Sick Pay in Swiss Construction: Five Collective Agreements, One Common Rate — but the Fine Print Varies Sharply
Published on 10/06/2026 at 03:41 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Construction workers in Switzerland can count on the same headline benefit when illness strikes, regardless of which trade they belong to. Across five major collective agreements covering the sector, sick-day compensation is set at 80 percent. What changes from contract to contract is how quickly that money starts flowing — and who foots the insurance bill.
That picture emerges from an industry comparison published by the trade portal Baunex, which lined up the sickness and holiday provisions of five central collective agreements (Gesamtarbeitsverträge, or GAVs) side by side.
Waiting days split the trades
The most visible divergence concerns waiting days — the unpaid stretch at the start of an illness-related absence that employees must absorb before daily benefits kick in.
Electricians face the shortest hurdle: a single waiting day under their sector agreement. Painters and plasterers get a sliding scale tied to seniority, with two waiting days for anyone with fewer than four years of service, dropping to one from the fourth year onward. In western Switzerland, the CCT-SOR contract fixes the figure at two waiting days.
Who pays the premium
Funding arrangements also differ. Under most of the agreements examined, employers and employees split the sick-pay premium down the middle. The CCT-SOR breaks with that pattern: staff there cover one-third of the premium, while companies pick up the remaining two-thirds.
The comparison draws on the National Framework Agreement for the main construction trade (LMV 2026–2031), the building technology GAV (2025–2028), the electrical trade and painter/plasterer contracts (both 2026–2029), and the western Swiss CCT-SOR 2024.
Holidays and public holidays: a wider spread
Time off shows similar variation. Holiday entitlements across the contracts range from 22 to 30 days, with the exact figure depending on the sub-sector and, in some cases, the age of the worker.
Paid public holidays follow a narrower band. The National Framework Agreement guarantees at least 8 days, while the other sector contracts analysed in the report provide no more than 9.
