Greece: New Labor Law

Greece recently introduced new labor law amendments:

Provisions for family protection

• Paternity Leave

Every employee-father is entitled to 14 working days of paid paternity leave. The specific type of leave may either be granted 2 days before the expected date of childbirth, in which the remaining 12 days are granted, in whole or in part, directly after the birth of the child and within 30 days from the date of the child’s birth or once the child is born. The employee must notify their employer of the estimated due date.

• Caregiver Leave

An employee who has completed 6 months of service is entitled to 5 working days of paid leave. This leave is for carers, a person who provides personal care or support to a relative living under the same roof and is in significant need of assistance due to medical reasons.

• Leave due to unprecedented cases

This type of paid leave can be provided up to twice per year and consists of one working day per time in case of an event that requires the employee’s presence either due to urgent family matters or in case of sickness /accident.

• Leave due to medically assisted reproduction

Employees engaging in medically assisted reproduction are entitled to 7 working days of paid leave provided they produce a certificate provided by the doctor or the director of the medical center of assisted reproduction.

• Parental Leave

The first 2 months of parental leave will be subsidized by the Greek manpower employment organization (OAED) and should be announced to the Ergani site.

• Extension of maternity-related leaves in case of adoption/surrogacy

Maternity leave (the 63 days after the childbirth)- the 6-month protection leave of OAED, the nursing leave (either reduced working hrs or accumulated period), and the paternity leave is extended and covers cases of adoption or surrogacy. The prerequisite, as per the new provisions, refers to the child being up to the age of 8 years, and the entitlement starts when the child joins the family.

• Flexible work provisions 

Each employee-parent of children up to the age of 12 or caregiver is entitled to request a flexible work schedule for the care of the children.

Working hours 

• The average weekly working time should be 40 hours.
• The maximum time limit for break/interval is defined and equals 30 minutes per day.
• The legal overtime is redefined to 3 hours per day and the maximum limit per year is now 150 hours.
• The rate for illegal overtime is changed to 120% .
• The holidays of the New Year (1 January), the Epiphany (6 January), and 28 October are considered obligatory.
• The annual leave entitlement should be exhausted by the 1st quarter of the following calendar year (i.e., by 31 March).
• The possibility of granting unpaid leave is provided in an agreement between the employee and the employer. Certain clarifications on the process are still in process. Unpaid leave should be electronically submitted in advance to the Ergani site and the EFKA fund.
• Specific activity codes are added to those that already operate legally on Sundays and are excluded from the obligation to provide daily rest on another day.

Dismissals

• As of 1 January 2022, the distinction between salaried employees and daily workers is abolished regarding the deadline for termination and termination of contracts. For calculating the dismissal compensation of daily workers, the monthly gross salary is considered at 22 daily wages.
• In cases of the termination of an employment contract with notice, the employer may release the employee from their obligation to work by paying the salary in full. The employee may take up employment with a different employer during the notice period.
• The reasons for which termination of an employment contract may be deemed invalid are redefined by the new law.

Remote Work

• Remote work must be agreed upon in writing between the employee and the employer.  An employer should notify the employee about the specific terms and conditions that are different due to remote work as provided by the relevant legislation within 8 days.

Digital Work Card & ERGANI platform

• Employers must register the real-time recording of hours, breaks & overtime of each employee in the ERGANI platform.
• Employers have the ability to draft and modify employment contracts substituting the document type & support for overdue and corrective submissions.
• The Digital Card will be used to monitor compliance around overtime and working hours.

Violence & Work Harassment

New obligations are provided for companies with more than twenty employees, including the development of operational policies to prevent and combat violence and harassment at work and the management of internal complaints. The aim is to establish the rights of the affected employees. Employers have 3 months from 19 June 2021 to draft the policies.

Collective Labor Relations

• The trade unions of employees must be registered to ΓΕ.ΜΗ.Σ.Ο.Ε.
• Collective labor contracts or arbitral decisions should have codified provisions.