Good practice

Suisse – Congé de paternité légal — Droit APG de deux semaines après le référendum de septembre 2020

Switzerland · Bern · See the Switzerland profile

Approuvé par référendum suisse (60,3% oui, sept. 2020) et en vigueur depuis le 1er janv. 2021, le congé de paternité légal de deux semaines verse 80% du salaire (max. CHF 196/jour) via les APG existantes. Plus de 50 000 pères en ont bénéficié en 2022, dépassant les projections.

50000 fathers

Pères ayant utilisé le congé paternité (2022)

60.3%

Approbation référendaire (Sept 2020)

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Federal Social Insurance Office (BSV / OFAS)
Period: 2021–present
Keywords: government, parental leave, social insurance

Context

La Suisse n'avait pas de congé paternité légal jusqu'à ce qu'un référendum le 27 septembre 2020 (60,34 % de oui) instaure 10 jours ouvrables de congé payé, en vigueur depuis le 1er janvier 2021 et financé via la loi existante sur les allocations pour perte de gain (APG/EOG), avec une petite cotisation partagée entre employeur et salarié — sans nouvel impôt ni nouveau régime.

Results

Les données du SECO montrent que plus de 50 000 pères ont utilisé la prestation en 2022, dépassant les projections initiales du gouvernement. L'Assemblée fédérale débat désormais d'un projet de congé parental partagé de 38 semaines, signe d'une dynamique institutionnelle continue.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-23
Federal Social Insurance Office (BSV / OFAS) — accessed 2026-06-23
AHV-IV — Allowance for the other parent (paternity) — accessed 2026-06-23
WEF — Swiss vote approves nationwide paternity leave — accessed 2026-06-23
Mercer — Switzerland to offer paternity leave — accessed 2026-06-23
iamexpat — Expanded parental leave in Switzerland — accessed 2026-06-23

Quality score: 74/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 37% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

Referendum-validated, insurance-financed model (no new fund needed) is replicable; comparable 2-week statutory paternity leave now exists across the EU, confirming the model's viability.

Impact on gender equality1/1

Directly targets Switzerland's asymmetric care distribution; 50,000+ fathers in 2022 (SECO) represent measurable first-year adoption of shared care responsibility.

Effectiveness1/1

Take-up exceeded initial government projections, confirming the policy reached intended beneficiaries.

Efficiency1/1

Financed via a 0.045% increment to existing EOG insurance; no new administrative infrastructure, minimising employer and public implementation costs.

Evaluated outcomes0/1

Programme in force only since January 2021; SECO take-up data are administrative counts, not an independent causal evaluation of gender-equality outcomes.

Sustainability1/1

Permanent statutory entitlement under the Income Compensation Act; no sunset clause; successor shared-parental-leave legislation in parliamentary debate.

Achievement / evidence1/1

Over 50,000 fathers used the benefit in 2022 (SECO); referendum approval at 60.3% confirms strong social legitimacy and substantial uptake.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

Directly embeds fathers' care responsibility in employment law, beginning to equalise statutory care entitlements between parents.

Curator validation0/1

Awaiting curator review.

Cite this

Evidoria. Suisse – Congé de paternité légal — Droit APG de deux semaines après le référendum de septembre 2020. Persistent ID: 051d8905-128a-49c0-886e-c99c8b24e920.

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