Frequently asked questions

No. In order to be able to register with Chèque service, the employer must reside in the Canton of Geneva. As for the residence of the employee, this is not decisive.

No. Chèque service is intended for use only for private households. A company or an association must register directly with an AVS fund in order to declare their employees.

No. In a domestic context, the employer is obliged to declare their employee as of their first hour of work and as of the 1st franc paid. The possibility of waiving AVS/AI/APG and AC contributions for an ancillary income not exceeding CHF 2’300.- does not apply to activities in a private household.

Yes. The employment contract between you and your employee can be an oral or written contract. You may use the employment contract template in the Forms and information section.

Yes. In this instance, it is the responsibility of each employer to register with Chèque service on an individual basis.

If your employee works simultaneously for several employers, in France and Switzerland, they are subject to the French social security system, if a substantial part, i.e. more than 25%, of all of their activities are performed there.
However, if the activity in France is not substantial, your employee is subject to the Swiss social security regime for all of their activities.
However, if the paid activity in France is marginal (5%), it is still declared to the French authorities and the salaried activity in Switzerland is declared in Switzerland.

Yes. The Swiss-French portal can be found here: www.cheques-emploi-suisse.ch

For workers in a domestic context, in the absence of a written contract setting the duration of vacation leave, the provisions set out in the standard employment contract in force in Geneva shall apply. These provide for the duration of paid annual vacation leave as follows:

4 weeks between 20 and 50 years old;
5 weeks until the age of 21;
5 weeks after 20 years of service;
5 weeks after the age of 51 and 5 years of service with the same employer

Further information

Yes. Chèque Service will draw up the annual wage certificate.
However, a wage statement may be requested from time to time.

No. The wage slip is the responsibility of the employer who pays the wages.

Yes. Chèque service will apply to the Cantonal Compensation Fund Office (CCGC) for your employee’s AVS card). In order to do so we will need a copy of a piece of identity for your employee.
We will send you the AVS card to give to your employee.

Yes. If the employee has a fixed monthly wage, then public holidays are paid even if the employee does not work on those days.

No. If the employee is paid on an hourly basis, only August 1st is paid if it falls on a day that would normally be worked. Other public holidays are not paid and, of course, not worked.

Please see the practical case sheet.

Chèque service can issue a duplicate of the 2016 annual salary certificate (certificat de salaire) and a 2017 salary statement (attestation de salaire). Please order a personal AVS account statement (extrait de compte individuel AVS) as proof of AVS contributions (Swiss Social Security). This document lists all of the requester's revenue for the periods in which contributions were made by all of their employers. This document is an essential part of compiling your file.

You can click here to ask for your personal AVS account statement.

It is important that the employee's request is made by means of an association or a union. You will find a list of them on page 6 of the pamphlet published by the State of Geneva. You can click here to see the pamphlet.

You must apply to the appropriate authority, the Office cantonal de la population et des migrations, Route de Chancy 88, 1213 Onex.

The application must always be presented by the employer.

No. Chèque service is run by a private organization, bound to maintain the confidentiality of the data communicated by its adherents. Consequently, Chèque service only transmits wages information to the Cantonal Compensation Fund Office (CCGC) for the recording and payment of contributions to employees’ individual accounts.

However, it must be made clear that Chèque service by no means endorses illegal employment. It is, in particular, illegal to employ an illegal worker and this offence may result in sanctions from the appropriate authority in the employer’s region.

The responsibility of taking on a person for the benefit of a valid permit or of applying for a permit lies with the employer.

No. Chèque service enables you to declare employees to mandatory social security. However, Chèque service issues neither residence permits nor working permits, which fall under the exclusive competence of the Cantonal Office of Population.

Yes. As an employer, you are legally obliged to declare your employee to social security regardless of their status.

No. Unemployment insurance benefits are reserved for people said to be “employable”, which is not the case for people without residence permits or working permits.

The employment of people in an illegal situation is punishable by both the Illegal employment Act (LTN) and the Foreign Nationals Act (LEtr). The employer therefore risks sanctions if the clandestine nature of their employee is discovered, for example, during an identity check.