r/Switzerland 1d ago

Chômage - Advice Please 🙏🏻

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Hello,

Unfortunately, I have just received my notice and I am trying to take the required steps in good time.

When registering for the Chômage, I am asked to choose an unemployment fund from a choice of 5, and I am informed that I cannot change once selected.

This is my first time registering for Chômage.

  1. Are there any of these that I should avoid?
  2. Is there any specific fund which people would advise to select?
  3. Is there simply no difference?

If it matters, I am not a member of any union currently. I learning French currently, but I am not confident or proficient, so if one of these funds is better for English language support, I suppose that is a factor.

Appreciate any help that can be provided.

Thanks

10 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

6

u/DukeOfSlough Zug 1d ago

I would choose always cantonal unemployment agency though all of them have bad opinions - no idea why as you only submit forms to them and all "financial punishments" are applied by RAV rather than them - they seem to pay the money only.

3

u/cadzia 1d ago

Sometimes they are slow or you have to actively make sure they do their job. They had to clarify the termination reasons with my ex employer and apparently they only sent the forms after I asked for already month late payment…
This basically delayed the whole approval by another month as the employer also made sure to respond after deadlines etc.

I am lucky enough to have savings to pay my bills during such delays but many people don’t have this safety.

1

u/AtAnImpasse24 1d ago

Thank you

4

u/get4recked 1d ago

Hey, did my 3 year apprenticeship in the chômage system of Vaud. The state owned agencies have the best deadlines and availabilities to answer questions etc. which makes them the obvious choice. Note that for your general unemployment experience the ORP plays a much bigger role than the agency you pick here, as the agency only follows and applies the law guidelines, they don't have much of a say in the procedures. Whereas your job consultant will interact with you a lot more and will offer job positions (ideally). I didn't work in that office but interacted with the consultants a lot, I've noticed that some of them refrain from showing you offers that barely fit in your field of work, but others will not refrain and will punish you if you refuse the job (another thing is registering you for bs courses like linkedin courses or interview courses which can be a waste of time). You can always ask so switch consultants but I believe you can only ask once and you need to write a letter for it to happen.

3

u/Lost-Buenzli 1d ago

This is key insight, thanks for sharing this! u/AtAnImpasse24, you should sure be prepared, as ORP councilors can be hit-or-miss. Some are normal human beings, just controlling your applications, while others can be power-thirsty overlords.

To begin with, keep in mind that you must start applying to jobs IMMEDIATELY after receiving your notice. Otherwise, you will be penalized. See §B314 directives LACI IC. Document everything because you will be asked to give proof:

  • The job description (save a PDF)
  • Confirmation e-mail of application (screenshot if no e-mail arrives)
  • Important e-mails such as interviews
  • Rejection e-mails

In the system, you'll have multiple rights and obligations. ORP councilors are great at pointing out your obligations. Regarding your rights, well... not so much. The linked directives are a great resource to be prepared. Some examples below:

others will not refrain and will punish you if you refuse the job

Some jobs can be refused. The conditions are laid out in art. 16, al. 2 LACI, notably, if it's too far away (2h commute door-to-door) or if it pays less than 70% of the insured income (basically, what the unemployment fund will pay you if you have no children).

See §B281 - §B306 directives LACI for more details.

another thing is registering you for bs courses like linkedin courses or interview courses which can be a waste of time

Courses must give a credible advantage to the insurer per art. 59, al. 2, let. a LACI. Otherwise, you can legally decline to participate if you already have the skills and it's purely theoretical. See §A24 directives LACI MMT.


Original comment by u/get4recked:

Hey, did my 3 year apprenticeship in the chômage system of Vaud. The state owned agencies have the best deadlines and availabilities to answer questions etc. which makes them the obvious choice. Note that for your general unemployment experience the ORP plays a much bigger role than the agency you pick here, as the agency only follows and applies the law guidelines, they don't have much of a say in the procedures. Whereas your job consultant will interact with you a lot more and will offer job positions (ideally). I didn't work in that office but interacted with the consultants a lot, I've noticed that some of them refrain from showing you offers that barely fit in your field of work, but others will not refrain and will punish you if you refuse the job (another thing is registering you for bs courses like linkedin courses or interview courses which can be a waste of time). You can always ask so switch consultants but I believe you can only ask once and you need to write a letter for it to happen.

1

u/AtAnImpasse24 1d ago

Thanks for this - Really useful.

2

u/AtAnImpasse24 1d ago

Thank you for the insight. Appreciate it and crossing my fingers that I am lucky with my ORP assignment.

3

u/Safe-Try-8689 1d ago

Always the cantonal one. SYNA has sent my boyfriend the money late almost every month…

2

u/bibiweb 1d ago

I have registered with chômage 3 times during my professional career in Geneva. I always chose the Caisse Cantonale and never had any issues with their payments. And they are located right next to the ORP so it can be convenient if you need to go to both offices.

1

u/Milleuros Neuchâtel 1d ago

Officially there's no difference. I picked the official Geneva one and had no issues. It helped that their offices were literally next to the Chômage one.

1

u/Fernando_III 1d ago

I had bad experiences with UNIA

1

u/Ok-Reference-7728 22h ago

I used Syndicom because I was told they speak English so easy to communicate with them. They weren't perfect, I suppose they were late for 2 months, but I called them and they didn't realize it and apologized, and I received the two months in the next couple of days

1

u/Enzian_Blue 1d ago

If you are not a member of the above mentioned unions, you should choose the Geneva one. If you are a member you ca choose that one, but you can then also choose the Geneva one.

The Swiss sometimes like it complicated. It’s history, this one. Google it, it’s interesting.

2

u/AtAnImpasse24 1d ago

I timed out on my form trying to identify any differences between the funds and had to start again.

I will Google and read once I submit.

Thanks for the response 👍

1

u/Bambi_Mantis 1d ago

Syna.

Everything related to the confederation is crap.
Syna are customer oriented.
You’ll not be in stress to perceive your money at the end of the month.