Golden parachutes at the federal government Berset's team received 750,000 francs on his resignation
The list of high severance payments for federal departures is getting longer: new research shows how much Berset's closest employees received when he stepped down.
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- When Alain Berset resigned, his closest employees received a total of over 750,000 francs in severance pay, with his Secretary General alone receiving almost 370,000 francs. This was revealed in an investigation by "SonntagsBlick".
- Such high severance payments are no exception at the Confederation, as previous cases show.
- Since Nicoletta della Valle's generous compensation, there have been political discussions about banning such payments for top executives.
Alain Berset's employees received over CHF 750,000 in severance pay when he resigned. This was revealed by research carried out by SonntagsBlick, which is based on the Public Disclosure Act.
Berset's then Secretary General Lukas Gresch received the most at almost CHF 370,000. Stefan Honegger, who worked as Berset's personal assistant, received around 150,000 francs. According to "SonntagsBlick", Michael Brändle, who was also a personal assistant to the SP Federal Councillor, received slightly less. Rémy Lüthy and Gianna Blum, who only worked for Berset for a short time, received around CHF 54,000 and CHF 44,000 respectively.
Berset was in office from 2011 to the end of 2023 and has been Secretary General of the Council of Europe since September 2024.
This is not the first time that high severance payments at the federal government have been made public. When Albert Rösti took over the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications from Simonetta Sommaruga at the beginning of 2023, Secretary General Matthias Ramsauer and Sommaruga's personal assistant Catherine Bellini also left. According to research by NZZ am Sonntag, Ramsauer received around CHF 363,000 and Bellini almost CHF 222,000.
Severance payments have been a political issue since della Valle
Other examples include the former director of the Federal Intelligence Service, Jean-Philippe Gaudin, who received almost CHF 303,000 in 2021. Or Jean-Marie Jordan, former Director of the Federal Gaming Board, who received around CHF 249,000.
Since the case of Nicoletta della Valle at the latest, severance payments have also become a political issue. The former head of Fedpol received around CHF 340,000 when she stepped down at the end of January 2025.
The Council of States subsequently adopted a parliamentary initiative to ban severance payments for top executives from the Federal Administration and companies with close ties to the federal government. Former member of the Council of States Thomas Minder (non-party) argued that the salaries of these top executives were so high that there was no need for severance pay in the event of their departure.
The State Policy Committee of the Council of States must now draw up a corresponding bill. The Federal Personnel Act currently allows severance payments of up to one year's salary. This applies in the event of dismissal or if the employment relationship is terminated "by mutual agreement and through no fault of the employee".
