The employer's knowledge of the Dialect.

In one advertisement I read recently that for the body of a car courier anyone is looking for the fluent dialect speaks. May require an employer this at all?

Yes, this is not a Problem. An employer may require certain skills for a job. Linguistic conditions are even to be found very often in advertisements. It does not matter whether the skills required for the job are actually necessary; it is sufficient if the employer wants to have.

The Swiss labour law is very liberal and allows employers a lot of leeway in the requirements to the desired personnel. For example, it is – in contrast to the EU, in principle, not prohibited, to a candidate on grounds of age to refuse. Is not allowed to discriminate against a job applicant or a job candidate because of gender. And apart from the in July, introduced national priority that applies only under certain conditions, may also be nationals of the EU, compared to job seekers with a Swiss Pass is not treated differently.

One could argue, with the condition to be able to fluent in dialect speak, would exclude many foreigners from applying. But this is also true for a large part of the French part of Switzerland and Ticino, the do not speak Swiss German. At least from a legal point of view, is not at a disadvantage with the requirements in the advertisement for the car courier for a certain group of people.

Andrea Fischer answered your questions to the employment law, consumer law, social security law and family law. Send them to geldundrecht@tamedia.ch

(editing Tamedia)

Created: 07.01.2019, 09:23 PM