Music and law
Reflections on the practice of the legal counsel of the Swiss Society for Music Pedagogy SSPM. Yvette Kovacs, doctor of law, attorney-at-law in Zurich and legal advisor to the SSPM, answers questions from association members.
Question from a member:
I've been working in a music school for ten years. A week ago, I suffered a compound fracture in my leg which will prevent me from working for the next few weeks. The music school called to tell me that I had to organize and pay for a replacement until my return. I've found a colleague who's agreed to stand in for me. But am I really obliged to organize and pay for a replacement?
Response from Yvette Kovacs:
No, in this case it's the music school that's in the wrong. You have an employee relationship with the music school, which is legally regarded as a contract of employment governed by the relevant provisions of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO). This stipulates that if the employee is prevented from working through no fault of his own, for reasons such as illness, accident or the fulfilment of a legal obligation, the employer must pay him his salary for a limited period, provided the employment relationship has lasted more than three months or has been concluded for more than three months. The employer must protect and respect the employee's personality and show due regard for his or her health.
As a result, after an accident, you can stay at home for a limited period, which varies according to the length of your employment relationship and cantonal provisions, while continuing to receive your salary and being protected for a certain time against dismissal. The organization of work is the employer's responsibility, and it is therefore up to him to organize and pay for the replacement of the worker during his absence. If this were not the case, the obligation to find a replacement would constitute a violation of the sick worker's personality, and the obligation to pay the replacement would render the employer's duty to pay wages meaningless, since the sick worker would have to pay his wages directly to his replacement and would therefore receive nothing during his illness.
Your music school has thus behaved unlawfully. I therefore recommend that you inform the school director, demand payment of your salary during your illness and request that the replacement be paid directly by the music school.
