Official letters which trigger legal deadlines

If you are leaving Switzerland for more than a long weekend, remember to get your mail collected and have your registered mail opened and sent to you by scan. Putting your email on “hold” at the post office does not interrupt the running of the legal deadline for certain types of legal deadlines.

What’s new?

The important thing to remember is that since a decision of the Swiss Federal Court of 13^th December 2016:

• When either party terminates an employment agreement, the notice period (i.e. the period during which the employment agreement remains valid until the termination, as fixed by the employment agreement and by law) begins to run in principle from the first day of the month following the month at which the “notification” of the termination took place. There are exceptions for example when the receiver is ill at the time of the notification.
• If the notification is sent by registered mail, the date of the month on which the termination letter is delivered to the receiver is crucial. If the receiver is not home, then the post man leaves a “notice of registered mail” in the receiver’s mailbox. The date of the month which is taken into the account is the day after the “notice of registered mail” is put into the mailbox, regardless of whether the receiver is on holiday or not.
• When either party terminates a lease agreement, the same rules apply.

LegalPage Recommendation

If you are travelling for more than a long weekend, ask a friend to pick up the registered mail, open it and send it to you by scan. There is no protection of the legal deadline even if you leave your mail “on hold” in the post-office.

If you receive a termination of your lease or of your employment agreement and you need legal advice, don’t waste any time before contacting your lawyer.

Categorised in: NEWS