Sick Leave – basic provisions of Greek employment law

Sick Leave – basic provisions of Greek employment law

Regarding the basic provisions of Greek law concerning an employee’s absence due to illness and the compensation of such absence, the following apply:

1. An employee, in order to be eligible to compensation for sick leave must be employed for at least 10 days to the employer.
2. Employees must notify their employers about their absence due to illness by any means and verify their condition by providing relevant medical documents.
3. Employees can claim half salary in case they are employed for a period greater than 10 days and shorter than a year and one salary in case they are employed for over a year. In the case they are on sick leave for a longer period (than half a month or one month) then they cannot claim any other fee.
4. If the employee is on sick leave for up to 3 days, regardless of how many times in the same year this happens, the employer must reimburse the employee with the half daily salary for the (up to 3) days of leave.
5. If the duration of the sick leave is longer than 3 days for the first time within a year, the employer must cover half of the daily salary as described above for the first 3 days (defined as waiting time). Since the 4^th day of leave and up to a month’s duration the employee receives a daily compensation by the Social Security Institution. The employer, after the setting-off the amount paid to the employee by the Social Security Institution, pays the rest of the amount until the covering of the actual payment of the employee. The employee must be reimbursed with his/her actual salary even during the period of illness, as if he/she was present.
6. In the case the employee is on sick leave for over 3 days for more than one time, then the procedure is the same with the aforementioned in point 5 by omitting the first step of the 3-days waiting time. This means that the employee after setting-off the compensation of the Social Security Institution pays to the employee the rest of the amount up to the actual salary counting from the first day of illness and not deducting the half daily salary at the first 3 days.

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