Depending on the distance from your home to work, your commute, whether by car or public transport, could end up being quite expensive. Will the company you work for in Switzerland refund these costs?
The answer to this question is: it depends on individual situations and circumstances.
Generally speaking getting to and from work, and paying for it, is the employee’s responsibility.
There are, however, some notable exceptions to this general rule:
Travelling is part of your job
If your duties entail commuting from one location to another – for instance, if your company has multiple offices, and you have to travel between them during the course of your work day – the employer will pay for the commute.
You don’t have a fixed workplace
If you are strictly a ‘field’ employee without a physical office, all the commuting you do as part of your regular work shift is paid by your company.
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You are working from home
Obviously, if your office is in your home, you don’t have to travel to work at all.
However, if you have to leave your home to go somewhere as part of your job, those commutes will normally be reimbursed.
Overtime hours
Employers are generally required to pay for travel costs incurred during overtime – but only if you are asked by your boss to put in extra hours, rather than deciding yourself to stay in the office longer to catch up on your tasks.
READ MORE: Can my company in Switzerland make me work outside regular hours?
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You are a federal employee
In 2020, a new law went into effect in Switzerland, allowing federal employees to be paid for the work they do on trains while commuting to work.
Before this legislation was enacted, only a handful of workers were eligible to be paid while working during the morning commute; once the law went into effect, however, this payment has become more common.
To sum up, if driving or taking public transport from site to site is part of your contractual duties, you will be paid for the travel.
But that’s not all
To professionals who are in high demand and of much value to their companies, employers may offer various perks, including paid transport to and from work.
This would be part of the benefit package they negotiate.
However, whether you fall into this ‘special’ or just a ‘regular’ category of employees, all the details of your employment – including travel – are covered either by your individual work contract or the collective labour agreement (CLA), provided your company has one in place.
But if your job description doesn’t allow for travel expenses, there is another way to recoup – at least partially – your costs: taxes.
That’s because job-related commuting costs are tax-deductible in Switzerland, though the actual amount of the deduction varies from one canton to another.
