Facts
This judgment addresses the question of whether the rejection of an officially assigned reasonable work must necessarily be considered as a serious fault or whether it is also possible to impose a sanction below the framework provided for serious fault. The case concerns D. against the Office for Economy and Labour, Unemployment Insurance, Zurich, and the Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich.Considerations
The case law of the Federal Court on this issue has been inconsistent. In some cases, it was argued that the rejection of an officially assigned reasonable work must necessarily be considered as a serious fault and that a sanction below the framework provided for this would be inadmissible. Other judgments, however, left open the possibility of also assuming a medium or minor fault in these cases.
The Federal Court has now clarified that the rejection of an officially assigned reasonable work does not necessarily have to be considered as a serious fault. Rather, as with other grounds for termination, a sanction below the framework provided for serious fault can be imposed if there is an excusable reason (motif valable/valido motivo). Excusable reasons are circumstances that make the fault…