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Key points at a glance
  • Legal obligation: If employees are absent from the workplace because of illness or pregnancy, the respective company must make continued salary payments.
  • Financial relief: Daily benefits insurance contributes to the costs for the salary of employees who become incapacitated to work.
  • All-round protection: In combination with accident insurance, companies and employees have ideal coverage in the case of illness-related absences.
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Who needs daily benefits sickness insurance?

If employees are absent for a prolonged period due to illness or maternity leave, the statutory or contractual obligation to make continued salary payments can quickly lead to financial difficulties for companies. As an employer, you would like to minimize this cost risk, while your employees, in turn, want one thing above all else in the event of a serious illness: to recover without having to worry about their livelihood. The group daily sickness benefits insurance from AXA covers both needs.

Legal situation

By law, employers must continue to pay a salary to sick employees for a specific period. This regulation is socially motivated and derives from the duty of care that companies have towards their staff. In addition to a contractual continued salary payment agreement, the length of employment and the canton in which the business operates determine the actual length of the statutory obligation to make continued salary payments . This ranges from three weeks for employees in their first year of service to 46 weeks for long-serving employees. The length is calculated using the Zurich, Bern or Basel table.

Financial relief for employers

The offer of voluntary daily sickness benefits insurance saves your company from the economic consequences of your staff becoming unfit for work. For example, if you incur extra costs in finding a replacement to perform the work while still being obliged to continue paying salaries to employees who are unfit for work. AXA reduces this risk for you and pays out at the end of the waiting period agreed by you (= daily benefits).

Financial security for employees

Major illnesses of employees are rarely predictable and the employer’s daily benefit insurance is a boon in serious cases. It gives employees financial protection for much longer, which is therefore better than the statutory obligation to continue salary payments, and helps protect livelihoods. With AXA, employees are entitled to up to 730 daily benefits and at least 80% of salary.

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What is the scope of daily sickness benefits insurance?

If a member of your staff is absent on sick leave, AXA pays the agreed benefits for up to two years (730 days). You can individually determine the duration of the benefits as well as the amount of daily benefits and length of waiting period until these daily benefits become due.

Waiting period

This is similar to a deductible. You determine how long your company would like to pay the full salary of sick staff itself and when the insurance should take effect. With AXA, you can choose a waiting period of between 0 and 365 days.

Daily benefits

How high should the insurance benefit be after the waiting period has expired? At AXA, daily benefits of between 80% and 100% of your employees’ salaries are possible. 80% corresponds to the equivalent statutory solution on continued salary payments, higher daily benefits offer additional security for your employees.

Benefit period

After deducting the waiting period, the period of benefits from AXA is up to 730 days maximum, i.e. approximately two years. If incapacity for work lasts longer than this or there is disability, the benefits are coordinated with state benefits (AHV/IV).

Premiums

Daily benefits insurance is advantageous for employers and employees, which is why the premiums are often split equally between both parties. Their amount is based on the individually specified benefit.

Examples of a claim

An employee in the third year of service is on sick leave for four months. If the company is not insured, it must continue to pay the monthly salary of CHF 8,000 (based on the Zurich table) agreed in the employment contract for nine weeks, after which the employee is no longer entitled to continued salary payments. With insurance cover, AXA pays 80% of the insured salary after expiry of the agreed 30-day waiting period which, in this instance, is compensation of CHF 19,200.

Support included

With daily sickness benefits insurance from AXA, you are entitled to the services of our Corporate Health Management. This supports you not only in promoting the health of your employees, reducing absences, and preventing disability: it also includes case management, legal advice and a network of doctors to clarify your complex questions.

What additional benefits are there?

Your insurance can be flexibly combined with other occupational pension offers. Which of them would you like to include in your contract? We are happy to send you a quotation. Whether special solutions for company owners, expectant mothers or the self-employed, we’ll find the right cover.

Daily sickness benefits for company owners

As the owner of a company, you too may fall seriously ill at any time. Special circumstances for which  daily sickness benefits can be agreed as fixed-sum insurance or indemnity insurance. With agreed fixed-sum insurance, the full amount is paid in serious cases, regardless of benefits from other insurance policies (e.g. disability insurance).

Protection for the self-employed

As neither accident insurance nor daily benefits insurance are obligatory for  self-employed persons in Switzerland , the risk of loss of earnings is particularly high for them. AXA enables non-employees to take out daily sickness benefits insurance including daily accident benefits.

Daily maternity benefits

As a complementary solution for statutory loss of earnings benefits (EO), you can guarantee continued salary payments for your pregnant staff that exceed statutory maternity pay in terms of duration and amount. 

Daily paternity benefits

New fathers who work full-time (100%) are legally entitled to paternity leave of 14 days. The lost earnings are covered by the Loss of Earnings Compensation Scheme (LEC) on the basis of 80% and up to a maximum annual salary of CHF 99,000. AXA daily sickness benefits insurance enables you to close the gaps in statutory Loss of Earnings Compensation Scheme coverage and also to insure an extension of paternity leave for your employees. 

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Support and frequently asked questions

  • Isn’t accident insurance for companies enough?

    With this insurance, you insure staff absences as a result of accident or occupational illness. The financial consequences caused by lengthy illnesses are not borne by the insurer. With AXA however, you can combine daily sickness benefits and accident insurance, saving costs and administrative effort at the same time.

  • As an employer, can I dismiss sick employees?

    Yes in principle, but statutory blocking periods that protect a sick person against dismissal must be observed: this is 30 days in the first year of service, 90 days from the second to fifth year of service and 180 days from the sixth year of service. Notice of termination can only be served after this period has expired. It is also only legally valid after that period if incapacity for work continues when the employment contract has ended.

  • Who pays if I have given notice, then become ill through no fault of my own and am also unfit for work beyond the notice period?

    If an employer does not have any insurance, it has a duty to continue making salary payments itself based on the statutory provisions (length of employment relationship, place of work).  With the daily sickness benefits insurance from AXA, the employer is exempt from continued salary payments after expiry of the individually agreed waiting period, and the insurance pays either until recovery or up to 730 maximum of daily benefits, even if the insured person no longer works for the company and has been dismissed. 

  • What’s the difference between fixed-sum and indemnity insurance?

    With fixed-sum insurance, the amount of insurance benefit is laid down precisely in the contract. If a loss event occurs, the claimant receives the contractually agreed sum, regardless of whether corresponding costs or losses have actually been incurred. If there is a claim under indemnity insurance, the insurer replaces the losses that have been sustained or pays compensation up to the agreed amount of insurance, with the benefits of third parties (e.g. disability insurance) taken into account.

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