Switzerland: When Addiction Impairs Work: Swiss Federal Supreme Court Confirms Employer Salary Obligation

On 24 October 2025, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published its decision BGE 4A_221/2025 upholding a ruling of the Cantonal Court of Lucerne and simultaneously clarifying key principles regarding employers’ salary-continuation obligations in case of work incapacity caused by (alcohol) addiction.

 

General Requirements for Continued Salary Payments

Under Art. 324a CO, an employee is entitled to continued salary payments only if all the following requirements are met:

A. Duration of the Employment Relationship

The employment relationship must be either:

• Open-ended, and already in place for more than three months
• Fixed term, with a contractual minimum duration of more than three months.

B. Personal (Subjective) Reasons

The employee’s inability to work must be due to personal reasons, such as illness or accident, meaning the cause lies in the employee’s own sphere and is not attributable to external factors.

C. Absence of Fault

The employee must be prevented from working through no fault of their own. In this context, “fault” refers to gross negligence or intent. Even in cases of sports injuries, Swiss court practice generally assumes a lack of gross fault unless the employee violated most basic safety rules. However, where incapacity is caused intentionally or through gross negligence, the employer’s salary-continuation obligation ceases.

 

Case the Decision is Based on

The employee had worked as a field service technician since February 2007 for the employer. In September 2022, while severely intoxicated (1.9 ‰ blood alcohol), the employee caused a traffic accident. His driving licence – essential to performing his work duties – was immediately revoked and an involuntary placement (protective care) under Art. 426 CC was ordered. The employee later was subsequently convicted under criminal law. Medical assessments then diagnosed him with an advanced stage of alcoholism, rendering him fully unfit to work from 26 September 2022 to 31 January 2023. At the employee’s own request, the employment relationship was terminated by mutual agreement in January 2023. He later claimed unpaid salary for the period of his incapability to work.

 

Key Legal Findings

In this decision the Swiss Federal Supreme Court confirmed the following two central principles under Art. 324a CO:

A. Alcohol and Drug Addiction constitute Illnesses

Even primary addictions – those not rooted in pre-existing psychological disorders – qualify as diseases and are not, by default, considered self-inflicted incapacity.

B. Lack of Fault preserves the Right to Salary Continuation

Under Art. 324a CO, salary continues to be owed when an employee is prevented from working without fault. This applies not only where illness directly causes incapacity, but also where external consequences – such as protective care measures under Art. 326 CC – are casually linked to an involuntary medical condition.

The court emphasized in its decision that a coherent causal chain must connect the non-fault-related incapacity with the employee’s inability to work. In this case, the accident, the care measures, and the withdrawal of the driving licence all derived from the same underlying cause: the employee’s advanced alcoholism. These events therefore should not be treated as separate or self-inflicted obstacles, but as interconnected manifestations of one illness.

 

Summary

This ruling reinforces the legal protection of employees whose incapacity stems from addiction disorders. Employers may refuse salary continuation only where personal fault – in the form of gross negligence or intent – is clearly established. The decision also brings Swiss practice more closely in line with international developments in employment and social security law, recognizing addiction as a medical condition with complex causal dynamics rather than self-inflicted impediment.