Two cantons, one household: which one governs what?
When your employee does not work where you live, two cantonal rulebooks apply at once - and they hang off different places. Here is which follows which.
The compensation office follows your domicile as the employer - not where the cleaning happens. The cantonal standard employment contract, which governs the minimum wage, paid public holidays and notice periods, follows the opposite anchor: the place where the work is actually performed.
- Registration and contributions: always with the compensation office of your canton of residence.
- Wage floor, public holidays, notice periods: the canton where the work happens.
- Accident insurance is federal law - there is no cantonal question at all.
This applies when
Your household employee works in a different canton from the one you live in - second home, holiday house, a parent's flat.
What hangs off what
Compensation office: your domicile
As a rule the competent office is the one in the canton where you, the employer, are domiciled. That is set out in the guidelines on affiliation to compensation offices (margin no. 1061) and follows from Art. 119 para. 2 AHVV. The place of work plays no part in it. The family allowance fund hangs off the same affiliation, so the FAK rate you pay does too.
Cantonal NAV: the place of work
The cantonal standard employment contract for domestic work applies to employment relationships performed in that canton. It governs what federal law does not: working and rest hours, holiday and public-holiday entitlement, probation and notice periods. If your employee cleans your holiday house in Ticino, those hours fall under the Ticino CNL - even if you live in Zurich and settle contributions there.
When does this actually diverge?
For most households, never: you live and have the cleaning done in the same place. It diverges in four situations, and all four are more common than people assume.
- You have a second home or holiday house in another canton and have it cleaned there.
- Your employee looks after your parents' flat or a rented-out flat in another canton.
- You have moved, but the employment relationship continues at the old location.
- You live just over a cantonal border and the place of work is on the other side.
What you actually have to do
Register with the compensation office of your canton of residence - there only, never twice.
Take the minimum wage, public holidays and notice period from the canton of the workplace, and put both in the contract: the place of work and the conditions that follow from it.
If she regularly works at two places in two cantons, each location falls under its own NAV. In practice, where the hours cannot be cleanly separated, you apply whichever is more favourable to the employee.
The federal NAV Hauswirtschaft and its minimum wages apply across Switzerland except in Geneva - and only from an average of five hours a week with the same employer.
The example that makes it visible: Ticino
The Ticino CNL for domestic staff grants nine paid public holidays in Art. 18 - New Year, Epiphany, Easter Monday, Ascension, 1 August, Assumption, All Saints, Christmas and St Stephen's. The cantonal labour inspectorate converts that into a supplement of 3.6 per cent on the base wage for hourly-paid staff. Under federal law alone only 1 August would be paid, i.e. 0.39 per cent. So if you live in Zurich and have cleaning done in Ticino, you settle with SVA Zurich - and still owe the Ticino public holidays.
And accident insurance?
That is federal law and knows no cantonal competence. It covers occupational accidents from the first hour; non-occupational accident cover is added from eight hours a week with the same employer. Where the work happens changes none of that. In several cantons you can have it collected through the compensation office - which then does hang off your canton of residence, because it hangs off your office.
Common questions
Do I have to register in both cantons?
No. One employment relationship, one compensation office - the one in your canton of residence. A second registration at the place of work would be wrong and would produce duplicate contribution demands.
Which FAK rate applies when the cantons diverge?
The one of your canton of residence, because the family allowance fund hangs off the same affiliation as the AHV. The family allowances themselves, by contrast, follow the employee's situation, not your canton.
I have moved. What happens to the running employment relationship?
Competence moves with your domicile to the compensation office of the new canton. Report the change actively - both offices need the date so the annual statement is split cleanly. If the place of work stays the same, the applicable NAV does not change.
How do I find out exactly which cantonal NAV applies?
Every canton publishes its NAV for domestic work in the cantonal collection of laws, and the cantonal labour inspectorate will tell you. The federal NAV only governs minimum wages - everything else comes from the cantonal one.
Sources
Competence of the compensation office
Art. 119 para. 2 AHVV and the guidelines on affiliation to compensation offices, margin no. 1061: as a rule the competent office is the one in the canton where the employer is domiciled. The FAK affiliation follows the same point (Art. 12 FamZG).
Ticino public holidays
CNL per il personale domestico, Art. 18 (nine holidays) and the Guida applicazione CNL of the Ufficio dell'ispettorato del lavoro, January 2026 edition, which derives 3.6 per cent on the hourly wage from it. Under Art. 1 the CNL applies unless derogated from in writing - silence is not a derogation.
Two cantons, one contract - Clino sorts it
Clino asks for domicile and place of work separately, registers you with the right compensation office, and takes the wage floor and public holidays from the canton where the work actually happens.
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Salvador Jovells, founder of Clino
Verified July 2026