International staff, remote work from abroad, dual residence: an employment contract today must regulate more than salary and probation. A compact contract checklist.
The Swiss individual employment contract (Art. 319 et seq. CO) remains the standard vehicle. In international situations — staff resident or staying abroad, remote setups, dual residence — additional points arise that are missing in the classic boilerplate contract.
In purely domestic relationships not an issue; but as soon as work is performed abroad, the mandatory rules of the state of activity must be observed — in particular minimum wages, working-time rules, dismissal protection. A blanket choice of Swiss law only applies in a limited way; in the EU, Art. 8 Rome I Regulation applies with a favourability comparison for the employee.
Cross-border commuters, remote employees and multi-country work trigger social security questions. Within the EU/EFTA, Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 determines jurisdiction — rule of thumb: those who work more than 25% in their state of residence are socially insured there. Telework agreements since 2023 raised this threshold to up to 49.9% for telework in an EU/EFTA state. An A1 certificate should be obtained before cross-border activity begins.