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Employees who carry out a regular activity that is paid monthly are entitled to maternity, adoption or birth leave (in case of surrogacy).

Maternity leave begins on the day of the birth; adoption leave begins either on the day the child arrives, or on the day the parents go to fetch them; birth leave begins at the child's birth but at the earliest, the day on which the member of staff takes leave to go and fetch the child in their country of origin.

Maternity, adoption or birth leave lasts 20 weeks with full pay, provided the employment has been regular for more than 6 months. Maternity or adoption leave with full pay is reduced to 16 weeks for employees who have been working less than 6 months. For people who recently arrived in Switzerland, periods of work and contribution periods abroad are only taken into account for nationals of EU/EFTA member states.

Mothers whose babies have to stay in hospital for longer than two weeks immediately after birth are entitled to an extension of maternity leave equal to the period of the baby's hospitalisation, up to a maximum of eight weeks.

However long the right to maternity leave, it is prohibited by law to work during the eight weeks following childbirth (art. 35a.3 EmpA).

Please contact HR for further information and a personal analysis of your situation.

It is possible to organise cover for an employee during her maternity leave.

For employees with contracts paid by the Department for Public Education (DIP)
Federal maternity insurance benefits, supplemented by cantonal benefits, are paid to the DIP, which returns them to the university. UNIGE has set up the PGU54 fund, managed by HR, to cover the costs of cover for employees on maternity, adoption or paternity leave. The PGU54 fund is available to all subdivisions upon request.

The benefits do not fully cover the salary; the subdivision must therefore supplement the amount.

For employees with contracts paid by external funds
The full amount received by the university from the loss of earnings insurance is transferred to the fund holder, who decides on full, partial, or no cover for the employee on leave.
In order to organise cover in the best possible manner, HR can provide details of all procedures and exact amounts.

For assistants (A), research and teaching fellows (MA) and senior clinical associates (CS) with contracts paid by the Department for Public Education (DIP)
They are entitled to an extension of their contract for a duration equal to the length of the maternity, adoption or parental leave.

Available funds (benefits paid to PGU54) can be used to finance these contract extensions.

Please note that, when the subdivision chooses to organise cover for an assistant, research and teaching fellow or senior clinical associate during her maternity leave, it has to cover the cost of the contract extension from its own budget. The benefits received cannot cover both the cover and the contract extension.

For assistants (A), research and teaching fellows (MA) and senior clinical associates (CS) with contracts paid by external funds
Contract extensions are not a right and depend on the amount covered by maternity insurance still available and any partial or full cover organised.

The subdivision can also use the maternity insurance benefits to extend the contract, to fully or partially make up for maternity leave.

For employees with contracts financed by other funds, the difference between the full salary and the maternity insurance benefits is covered by the relevant fund. The researcher's contract can be extended as per the available budget. The research project itself is not extended, unless it is financed by funding specific to the researcher herself, such as Ambizone.

The superior shall forward the employee's request to HR, with a new contract for a full or partial period of compensation, depending on the available maternity insurance allowances.
 
For conditional tenure-track assistant professors (PA) with a contract paid by the Department for Public Education (DIP)
Compensating for the period of maternity leave and any parental leave is a right. Maternity leave or parental leave is deducted from the duration of the contract during which it occurred. The head of the subdivision and the assistant professor shall evaluate the implication of making up time spent on maternity leave on the tenure process. In the event of a difference of opinion, the assistant professor's choice to receive the deferral takes precedence. If recovery of the maternity leave is envisaged, the main teaching and research unit (UPER) shall send a request for an extension for the period concerned, with an explanation of the planning of the first or final evaluation, to HR, for approval by the Rectorate.

For a conditional tenure-track assistant professors (PAST) or an assistant professor without conditional tenure-track with contracts paid by external funds
It is imperative to inform the head of the subdivision in writing, at least three months before the maternity leave, of the desire to extend the period of employment by the duration of the maternity leave. The possibility of extending the professor's contract depends on the terms of the extended commitment offered by the external funders and the amounts reimbursed by maternity insurance that are not spent as part of full or partial cover for the assistant professor during her absence. The main teaching and research unit (UPER) shall send a contract extension for a full or partial period of compensation, accompanied where relevant by the external funder's agreement, to HR for approval by the Rectorate.

For substitute contracts
Stand-in employees do not have the right to an extension. This means that periods of maternity leave cannot be made up for.