Employee's Right to Refuse to Work in Case of Delayed Payment of Bonus

Facts

X. worked for [Y.] from 1 June 2007 without a written employment contract. By letter dated 22 December 2007, X. informed [Y.] that he was ceasing his work due to a delay in salary payment. [Y.] then terminated the employment contract by letter dated 27 December 2007, notified to X. on 7 January 2008. X. subsequently filed a claim with the Labour Court of Kulm, primarily requesting the payment of CHF 24,494.70 with interest and the withdrawal of the debt collection of CHF 45,000 concerning him.

The Labour Court partially granted X.'s claim and ordered [Y.] to pay CHF 15,744.30 with interest. The Cantonal Court partially upheld Y.'s appeal and ordered him to pay CHF 4,377.95 with interest.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal ruled that the bonus agreed between the parties should be paid to X. on a pro rata temporis basis for the year 2007, regardless of the delay in salary payment by Y. Indeed, X.'s legitimate refusal to work due to the delay in payment could not justify a reduction in the bonus, which constitutes an ancillary benefit to the salary. Only factors such as poor performance by X. or unfavourable…