Supplementary UVG Insurance (UVG-Zusatzversicherung, UVGZ)
Supplementary UVG insurance is a group accident insurance taken out by the employer under the VVG that tops up the benefits of Swiss compulsory accident insurance – typically by insuring the surplus salary above the UVG maximum, raising the daily allowance to 100 percent, covering private or semi-private hospital wards, providing lump sums for disability and death and waiving benefit reductions for gross negligence.
Comparison profile
- Trigger
- Loss occurring (reinsurance)
- Insured interest
- The employee's economic loss from an accident or occupational disease beyond the benefits provided by compulsory UVG insurance, insured as a voluntary group top-up taken out by the employer.
- Rating basis
- Declared payroll, split by UVG and surplus-salary range, Selected benefit modules (daily allowance top-up, hospital ward, lump sums), Industry/occupational risk class, Claims history
- Typical limits
- Surplus salary typically insurable up to an agreed maximum, commonly CHF 300,000, above the UVG maximum insured earnings of CHF 148,200 (2026); lump-sum benefits follow an injury schedule with progression for disability.
- Target segments
- SME, Industry, Multinational (Swiss payroll)
Insured events
- Salary loss above the UVG maximum insured earnings (surplus salary)
- Daily allowance shortfall between the UVG rate (80%) and 90-100% of salary
- Hospital treatment in the semi-private or private ward
- Benefit reductions the UVG applies for gross negligence or hazardous ventures
- Disability lump sums (per injury schedule) and death lump sums
- Top-up to the UVG disability pension
Key exclusions
- Illness (covered under sickness daily allowance insurance, not accident insurance)
- Persons without an underlying UVG policy
- Pre-existing conditions subject to the health assessment for lump-sum benefits, where applicable
- Events outside the accident definition adopted from the UVG policy
Purpose and legal nature
Compulsory accident insurance covers salary only up to the maximum insured earnings of CHF 148,200 (as of 2026), replaces 80 percent of salary during incapacity for work, reimburses medical costs in the general hospital ward and reduces benefits for gross negligence or hazardous ventures. Supplementary UVG insurance closes these gaps. Unlike the compulsory scheme it is a private-law group contract under the VVG, which the employer takes out as policyholder for all employees or for defined groups (such as management); insurers are private insurers and health insurers, but not Suva. The contract presupposes an existing UVG policy and generally follows its definition of accident, but may contain its own exclusions and a health assessment for lump-sum benefits.
Typical benefit modules
Depending on the provider, the following modules are customary in the market: insurance of the surplus salary between CHF 148,200 and an agreed maximum (frequently CHF 300,000) for daily allowances and pensions; topping up the daily allowance from 80 to 90 or 100 percent of salary, in some cases from the day of the accident, thereby absorbing the employer’s continued salary obligation under Art. 324b OR; medical costs in the semi-private or private hospital ward worldwide; assumption of the reductions the UVG applies for gross negligence, hazardous ventures or late notification; lump-sum benefits for disability according to a scale of injuries, usually with progression, and for death; and lump-sum or annuity benefits topping up the UVG disability pension from 80 to 90 or 100 percent. The premium is calculated per module as a per-mille rate of the declared payroll, separately for the UVG and surplus salary ranges, and – unless agreed otherwise – is borne by the employer.
Distinction and practice
The UVGZ differs from sickness daily allowance insurance in the insured event (accident instead of illness) and from group accident insurance for persons not subject to the UVG in its accessory nature to the compulsory scheme. Germany and Austria have no direct counterpart, because there group accident insurance sits alongside statutory accident insurance, which is limited to occupational accidents, and covers leisure accidents independently. For brokers the UVGZ, together with UVG and sickness daily allowance cover, forms the core of corporate personal insurance; coordination of the daily allowance level, surplus salary and management covers are the central design questions.
Comparison and delineation
UVGZ is always voluntary, unlike the compulsory UVG scheme it supplements, and is regularly bought alongside sickness daily allowance insurance and supplementary hospital insurance to build a complete employee benefits package: UVGZ closes the specific gaps of the accident scheme (surplus salary, daily allowance top-up, private ward, gross-negligence reductions), sickness daily allowance insurance provides equivalent income protection for illness rather than accident, and supplementary hospital insurance extends ward and treatment choice beyond the accident context. Employers typically coordinate the three so that benefit levels and waiting periods align regardless of whether an absence is accident- or illness-related.
Legal basis
- CH: Art. 15, 17, 20 and 37 UVG (gaps in the compulsory scheme)
- CH: Federal Act on Insurance Contracts (VVG), SR 221.229.1