How do I read my payslip?

In the main construction sector, the rule comes from the National Collective Agreement for the main construction sector (LMV/CN), the sector's collective agreement. It gives you the right to a payslip every month, with the salary and the breakdown of hours worked (art. 44 LMV/CN). Your wage class (C, B, A, Q or CE) must also be shown (art. 39 LMV/CN).

If you are a temporary worker, your employer is the agency. When the company running the site is covered by the LMV/CN, the agency must apply the LMV/CN rules on salary and working time to you, as well as early retirement and the contributions to enforcement and training costs (Employment Services Act, AVG/LSE art. 20).

• Base salary: hours worked multiplied by your hourly rate. In 2026, the minimum hourly wage ranges from CHF 26.95 to CHF 38.10 depending on class and zone (art. 37 LMV/CN).
• Public holidays: at least eight public holidays a year are paid if they fall on a working day, at base salary (art. 34 LMV/CN).
• Holidays: if you are paid by the hour, the LMV/CN provides 10.6% (5 weeks) or 13.0% (6 weeks, under 20 and from age 50). This amount is recorded on every payslip and paid when you take your holidays, not before (art. 31 LMV/CN).
• 13th-month salary: 8.3% of the year's salary for hourly pay, paid at the end of the year or at the end of the contract (art. 46 LMV/CN). It can be paid every month if you are subject to withholding tax and this is set out in a written agreement. It must then appear on a separate line.
• Overtime: it first goes into an hours account. Above 50.00 h in the week (work and travel), it is paid the following month with 25% extra (art. 28 LMV/CN).
• Supplements: Sunday and public holiday work + 50% (art. 51 LMV/CN), temporary night work + 25% or + 50% (art. 50 LMV/CN).

These are reimbursements of expenses, not salary. They do not count towards holiday pay or the 13th-month salary (appendix 6 LMV/CN).

• Lunch: at least CHF 16.00 per day if you cannot go home and the company does not provide the meal (art. 55 LMV/CN). A local collective agreement can provide more. In Geneva, the daily allowance for travel and meals is CHF 25.00 (appendix 13 LMV/CN).
• Private car: at least CHF 0.70 per kilometre, if the employer expressly asks you to use it.
• Site allowance: new in 2026, CHF 4.00 per day worked from 5.50 h of work, then CHF 6.50 in 2027 and CHF 9.00 in 2028 (art. 55 LMV/CN). It is separate: it pays a flat amount for part of the travel time between the meeting point and the site (art. 49 LMV/CN). The LMV/CN does not list it in its table of what counts for holidays and the 13th-month salary (appendix 6), and does not say whether it is subject to AHV. Ask your employer or agency how it is handled on your payslip and, if in doubt, ask the joint committee of your canton.

A few details:

• NBU (AANP): if you work at least 8.00 h a week for the same employer, you are insured against leisure accidents. You pay this premium yourself; the employer deducts it from your salary (Accident Insurance Act, UVG/LAA art. 91). Accidents at work are paid for by the employer.
• KTG (IJM): the LMV/CN requires the employer to insure 80% of the salary in case of sickness. The premium is split half and half (art. 56 LMV/CN).
• BVG (LPP): you are insured if your annual salary with the same employer is above CHF 22'680.00. The employer's share is at least equal to the employees' share.
• FAR: it finances retirement from age 60 in construction. The employer pays 6% on its side. The cantons of Valais and Vaud have their own solution.
• Professional contribution: in Geneva, it is 0.70% + 0.30%. Neuchâtel, Ticino, Vaud and Valais have a cantonal fund (art. 10 and appendix 13 LMV/CN).
• Withholding tax (Quellensteuer / impôt à la source): it mainly concerns foreign nationals without a C permit (B or L permit) and people who live abroad. The amount depends on the canton, marital status and children.

Fictional example. Class Q worker, 30, canton of Fribourg, paid by the hour at the 2026 minimum of CHF 33.55. That month: 160.00 h of work, including 4.00 h on a Sunday, one public holiday of 8.00 h and 20 paid lunch allowances. The NBU, KTG, BVG and withholding tax rates are chosen for the example: yours are on your payslip.

The base salary, the public holiday and the Sunday supplement all count towards holidays and the 13th-month salary (appendix 6 LMV/CN). The meal allowance does not. When your holidays are paid, the 13th-month salary will also be calculated on that amount.