The employment certificate is an integral part of the employment relationship and should thus be delivered to each employee upon termination of their employment contract (writing guidelines). It is also the company’s duty to issue an intermediary certificate at the employee’s request. This document must in any case be produced in writing and printed on a sheet of paper that clearly mentions the company’s name and location. Moreover, it should contain the following information:
- The detailed description of the employee’s curriculum within the company and the different positions he/she has held
- The dates of the employee’s arrival and departure from the company
- An assessment of the departing employee’s performance and behavior
The employment certificate should reflect the employee’s actual performance and behavior, yet it may contain no pejorative term. The causes of the termination should not be mentioned in the employment certificate, but rather in a termination letter that exposes the reasons for the end of the employment relationship. Obviously, these motives should also be discussed in the course of the dismissal interview (guidelines).
It should also be noted that employers bear a responsibility towards both departing workers and their future employers. Indeed, issuing a very good employment certificate that does not correspond to reality – and which could hide a case of embezzlement, for example – can be regarded as an unlawful act and have consequences for the employer in terms of legal liability.
In Swiss Law, this would typically be the case when an employee who has embezzled his company is hired on the basis of a certificate that does not mention the fraud. If his new employer also falls victim to the same disloyal practices, the company which has issued the misleading employment certificate will be held responsible. A particular attention should thus be paid to the writing of reliable employment certificates.
Finally, let us mention the fact that former employees, who have already left the company, frequently ask for a copy of their employment certificate. It is thus absolutely necessary to keep a high quality copy (in paper or digital format) of all the certificates that are issued by the company, in order to be able to meet such requests.
PRACTICE
Generally speaking, an employment certificate should provide the following information:
I. The employee’s personal data
- The employee’s first name and family name
- The employee’s date of birth
- The employee’s place of origin or of birth
II. A description of the employee’s curriculum within the company
- The dates between which the worker has been employed in your company
- The positions the worker has held and the activities he/she has exercised
III. An assessment of the employee’s performance
- Ability to meet the goals (quantity, quality, etc.)
- Respect of deadlines, budgets
- Customer satisfaction
- …
IV. An assessment of the employee’s behavior
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Leadership
- Availability
- Motivation
- …
V. The employer’s data
- The company’s name and address
- The company’s logo
- …
SAMPLES
Here is the example of an employment certificate (sample) issued by a multinational company for one of its a Regional Managers. As you can see, the writing of such certificates can be challenging. We therefore encourage you to use the following employment certificate writing guidelines (sample employee evaluation form) which allows assessing both the employee’s quality of work and behavior.
Such employee assessment forms may be filled in by several assessors. In practice, these assessment criteria should be adapted to each job’s specifications (e.g. by using the job description (or “job profile”). The listing provided in our sample employee evaluation form is non-exhaustive.
INDEPENDENT WORKERS / ENTREPRENEURS
If you are an independent worker or if you have been running your own business for some time, it is important to describe the activities you have been exercising in your CV (writing guidelines), not forgetting to mention your key achievements. This is necessary, as you may not issue an employment certificate to yourself. You may however join attestation documents such as marketing presentations, website urls or any other document that attests to your achievements.
SWISS LABOR LAW
In Switzerland, the employer has the obligation to issue a certificate of employment at any given time at the employee’s request (Art. 330a, Code of Obligations). Moreover, at the express request of the employee, the certificate will only cover the nature and duration of the employment relationship.
For further legal information on the termination of an individual employment contract under Swiss Law, please refer to the article “The Mutual Obligations Between Employers and Employees at the End of the Employment Relationship”.
