The State Political Commission of the Council of State (SPK-S) sees no added value in the initiative of the sister committee of the National Council, the Chamber services announced on Wednesday. A severance payment is only granted in exceptional cases. The Commission rejected the proposal by a vote of 9 to 2.
The sister committee of the National Council, on the other hand, does not consider severance pay to members of the top management of the federal administration appropriate. With 16 votes in favour, 4 against and 5 abstentions, it had therefore decided on a parliamentary initiative. State Secretary Thomas Minder (61, independent) had already launched a similar initiative in 2018. However, this was written off.
Only in justified exceptions
After the Council of States said no, the initiative goes back to the SPK-N. If this remains the case, then the National Council has the floor. The majority of the SPK-N believes that severance payments for well-paid top executives are not justified because of the safe working conditions and extensive federal-level redundancy protection.
The initiative calls for the federal personnel law to be amended so that severance payments for executives in the federal administration and federal institutions are no longer possible. The city of Zurich already has such an arrangement. In justified cases, exceptions should be allowed at the federal level.
For federal employees at the middle and lower levels, severance payments – for example in the case of redundancy due to restructuring – should continue to be allowed.
(SDA/tom)