Coronavirus – information for corporate customers

Event insurance is primarily a type of property insurance that covers the loss of and damage to property, e.g. caused by bad weather or fire. Event cancellation insurance is available as an additional cover to pay for direct financial losses incurred from a cancellation, interruption or postponement of the insured event, provided that the cancellation falls into an insured event category such as a storm, hail, fire, etc.

What is not covered, for example, are cancellations that come as a result of an artist cancelling or falling ill or cancellations due to directives issued by government authorities. For this reason, events that have to be cancelled due to the officially mandated measures for curbing the spread of COVID-19 are not covered.

Helvetia is continuously exploring ways to help our customers affected by this crisis. Our advisors will be happy to assist you if you have any further questions.

All corporate customers with a Helvetia SME business insurance policy enjoy the benefit of two free legal consultations by phone each year to discuss matters pertaining to the insured company – regardless of the legal area (including debt collection issues). If you have any specific questions, our partner COOP Rechtsschutz will be happy to assist you: +41 62 836 00 57.

If you also have a Helvetia policy to cover legal expenses, the costs for legal advice and lawyer’s fees are also insured, in any case up to at least CHF 5,000, for many areas of law up to CHF 500,000 (e.g. for labour, tenancy, leasing law, insurance disputes). The scope of insurance is described in your Helvetia SME business insurance policy. If you have any questions, please contact your customer advisor at Helvetia – they will be happy to help you.

Assuming that vaccination was not mandatory at the time the trip was booked but was required at the time of departure, the following applies:

• If you are unable to be vaccinated for health reasons and have the necessary doctor's note, we will pay the cancellation costs.
• If you cannot get vaccinated because between the time of the official vaccination requirement at your destination and the departure time there is too little time to get vaccinated/a booster or if the vaccine is unavailable, we will pay the cancellation costs.
  

On 31 May 2021 the federal government lifted its recommendation against non-essential travel abroad. Insurance coverage is thus guaranteed again for all countries and areas that are not on the FOPH list of risk countries at the time of booking and where no other restrictions such as entry bans or quarantine measures exist.

However, Helvetia will still guarantee cover if you fall ill with coronavirus or if you are ordered by the authorities to go into unforeseeable quarantine – for example, after contact with an infected person. Quarantine ordered by the authorities after returning to Switzerland from a risk area is not an insured event, however.

Report your claim online or call us on +41 58 280 3000.

Travel warnings issued by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)

You have the option of depositing the licence plates at the cantonal road traffic office. Helvetia will suspend the premium calculation from the first day the licence plates are deposited until they are reinstated. At the same time, the insurance benefit remains in effect – as defined in the contract – for up to a maximum of twelve months as of the time the licence plates are deposited, provided the vehicles are not used on public roads and are owned by you.

A reduction of motor vehicle premiums owing to COVID-19 is not possible as long as the vehicles are registered. If the licence plates are not deposited they are still eligible for use, which basically calls for a risk-adjusted premium.

If an insured person contracts coronavirus and is in quarantine, Helvetia will ensure insurance cover as usual in accordance with the agreed benefits. In terms of occupational benefits Helvetia does not distinguish between "normal" illnesses and illness resulting from epidemics or pandemics.The same conditions therefore apply to coronavirus illnesses as for other illnesses.

The applicable employee benefit regulations govern all claims made by beneficiaries. Our pension fund regulations do not make any special provision or stipulate any cover restrictions in the event of a pandemic.

Important: Quarantine and incapacity for work

Please note that insurance cover is only provided in case of quarantine if the person in question produces a doctor’s note confirming incapacity for work as a result of illness (as for the rule on daily sickness benefits insurance).

Purely preventative measures such as an instruction from the employer is not deemed to be illness eligible for benefits and is therefore not insured.

In a crisis, a company can temporarily reduce or suspend the working hours of its employees by means of short-time working. This means that the federal government will pay 80% of the resulting loss of income for employees affected by short-time working.

In the event of short-time working, the current insured salary remains unchanged in the pension fund. No salary notifications/changes to working hours will be made in such cases. The contributions and the insured benefits remain the same.

For employees, the full employee contribution to the pension fund will be deducted in the event of short-time working. This also applies to other social security contributions. The employer also has to continue paying the full social security contributions.

If an insured person contracts coronavirus and is in quarantine, Helvetia will ensure insurance cover as usual in accordance with the agreed benefits. In terms of daily sickness benefits insurance Helvetia does not distinguish between "normal" illnesses and illness resulting from epidemics or pandemics. The same conditions therefore apply to coronavirus illnesses as for other illnesses.

Important: Quarantine and incapacity for work

Please note that insurance cover is only provided in case of quarantine if the person in question produces a doctor’s note confirming incapacity for work as a result of illness.

Purely preventative measures such as an instruction from the employer is not deemed to be illness eligible for benefits and is therefore not insured.

Note for risk group

Employees who belong to a risk group and are no longer permitted to carry out their work are not entitled to daily sickness benefits. This is not incapacity for work due to illness.

• Temporary closures, partial or otherwise, are not generally to be considered as an aggravation of risk and therefore do not have to be reported to the organisation. It is sufficient to carry out inspections as required and, above all, to make sure that everything is fully closed and that there are no water leakages anywhere.
• Please contact us if relevant safety systems/equipment (e.g. alarms and/or extinguisher systems) have failed or need to be disabled or if such systems/equipment are malfunctioning and cannot be fixed immediately.
• Disconnect electrical equipment from the power supply when it is not in use.