Dynergia

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Your way back — what to expect

If you are signed off sick for a longer period, three things run in parallel in Switzerland: your support in returning to work, the assessment of your daily sickness benefit, and the rules around your job. You are in the middle. Here you can see who does what — and who sees what.

Your medical certificate — it is the basis in all three tracks.
Track 1

Support: care management

voluntary

  1. Reporting sick. You report sick; your doctor issues a certificate.
  2. Contact. If you are absent for longer, a specialist from the insurer gets in touch. They explain their role and ask for your agreement. Taking part is voluntary.
  3. Review meeting. Usually with your line manager and HR, often with the care manager as well. You discuss how and when a return is realistic.
  4. Round table — if you agree. Around the table are usually you, your line manager, HR and the care manager. Doctors do not normally take part. At your request, other people can join — for example your treating doctor, or someone representing you. You decide what information is shared.
  5. A step-by-step return. Usually through a part-time workload that increases step by step — for example 40 %, then 60 %, then 80 % — or through a work trial. How much is possible is determined by your treating doctor — nobody else.
  6. You can pause or stop at any time.

This track supports you. It does not decide about your daily sickness benefit.

Track 2

Assessment: your daily sickness benefit

the insurer’s benefits assessment

  1. Your daily sickness benefit is decided by the insurer’s benefits department — not by care management. The basis is your medical certificate.
  2. If your illness lasts longer, the insurer often requires a more detailed certificate or asks you to see a medical adviser. This doctor may receive medical details, but passes on to the administration only the conclusions needed for the decision — not your medical history.
  3. You have the right for sensitive medical information to go only to that doctor.
  4. You have duties to cooperate: providing information, attending appointments, registering with the disability insurance if the insurer requires it. Failing to attend an examination that has been ordered puts the daily sickness benefit at risk.
  5. If the insurer requires you to take up other reasonable work, it must allow you time to do so — as a rule three to five months — before it may reduce or stop payments. If you are dismissed, the daily sickness benefit generally runs until the end of the notice period.

In case of disagreement there is no formal objection procedure here as there is with the disability insurance — seek advice (see below). Figures and deadlines are set out in your policy conditions.

Track 3

Your job: the employer

employment law

  1. During the statutory protection period you may not be dismissed: 30 days in the first year of service, 90 days in years two to five, 180 days from year six. Many larger employers grant longer protection by contract — sometimes six months or more. Ask what applies in your employment contract, staff regulations or collective agreement.
  2. The employer learns only that you are unfit for work and for how long — never the diagnosis. A company doctor, too, may tell them only about fitness for work.
  3. The employer may take an interest in your return: conversations, adapting the workplace. They may not press you to work against the medical certificate.
  4. With a part-time workload or a work trial, the employer pays for the part worked and the insurer pays the rest. Your contract does not change automatically as a result.
  5. Performance reviews are permitted only for the part actually worked — not for your illness.

After the protection period, dismissal is possible; your daily sickness benefit for the existing illness generally continues — depending on your policy conditions.

Who sees what?

You
decide about taking part and about what is shared.
Your treating doctor
assesses your fitness for work. Only they do.
Care manager
coordinates and supports; does not decide about diagnosis or benefit.
The insurer’s medical adviser
sees medical details; passes on conclusions only.
Employer
sees fitness for work and duration. No diagnosis.

Common questions

Do I have to take part in care management?

No. Taking part is voluntary; declining on its own has no consequences for your daily sickness benefit.

Will I be pushed to return too early?

No. Your pace follows your treating doctor’s assessment; you can pause or stop a step-by-step return.

Will my employer learn my diagnosis?

No. They learn only that you are unfit for work and for how long.

Will I lose my daily sickness benefit if I decline something?

That depends on what you decline — and the difference matters.

Dynergia, care management and the round table are voluntary support. You may decline, pause or stop them without your daily sickness benefit being affected. Taking part in Dynergia is not among your legal or contractual duties — including the duty to mitigate (Schadenminderungspflicht). Declining it breaches no duty to cooperate.

Separately, there are real duties under law and contract: providing truthful information, submitting medical certificates, attending an examination that has been ordered, registering with the disability insurance if the insurer requires it, and doing what can reasonably be expected of you for your recovery. If you fail to meet such duties without reason, the benefit can be at risk — as a rule, you are first warned in writing and given a deadline.

In short: support you may decline. Duties you should meet. Dynergia is support.

Am I under surveillance?

Surveillance is permitted only under narrow legal conditions and where there is well-founded suspicion; it is not part of normal care management.

If your insurer works with Dynergia, you will receive your access from your case manager.

Independent advice: Pro Mente Sana · Pro Infirmis · Ombudsstelle Krankenversicherung

Deadlines, amounts and details are governed by your contract (policy conditions) and your insurer — ask your contact person.

This page provides general information and is not legal advice. What applies is determined by the applicable law and your contracts — in particular the policy conditions (AVB/GCI) and your employment contract. For questions, contact your contact person or an independent advice service (see above).

In an emergency 144 · Helpline 143 · For young people 147 · Heart2Heart, English 0800 143 000

Your data are not evaluated in real time. They are reviewed once a week — up to eight days may pass between an entry and its review. If you are in acute distress, please contact your doctor, the helpline 143 (English-language: Heart2Heart 0800 143 000, daily 18:00–23:00), or in an emergency 144.