Dismissal after sick leave Criticism again - Migros should make employees sick?

Migros Online has been criticized by "Kassensturz" for questionable working conditions and rigorous dismissal practices. The company denies any wrongdoing.

Some things are not quite right in Migros' online grocery business. Last autumn , a labor inspector ins pected the distribution center in Pratteln BL and found several shortcomings. For example, employees have to lift and stack boxes weighing up to 30 kilograms over their shoulders. According to labor law, the limit is 13 kilograms.

Kassensturz" took up the issue in an article in which Lida Nachreiner, among others, had her say. The 43-year-old put food ordered online into boxes in the warehouse and then lifted them onto a conveyor belt. The boxes often weighed more than the permitted weight. After a year and a half in the job, she got the receipt: bursitis and joint pain.

"If this goes on for a long time, it can cause permanent damage," confirms Klaus Stadtmüller, co-director of the Society for Occupational Medicine in the article.

Dismissal after sick leave

Lida Nachreiner was on sick leave for four months. Then she was given notice. "Take sick leave and then resign," says Roman Künzler from the Unia trade union indignantly. The procedure is nothing new to him: they know of a dozen employees who have been on sick leave for lifting weights that are too heavy and have been dismissed after the statutory qualifying period has expired.

After she was dismissed in summer 2024, Lida Nachreiner spoke to other employees and informed the Baselland labor inspectorate and Suva. Migros Online's response was immediate: she was told to refrain from making statements that could damage her reputation, otherwise they reserved the right to take legal action.

In addition to threats and a drastic dismissal policy, Migros Online employees are also put under pressure in other ways: they work for the minimum wage of CHF 4270 gross. A perfidious bonus serves as an incentive. Because anyone who falls ill - and this is not intentional - is punished. On the first day of illness, 20 percent of the bonus is forfeited, and 10 percent on each subsequent day.

Kurt Pärli, Professor of Private Social Law, reacts with surprise in the article: "Mixing bonuses and penalties is legally impossible. I cannot undertake not to fall ill."

And Migros Online? Writes to "Kassensturz": "We take the health and well-being of our employees very seriously and are aware of our responsibility".