Employment contract

Agreement between an employer and an employee that establishes an ongoing relationship with mutual obligations. This relationship has four characteristics:

• Duty of the employee to work;
• Dependency relationship of the employee to the employer, which makes the employee subject personally, organisationally, and economically, as well as in terms of time, to the employer’s managerial authority;
• A certain duration of the contractual relationship, whereby a distinction may be made between employments agreements with an indefinite term and those with a limited one;
• The employee’s claim to payment by the employer.

The employment agreement is dealt with in Arts. 319 et seq. of the Code of Obligations (Obligationenrecht, OR). In certain employment relationships, the provisions of (if need be, generally binding) collective employment agreements (GAV) or standard employment agreements (NAV) may also be relevant. Moreover, the provisions of the Act on Employment (Arbeitsgesetz, ArG) must be complied with.