Especially in this period, it can unfortunately happen that you lose your job. In order to maintain the right to unemployment or not to unnecessarily delay the payment of the benefit, certain steps must be followed.

Steps to follow

The first thing to do is to promptly inform the competent regional employment office (URC in Italian, RAV in German). When you call, you will be asked many questions regarding your situation: among these, also the choice of the unemployment fund (or fund – ALK in German).

During the time you are unemployed, you will mainly have to deal with two interconnected but still separate offices:

• Regional Employment Office (URC or RAV), for all administrative matters: their task is mainly to assist you and also to check that you send a sufficient number of job applications (between 8 and 12 monthly). You must submit proof of your job search to the RAV within the first 5 days of the following month at the latest.
• Unemployment Fund (ALK): this office mostly deals with all matters related to money. You will need to submit a signed and completed form with information related to your job every month.

It is also important to keep in mind a list of rights and duties, so that you do not miss the important steps to receive your unemployment benefit on time. Let’s see the duties below.

How much is the unemployment benefit?

You are entitled to 5 daily allowances per week (Monday to Friday). Since the number of working days varies depending on the month, the monthly amount of unemployment benefit (ID) is not always the same. In principle, the amount of the ID depends on the salary subject to AHV contributions that you have earned over the last 6 or – if more favorable for you – the last 12 months before unemployment (insured salary).

You are entitled to an ID equal to 80% of the insured income if:

• you have maintenance obligations towards the children;
• your insured income does not exceed 3’797 francs;
• you are receiving a disability pension corresponding to at least a degree of disability of 40%.

In all other cases, the ID amounts to 70% of the insured earnings.

If you have dependent children, you are usually entitled to a child allowance and an education allowance. The amount of the allowances is determined according to the cantonal law on family allowances in force.

Social insurance contributions must be deducted from the ID, and in the case of foreign citizens, possibly withholding taxes.

When can you ask for unemployment benefits?

To assert the right to unemployment benefit (ID), the following conditions must be met.

Unemployment

You must be totally or partially unemployed. You are insured, even if you work part-time and are looking for a full-time job or another part-time job. Please note: you are considered unemployed only after you have personally announced yourself, depending on the canton, at your municipality of residence or the competent URC.

Loss of work / loss of earnings

You must have suffered a loss of work of at least 2 working days and a loss of earnings.

Residence in Switzerland

Your citizenship has no relevance for the right to the allowance. However, you must be domiciled in Switzerland (foreign citizens must hold a valid residence or residence permit). If you live abroad and work in Switzerland (cross-border commuters), you will generally receive unemployment benefits in the country of residence in accordance with the provisions in force there.

Working age

You have finished compulsory school, have not yet reached the AHV age and are not receiving an AHV retirement pension.

Contribution period

You must prove that you have been employed for at least 12 months as an employee subject to the obligation to pay contributions during the 2 years prior to applying for unemployment.

If you have dedicated yourself to the education of a child under the age of 10 and have not received the ID during this period, you must prove that you have completed a contribution period of 12 months during the 4 years preceding the registration in unemployment . The term for the contribution period is extended by a maximum of 2 years after each new birth.

If at the beginning of the period in which you dedicated yourself to the education of a child under the age of 10 you have already received the ID, if you have not exhausted the right to daily allowances and at the time of re-enrolling for unemployment you do not fulfill the minimum contribution period of 12 months, your period for claiming benefits is extended from 2 to 4 years. The new registration must take place within 4 years after the start of the framework term for the collection of benefits. During this period you can receive the daily allowances not yet claimed.

The following are also considered as a contribution period:

• carrying out an employee activity in Switzerland subject to the obligation to pay contributions;
• the periods of contribution accrued in an EU / EFTA state by EU / EFTA citizens if, as a last job, they have carried out an activity subject to contribution in Switzerland. For cross-border commuters domiciled in Switzerland, the calculation takes place even if, as a last occupation, they have not carried out an activity subject to the obligation to pay contributions in Switzerland;
• carrying out an employee activity subject to contribution for a Swiss company abroad (seconded work);
• military service, civil service or civil protection.

Failure to fulfill the contribution period

In the event of non-fulfillment of the contribution period, you are insured even if you have not been bound by an employment relationship for one of the following reasons for a total period of more than 12 months:

• training, provided you have been resident in Switzerland for at least 10 years;
• illness, accident or maternity, provided that during this period you were resident in Switzerland;
• stay in a Swiss institution for the execution of imprisonment or job education sentences or in a similar Swiss institution.

The person is equally exempt from fulfilling the contribution period, if

• stayed in a non-EU / EFTA state for more than one year to work there,
• is a Swiss national or an EU or EFTA citizen established in Switzerland, and has a contribution period of 6 months in Switzerland in the two years preceding the announcement for unemployment insurance.

For persons established in Switzerland from a non-EU / EFTA state, stays outside Switzerland of more than one year are taken into account.

You are also exempted from fulfilling the contribution period if you are forced to take up or extend an employee gainful activity due to the following occurrences or for similar reasons, if the corresponding event dates back to no more than 1 year and if at the onset of that event you were domiciled in Switzerland:

• divorce,
• separation,
• death of the spouse,
• cancellation of an IV pension.

Eligibility for placement

You must be eligible for placement, that is to say, be willing, able and authorized to accept a job that is reasonably deemed due and to participate in a reintegration order.

Control requirements

You must participate in the information day and consultancy and control interviews in accordance with the requirements of the URC. In addition, you must take all reasonable steps to avoid or shorten unemployment.