The Office cantonal de l'Emploi (OCE) [Cantonal Employment Office]

• links employement seekers with companies, and offers services in term of position opportunities,
• pays an allowance to unemployed people
• helps companies with difficulties (partial unemployment) and companies with bad credits,
• protects workers in public services,
• helps employers who must make redundancy plans to comply with the legal requirements and to find preventive solutions.

You have been made redundant

As a general rule, in order to get unemployment benefits, you must be a Swiss national or with a valid residence permit, be resident in Switzerland, unemployed, able to work and have contributed to the unemployment scheme for at least 12 months before.

You can register at the Office Régional de Placement (ORP), in order to be able to find a position as soon as you got your notice (even if you have a notice period to go); you can get advice and maybe some training courses.

The registration is made in two steps:

1. The pre-registration at the Centre (find here the list of documents to show). Your registration will then be transmitted to the agency that will contact you for your subscription.
2. The registration at the agency specialized in your sector (find here the list of documents to show).

During the first interview at the agency, your advisor:

1. will register you as unemployed,
2. will give you the necessary information regarding the choice of your unemployment organism and the Cantonal insurance in case of sickness - PCM (the federal insurance is limited to 30 days, the canton gives you additional benefits),
3. will describe your role.

The amount of unemployment allowance is calculated according to a reference salary called "gain assuré". Usually this one is equal to the last 6 months of salary subject to contribution. Your allowance is equal to 70% "gain assuré". You can calculate your allowance here.

For cross-border workers, there are specific agreements applied.

You have resigned

If you have given to your employer reasons to make you redundant, or if you resigned, you can registered at the ORP agency, as for the previous case. However you are not entitled to an allowance.