Major Reforms In Employment Legislation Introduced By Law 4808/2021

• Published date: 04 August 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Health & Safety, Employee Benefits & Compensation
• Law Firm: Zepos & Yannopoulos
• Author: Ms Rania Papakonstantinou, Manolis Zacharakis and Tasos Chrysochoou

Greek Law 4808/2021, published in the Government Gazette on 19.06.21, introduced significant changes aiming to modernise domestic employment law in view of the new economic, social and technological challenges and increase the competitiveness of Greek enterprises. In our newsletter we set out the main changes introduced with regard to individual employment relationships.

Violence and harassment in the workplace

Greece ratified ILO's Convention No 190 concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the workplace.

To this end, various new measures are introduced and new rights and obligations are established, including the right of the employee who suffers such behavior to leave the workplace for a reasonable period of time, without any salary loss or other consequences, and the obligation of employers with more than 20 staff members to adopt written policies (a) to prevent and combat harassment and violence in the workplace and (b) to handle internal complaints. To be noted that said protection is afforded, regardless of the contractual relationship with the employer, not only to employees, but to every person that provides his/her services at the workplace, including independent contractors, interns and volunteers.

Special leave entitlements and flexible working arrangements for parents and carers

Greece transposed Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers, which lays down minimum requirements designed to achieve equality between men and women with regard to labour market opportunities and treatment at work, by facilitating the reconciliation of work and family life for working parents or carers. Also, new forms of leaves are introduced, e.g. on grounds of force majeure, while already existing types of leaves are further enhanced and codified, the most notable being the extension of paternity leave from 2 to 14 days and the introduction of a state subsidy during half of the 4-month parental leave. The new law further provides for the employee's right to ask for flexible working arrangements, such as teleworking, flexible working hours or part-time employment.

Working time issues

Working time

The new law provides that full-time employment corresponds to 40 working hours per week which can be allocated to 5 days (i.e. 8 hours per day) or 6 days per week (i.e. 6 hours and 40 minutes per day), in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions, collective labour agreements or arbitration awards.

Overtime

The daily...