Greece Employment Law

Employees are eligible for vacation leave when they have worked for the same employer for 12 months. Employees on a five-day weekly schedule are entitled to 20 days of leave, while employees who work six days a week receive 24 days. The leave entitlement is increased by one working day for each year of employment in addition to the first up to 22 days if the employee works a five-day week, 26 days for employees who work six days a week.

Employees shall use at least half of the total leave from May 1st until September 30. The entitled, per year, leave must be exhausted by the first quarter of the following calendar year.

First calendar year before 1-year completion – The employer must provide the employee with proportionate holiday time. In a six-day employment schedule, the employer must provide the employee with two days of holiday for each month of employment.

In the case of 10 or more years of employment under the same employer or 12 years under multiple employers, annual leave increases to up to 25 and 30 days, respectively.

Pay – A vacation bonus is also obligatory by statute. This equals 50 percent of the monthly salary or (if the employee is paid per diem) 13 times per diem. Sundays, public holidays and sick leave are not included in vacation leave. With few exceptions, employees must use vacation days at the same time and cannot carry over unused leave. Employers cannot pay money in lieu of granting vacation. Art 7 of Law 4093/2012.

Effective June 1, 2022, the minimum wage rate in Greece is €831.8 per month.

The minimum wage stated may not be up to date & is subject to change. Kindly access the link to get the current rates.

17 weeks or 119 calendar days in total. Eight of those weeks must be allocated before the scheduled or anticipated date of birth. Leave is paid for 15 days if the young mother has not completed one year with the employer, and for one month if she has completed one year.

If the woman is not insured but her husband is, the payment goes to the husband. Employees are entitled to return to the same or an equivalent position following maternity leave.

The entitlement of maternity leave is available for adoptive parents up to the age of 8 years, and surrogate mothers also. Employees, who undergo medically assisted reproduction are entitled to paid leave of 7 working days with a salary, following a certificate from the medical practitioner.

Following maternity leave, mothers are entitled to a one-hour reduction in daily working time for 30 months. Alternatively, a two-hour reduction in daily working time can be taken for the first 12 months and a one-hour reduction for another six months. Law Promoting Employment, No. 2874 of 2000, §  11.

Prenatal examination leave – Pregnant workers are to take paid leave during working hours in order to undergo prenatal examination if the tests are required to be performed during working hours. Amended in accordance with Law 4808 of 2021, Art 40

Every working father shall be entitled to paternity leave.14 working days, which must be taken at the birth of the child. This leave may either be granted 2 days before the expected date of birth, in which case the remaining 12 are granted, in whole or in part, within 30 days from the date of birth, or be administered after the date of birth.

Paternity leave must be granted by the employer and is not dependent on occupation or previous service or by the spouse or family current situation of the employee. In case of adoption or adoption of a child, age up to 8 years, paternity leave is granted by the integration of the child in the family.  Law 4808 of 2021, Art 27.

Any working parent or person exercising parental responsibility as an individual and non-transferable burning of parental leave for the upbringing of the child, for a period of 4 months, which may be used continuously or partially, until the child reaches the age of 8 years, in order to fulfillment of the minimum parenting obligations to this.

In case of adoption or adoption of a child aged up to 8 years, parental leave is granted by the integration of the child in the family. For the granting of parental leave, the employee and the parent must have completed 1 consecutive year or with successive employment contracts of a certain time to the same employer.

Pay – For the first 2 months of parental leave, the employer is obliged to pay parental allowance to each parent, monthly, an amount equal to statutory minimum wage, as determined from time to time as well as the proportion of holiday gifts and bonuses licensed on the basis of the above amount.

Exceptionally, parents of twins, triplets, or more multiple children are entitled to obtain parental leave for each child separately, cut or even continuously and are entitled to receive the allowance hereof for an additional 2 months, regardless of the number of children born even together. Parents alone, due to the death of the other parent or due to total deprivation of parental responsibility or non-recognition of the child by the other parent, are entitled to parental leave and duplicate allowance.

Parental leave is granted continuously, in parts or in another flexible way, upon request of the parent, which is submitted to the employer with any convenient means in writing or electronically and in which it determines its beginning and end. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 28.

Working parents, even if the other parent is not working, are entitled, as an alternative to each other, to child care leave. The leave is granted for a period of time 30 months from the expiration of maternity leave or parental leave. During the above period, the parent who makes use of this right, is entitled to either arrive 1 hour later or takes place 1 hour earlier each day from work or interrupt it for one hour a day, according to his request.

Alternatively, by agreement of the parties, the part-time may be granted in other ways, such as:

• • • Reduced working hours by 2 hours for the first 12 months and against 1 hour per day for the next 6 months.
    • Full leave days, which are divided into weekly basis, corresponding to the total number of hours, within the time period during which the employee is entitled to part-time work for child care.
    • Equivalent continuous leave, granted once or in part, within the time period during which the employee is entitled to part-time for the care of the child.
    • In any other way, the parties agree.

Adoptive and foster parents are entitled to receive the child care leave from the integration of the child in the family and if the child has not completed at the age of 8 years. In the event of divorce, separation, or birth without the marriage of his parents, the leave of care child is received by the working parent, who has the custody of the child, unless the parents agree differently. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 37.

All employees who have completed 6 months of continuous service or 6 months of the fixed-term employment contract are entitled to take carer leaves to care for another person. Such leave can last up to 5 unpaid working days in a calendar year.

A working parent or carer is entitled to be absent from work up to 2 times a year for a period of 1 working day with pay, for reasons of force majeure associated with urgent family issues in case of accident or illness which requires the employee’s presence.

Marriage Leave

In case of marriage or conclusion of an agreement cohabitation, a paid leave of 6 working days, if the employee is employed with a 6-day weekly work system and paid leave of 5 working days, provided that he is employed on 5 days of weekly work. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 39.

Working parents, full-time or part-time, of a child, up to 18 years of age attending elementary school or secondary education, as well as parents of a child with special needs, regardless of the age of the child attending in a special education structure are entitled to unpaid absence for certain hours or the whole day, from their work, up to the completion of 4 working days, each calendar year, on purpose to attend their children’s school. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 38

In case of death of a close relative i.e. husband/wife, child, parents, or brother/sister, the employee is entitled to a special paid leave of two days.

Employees who study at a public school or university are entitled to a special leave of up 30 days per year in order to study for their exams. The employee is paid by OAED (Labor Force Employment Organization) during his or her study leave. The employee is obliged to verify participation in the exams by a certificate from the school or university. Due to the fact that study leave is granted for the preparation of the employee for his or her exams, it should be taken during the exam period. For postgraduate students, study leave amounts to 10 days per year and is considered unpaid leave.

Employees who have to travel in order to exercise their electoral rights are entitled to leave days with pay, according to the distance of travel. The days are determined by Ministerial Decree. Upon returning to work, the employee must submit to proof of voting to his or her employer. Law Promoting Employment, No. 2874 of 2000.

A full-time or part-time employee may, by personally written agreement with the employer, take unpaid leave for a period not exceeding one (1) year, which may be extended by a newer agreement of the parties. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 62.

Employees who cannot work due to disability are still entitled to compensation; the length of the entitlement is based on the length of employment. The insured must have at least 120 days of insurance contributions (100 if working in construction) in the calendar year before the incapacity began or 100 days of contributions in the last 15 months excluding the last quarter. The benefit is paid for 182 to 720 days, according to the insured’s contribution period. The employee is entitled to payment of 50 percent of daily earnings after a three-day waiting period. If the insured has worked for the same employer for at least a year, the employer must pay the difference between the cash benefit and the employee’s earnings for a month; if the employment period is less than a year, the employer pays the difference for two weeks. Emergency Law, No. 190 of 1967, art. 5.

Amount of allowance: the amount of the allowance you pay depends on your earnings during the last 30 days of the previous year.

In particular, during the first 15 days of each year’s subsidy, you are only entitled to 50% of the daily sickness benefit of your insurance category/class, which is based on your earnings during the last days of the previous year, plus a 10% for each protected member.

After the 15 days have elapsed you will receive the full amount. The exceptions are craftsmen-builders, who receive 50% of the proven wage of their insurance class. Emergency Law, No. 190 of 1967, art. 5.

Reduced working hours for parents of children with a disability

Working parents in a workplace with at least 50 employees who have children with a mental, emotional, or physical disability, which are certified with a medical opinion, have the independent right for every child to ask for a reduction of their working hours by 1 hour per day, with a corresponding reduction in their salaries. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 41.

Leave due to a child’s illness or another dependent member

Working parents have an individual and non-transferable right,  at their request, to leave without pay not exceeding 6 working days every calendar year, in case of illness-dependent children or other family members. This leave may be taken as a single or partial amount of 8 working days if the beneficiary protects 2 children and 14 working days if it protects more than two. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 42.

Leave due to serious illnesses of children

Working parents are entitled to a special parental leave, lasting 10 working days per year, with pay, for addressing the needs of children up to 18 years of age, with a disease requiring blood transfusions or its derivatives or dialysis, with neoplastic disease or requiring transplantation or children, regardless of their age, with a heavy mental deprivation or DOWN syndrome or autism. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 43.

Leave due to hospitalization of children

Working parents are entitled to a special parental leave without pay, in case of hospitalization of the child, regardless of his age, due to illness or accident which necessitates the immediate presence of an employee, for as long as the treatment lasts and in any case not more than 30 working days per year. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 44.

Leave for single-parent families

Working parents, who have been widowed and an unmarried parent who has the sole custody of a child, are entitled to paid leave of 6 working days per year. An employee with 3 children or more, is entitled to paid leave 8 working days per year. Law 4808 of 2021, Art 45.