Facts
[A.], a Chinese national, applied for asylum in Switzerland on 29 September 2002. On 11 April 2006, the Federal Office for Migration (ODM) temporarily admitted him as a refugee. [A.] worked in a restaurant from 1 November 2005 to 31 March 2007. The GastroSocial compensation fund rejected his application for family allowances for the period from 1 November 2005 to 18 January 2007, but granted them to him from 19 January to 31 March 2007. [A.] appealed against this decision.Considerations
According to Art. 59 AsylA and Art. 24(1) of the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, temporarily admitted refugees must be treated in the same way as Swiss citizens, particularly with regard to family allowances. Although the right to family allowances only takes effect upon recognition of refugee status by the authorities, the Federal Tribunal considers that Art. 1(5) of the Bernese Cantonal Law on Family Allowances, which makes the right to allowances subject to Swiss nationality or…