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Switzerland
What is educational leave?
Educational leave is leave granted to employees who will participate in a further education programme. In many regions, there are financing opportunities available to help the employee with the programme's costs. However, the regulations for employees in Switzerland haven't been legally justified yet.
Educational leave is still a privilege.
In Switzerland, there is neither a right to education and further training, nor a national law associated with further education. On a political level, action has been taken time and time again, but an agreement has never been reached in parliament, or has disappeared in the red tape of the bureaucracy. In 2001, the national council rejected a constitutional requirement on education and further training, that would have granted three to five days educational leave for all working persons.
Swiss employees still depend on the good will of their employers and usually only highly qualified personnel receive paid educational leave. Over half of the further vocational training in Switzerland is therefore paid by the employees themselves.
In 2003, the SGB (Swiss Trade Union Federation) submitted a 30-page dossier for a new further education offensive and for the right to paid educational leave. This should have pushed the debate on contractually secured and/or legally embodied further training into the forefront again.