Facts
W., born in 1941, worked as a commercial employee at I. AG for 20 hours per week since April 1991. I. AG terminated the employment relationship at the end of 1992. From December 1992, W. was still employed by the same company for 15 hours per week (37.5% of a full-time position), with a gross monthly salary of CHF 2,240.35, plus a 13th-month salary, from January 1993 onwards.
On December 14, 1992, W. applied for unemployment benefits as of December 1, 1992. The Unemployment Insurance Fund of the Canton of Zurich considered the income earned with the reduced working hours as interim earnings and paid the insured person an unemployment benefit of CHF 486.35 for January 1993. According to the statement of March 13, 1993, there was no entitlement to compensation for February 1993, whereupon W. contacted the Unemployment Insurance Fund on March 23, 1993, claiming that her wage loss for this month amounted to CHF 714.05, and that she was therefore entitled to an unemployment benefit of CHF 571.25 (80% of CHF 714.05).
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court concluded that W. is entitled to a differential compensation for February 1993. The decisive factor is whether the income earned by W. through her part-time employment at I. AG falls below the reasonableness limit according to Art. 16 para. 1 lit. e AVIG. If this is the case, there is interim earnings within the meaning of Art. 24 para. 1 AVIG, which entitles to a differential compensation according to Art. 24 para. 2 and 3 AVIG.
The court stated that for the comparison between gross salary and gross unemployment benefit, the insured daily earnings according to Art. 40a AVIV must…