Labor &amp; Employment

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Directors and other employees of special responsibility and trust who are exempt from working time rules

(Interpretative circular No of 3202/14.01.2022 Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs ) 1) Within the meaning of Article 2(a) of the Washington International Convention on the limitation of working hours in industrial enterprises, ratified by Law No. 2269/1920, the provisions of the Convention shall not apply to persons holding positions of supervision, management, or trust. These persons, although they do not stop to be employees in a dependent employment relationship, are exempted from the application of the provisions of the labour legislation concerning working time limits, the 8-hour provisions, weekly rest and compensation or a bonus for overtime and surplus work or...

19 Sep 2022

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Basic legal framework for employment in Greece

Working time In all sectors of work without exception and in all sectors of economic activity, full-time work shall be 40 hours a week, which may be allocated over a 5- or 6-day working week. Τhe full contractual working hours may be distributed on a five-week or six-day basis as provided for, amounting to eight (8) hours per day, whereas where a six-day working week system is applied, the full working hours shall amount to six (6) hours and forty (40) minutes per day. The possibility of adopting a four-day full-time system of forty (40) hours per week and ten (10) hours...

19 Aug 2022

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Restrictions for women in the access of professions under Greek law

There is no legal provision in Greek law that prohibits a woman from holding any employment position. However, some conditions for the employment of women in certain sectors of the public sector have been found by the Supreme Court that they constitute indirect discrimination against women and were therefore annulled as contrary to the Constitution. In successive decisions, the Supreme Court of Greece (Supreme Judicial Council ) ruled as unconstitutional provisions for the recruitment in the public sector (Police, Coast Guard, etc.) which stipulated as a necessary qualification a specific height regardless of gender or a special height different for men...

12 Jul 2022

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Meaning of working experience in terms of annual leave

Regarding the meaning of the term “work experience” in terms of the right of the employee to annual leave, it is pointed out that this term is found in article 6 of National General Collective Employment Agreement dated 2001, to which par. 7 article 2 Mandatory Law 539/1945 refers and which remains in force at this issue. The provision is expressly referring to the employee’s right to annual leave of 25 working days, when his/her “working experience” exceeds 10 years in the same employer or 12 years in any employer....

31 May 2022

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Legal provisions related to sick leave

Regarding an employee's absence due to illness and the reimbursement of such absence please note the following: An employee, in order to be eligible to reimbursement for sick leave must be employed for at least 10 days by the same employer. Employees must notify their employers about their absence due to illness by any means and verify their condition by providing a letter by the doctor who will also indicate the number of days that the employee will apply for sickness leave. Employees can claim half a salary in case they are employed for a period greater than 10 days...

19 May 2022

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Criminal sanctions against employers for violations of labor law

An employment contract is a bilateral contract, under which the parties undertake obligations on both sides. The employee assumes as his main obligation the provision of work, and the employer has as his main obligation to pay to the employee its compensation (salary). It is easy to understand that the non-payment of the employee's salary is the biggest violation to his legal rights and was the springboard for criminalization not only of this act of the employer but also of the general will for a more effective protection of the employee as the weakest part of employment relationship. Therefore, criminalizing non-fulfillment...

02 Feb 2022

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Procedure and documentation required for the commencement of a sole-trader business/freelancer activity

The procedure for the commencement of a sole-trader business or a freelancer activity entails the following steps, at the different competent authorities, accompanied by the required documentation: Pre-registration with the Single Social Security Entity (the Social Security Institution called “EFKA”); Pre-registration with the competent Chamber Registration with the competent Tax Office Completion of the Registration with the Social Security Institution Completion of the Registration with the Chamber An outline is given below of the documents required for each step: Pre-Registration with the Social Security Institution (“EFKA”) The pre-registration is made with the competent Social Security Office for Νon-Εmployees (i.e. sole-trader businesses/freelancers) located...

16 Nov 2021

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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: An employee, in order to be eligible to compensation for sick leave must be employed for at least 10 days to the employer. Employees must notify their employers about their absence due to illness by any means and verify their condition by providing relevant medical documents. 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...

21 Jul 2021

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Law 4808/2021 ( labor arrangements)