Facts
On May 30, 2013, the Board of Directors of Company B AG terminated the employment relationship with [C.] effective the end of November 2013. After [C.] had sought medical treatment on July 3, 2013 due to differences with A., he was repeatedly certified as fully incapable of work, the last time until September 12, 2013. Company B AG then demanded a medical examination by a trusted physician, which the specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy X. conducted on September 9, 2013. The following day, X. sent a "Medical Assessment of Fitness for Work" of [C.] to Company B AG. The public prosecutor's office accused X. of having violated his duty of confidentiality, as the scope and level of detail of the assessment had far exceeded the framework of a certificate on a medical examination by a trusted physician.
On November 18, 2015, the District Court of Zurich found X. guilty of breach of professional secrecy and sentenced him to a suspended fine. X. appealed, but the High Court of the Canton of Zurich upheld the first-instance judgment on August 30, 2016.
X. filed a criminal complaint and requested to be acquitted.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the complaint, insofar as it was admissible. It stated that the medical examiner appointed by the employer is subject to professional secrecy under Art. 321 of the Swiss Criminal Code, regardless of whether he is acting therapeutically or only diagnostically. Even if the employee has authorized the physician to submit a medical certificate to the employer, the medical examiner may not provide…