Paid holiday in Switzerland - four or five weeks?

When I moved to Switzerland I assumed my holiday entitlements would be the same as they were when I worked for the same company in the U.S. (1 week paid vacation per year as a special employee benefit).

Since coming here though, I have heard rumours of 4 or 5 weeks of paid vacation being required by Swiss laws. Both seem too good to be true, so I wanted to confim if there is such a thing as legally required paid vacations and if so, do I get 4 weeks, 5 weeks or neither of these?

Hi there,

Employees in Switzerland are entitled to 4 weeks of paid vacation in addition to public holidays. This applies to full-time and part-time employees, as well as people employed on an hourly basis. Employees under the age of 20 are entitled to 5 weeks of paid vacation.

Employers may choose to compensate employees financially by paying out their holiday entitlement (with their monthly salary, for example) if this is more practical - as is often the case with hourly employees.

Best regards from Moneyguru