generally referred to as “social insurance deductions”.
Other payments are possibly included in the aforementioned deductions. These are paid by the employer to the health insurance company in favour of employees if the legal provisions of the canton provide for such payment or if such an agreement has been reached by the contracting parties. The regulations concerning family allowances and child allowances fall within the scope of cantonal legislation; however, the contributions paid to these funds are more often than not incumbent upon the employer.
With regards to social contributions or deductions for salaries paid to young workers and learners, the following principles apply:
- They are exempted from having to pay contributions for OSI, DI, LEA and UI until the 31 December of the year in which they celebrated their seventeenth birthday.
- The premiums for compulsory insurance against occupational accidents (OA) and occupational diseases are to be paid by the employer. Those concerning compulsory insurance for non-occupational accidents (NOA) are to be paid by the apprentice unless stipulated to the contrary in the apprenticeship contract.
- The occupational pension contributions are seldom an issue for learners but a (limited) insurance obligation exists for workers who are seventeen or over and who receive a minimum annual salary that the apprentices do not generally reach.
