So tax-free salary? I’m in
Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
81–90 of 264 posts
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#82One of many coronovirus unintended consequences. I wonder what else we'll be rethinking.
As MrGilbert pointed out, this case has got nothing to do with Corona.
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#83Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#84Someone needs to take a closer look into this. It feels sketchy. This is an article (from yesterday) based on a pay-walled article (from yesterday, and in a different language), which itself is based on a court decision (from April 2019). This is not related to the current pandemic (which the article vaguely states, but not explicitly). Also, to give you a time-frame: The linked court decision is from April 2019, the…
Well, what do you find sketchy about it?
a) Of course, a decision from 2019 is not related to the coronavirus lockdown
b) the "different language" is German, which is one of the official languages in Switzerland. If you want more sources, albeit also in German: https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/arbeitgeber-muessen-einen-teil-de...
c) the public court decision has also been linked: http://relevancy.bger.ch/php/aza/http/index.php?highlight_do...
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#85In France when you pay your income taxes, a part of your income is deducted as work related spending. By default it's something like 10% I think (do not take my word on this figure, I would check but I'm on a smartphone right now). But you can opt-in for real-cost and if you do so, you have to declare and give receipts for all of your work-related expanses to the tax administration, all of which would be deducted from your taxable income. Those expanses can include a part of your rent if you work from home.
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, since I started working from home my eletric bill is up by 20%. So is only fair to assume that they should pay me more, to cover that cost.
Do you pay your employer for the utilities at work?
Your employer also doesn't ask you to work from the bedroom while in the office. If your home is not equipped for office work (you live with family, have no dedicated office room, or multiple residents have to work from home at the same time) then you end up working in some pretty poor conditions. Some may be breaching the regulation regarding work safety and I'm sure this isn't part of your contract. Then there are additional costs with internet, electricity, or heating/cooling to consider.
If the situation becomes permanent some people may have to move to larger homes, upgrade some utility subscriptions, etc. But I'm afraid for most people this payout from the employer will come out of their future raises.
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#87Here in Switzerland, we don’t have the precedent law. So, if this particular decision was made in this particular case, it doesn’t mean that it is automatically applied for everybody else.
So, the title is misleading.
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Coming to mind: Electricity, AC, Heating, internet (more bandwidth & data cap), desk & chair, you may need an extra room if you are always working from home...
My confusion was that those aren't "rent" that the employee is paying. But I may have misinterpreted what they're referring to as "rent" here. They might have meant the company paying rent to the employee rather than the company reimbursing the employee's rent to the landlord.
I would think of it more like reimbursing the employee for the cost of the space they need to pay for to work from home. So if I work from home and need to get a bigger place, and an apartment with 1 more room costs 20% more, then that 20% is directly attributable as a "work cost".
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
My confusion was that those aren't "rent" that the employee is paying. But I may have misinterpreted what they're referring to as "rent" here. They might have meant the company paying rent to the employee rather than the company reimbursing the employee's rent to the landlord.
I would think of it more like reimbursing the employee for the cost of the space they need to pay for to work from home. So if I work from home and need to get a bigger place, and an apartment with 1 more room costs 20% more, then that 20% is directly attributable as a "work cost".
What happens when the employee is a homeowner then? Or not the one actually paying rent (maybe their parent/child is)?
Re: Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not what this is. This is: Your employer should provide the means for you to do the work they ask of you.
Should I be forced by the courts to pay for the tools of my plumber in addition to the agreed wage? Anyway, it would make more sense to pay for a percentage of the transportation/time spent travelling of the workers rather than for housing costs - not only it would incentivise companies to enforce work from home but it would also be more fair to the employees. After all the employees would have a home regardless but…
Should I be forced by the courts to pay for the tools of my plumber in addition to the agreed wage?
But the plumber is not your employee. He is somebody else's employee, and that somebody should be paying for his work van and tools (that somebody could be himself, if he's independent).
Anyways, it's all a bit of a moot point. Labor is a market and the prices are what they are. Most employees will earn X. If an employer has to pay for WFH (or transit), the employee will just earn Y+expenses, where the sum equals X.
In a perfect world, there would be few or zero entanglements between my wages and expenses/benefits. And I could negotiate freely on just my wages (not wages, expenses, benefits, etc).