La modification des tâches ou du lieu de travail sous l’angle du devoir de fidélité – Analyse en temps de COVID-19

[Changing an employee’s tasks or place of work – an analysis under the duty of loyalty in the COVID-19 era]

ANCELLE, Juliette. La modification des tâches ou du lieu de travail sous l’angle du devoir de fidélité – Analyse en temps de COVID-19. In: WYLER, Rémy (éd.), Panorama IV en droit du travail. Berne: Stämpfli, 2023, p. 1–24.

Abstract (AI generated)

This contribution examines how far an employer may modify an employee’s tasks or place of work under the employee’s duty of loyalty set out in art. 321a of the Swiss Code of Obligations. After reviewing the scope of the duty of loyalty — its positive and negative obligations, its limits and the way Swiss case law frames it — the analysis distinguishes changes that require a contract variation by notice (congé-modification) from changes an employer may impose under its power to give instructions, including exceptions such as covering for an absent colleague or adapting tasks to a change in the employee’s capacity. The particular context of the COVID-19 pandemic is then examined through practical examples: temporary assignment to another workplace, imposed home working, changes to tasks following a refusal of vaccination, and workplace cleaning and health-pass checks. The article closes with a synthesis and reflections on the pandemic’s possible lasting impact on the employment relationship.