Background information

By virtue of the Act of Legislative Content of 11 March 2020 'on emergency measures to counteract the negative impact of the COVID-19 emergency and the need to limit its spread', The employer may determine unilaterally that the work provided by the employee at the place of work shall be carried out with the system of remote work (teleworking) and to organise any issues related to it.

New Labour Law (Law 5053/2023, published in the Official Government Gazette on 26.09.2023, transposes EU Directive 2019/1152) aims, according to the Ministry of Labour, to empower employees - workers, tackle undeclared and underreported work in a more targeted way, address labour market distortions and minimise bureaucratic and administrative burdens.

Content of measure

Main characteristics: Organisation of working time was instituted and readjusted with the 'Memorandum' labour act (Act 3986/2011), which introduced a series of new regulations with collective bargaining at the core. In brief, the relevant provisions provide that in firms with conventional working hours of up to 40 hours a week it is permitted for a period of time (a period of high employment) for an employee to work two hours more than the eight-hour day, on the condition that the weekly working hours which are in addition to the 40 hours or the minimum hours stated in the contract are subtracted from the weekly hours of another period (period of low employment).

The organisation of working time is determined by firm-level collective labour agreements or by agreement between the employer and the trade union representing the firm’s members or by agreement between the employer and the works council or by agreement between the employer and an association of persons. 

In firms with conventional working hours of up to 40 hours a week, it is permitted, instead of the arrangement in the previous paragraph, to agree that up to 256 working hours from the total annual hours of employment in one calendar year may be allocated so that there is an increased number of hours during certain periods, which may not exceed 32 weeks annually, with a correspondingly reduced number of hours for the remaining periods of the calendar year.

Employees have the right to refuse the additional work if they are not in a position to perform it and their refusal is in good faith. Salaries for the periods of deviating working hours shall be those of the usual working hours. The organisation of working time is determined by firm-level collective labour agreements or by agreement between the employer and the trade union representing the firm’s members or by agreement between the employer and the works council or by agreement between the employer and an association of persons. The association of persons can be set up by at least 25% of the employees of a firm with more than 20 employees and 15% if the total number of employees is no more than 20.

With firm-level and sectoral collective labour agreements a different system for organising working time can be established, depending on the characteristic of the sector of the firm.

COVID-19 response The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs issued Circular 12339/404/12.03.2020 with clarifications on a series of measures on how to deal with COVID-19 in everyday work life according to which the employer has the right to unilaterally impose the system of teleworking and organise any issues related to it.

The employer may determine unilaterally that the work provided by the employee at the place of work shall be carried out with the system of remote work (teleworking).  The measure started on 11 March 2020, valid until July 2020, and it has been further extended. On 21 September 2020 an amendment by the Ministry of Labour has been submitted, which takes extraordinary temporary measures regarding the organisation of working time and place, for the decongestion of public transport and the workplace as well as for the protection of public health against COVID-19. The new measures announced for the Region of Attica will be in force from Monday, September 21 until Sunday, October 4. These measures include:1. Mandatory teleworking for 40% of public and private sector employees performing office work or tasks that can be performed remotely; 2. Employees arriving at the workplace in three groups (7am, 8am and 9am) ; 3. Employees departing from the workplace in four groups (within two hours from the start and end of working hours). Employers shall submit to the ERGANI platform (Digital System of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), the special document named 'Form 4.1 Declaration of remote working', within the first 10 days of the following month from the provision of work.

Greece's new Labour Law 5053/A' 158/26.09.2023 abolishes the previous restriction that working time arrangements are primarily concluded at collective level, while their conclusion at individual level is only possible upon request of the employee; now it only requires that such agreements between employers and employees should be concluded in writing (art. 28: Possibility of agreement on the arrangement of working time between the employer and the employee - Amendment of para. 6 of Article 192 of the Code of Individual Labour Law). The new Law prohibits the termination of an employee for not consenting to a proposal for working time arrangements (Article 17: Protection against dismissal and burden of proof - Amendment of Article 339 of the Code of Individual Labour Law (Article 18 of Directive (EU) 2019/1152). It, also, allows employers in certain industries in continuously operating undertakings or holdings which apply a five-day working week, to require employees to work a sixth day. In return, employees receive an extra 40% of their daily wage on that day.This provision is not mandatory, but if a company chooses to adopt it, it must apply consistently to all employees (art. 25: Arrangements for employment on the sixth day in enterprises or establishments in continuous operation which apply a five-day working week system - Addition of Article 182C to the Code of Individual Labour Law). Employees of hotel and catering establishments are not covered hereunder. Similarly, according to Article 26: Arrangements for employment on the sixth day in enterprises or holdings which are not by nature continuous and which apply a five-day working week system - Addition of Article 182B to the Code of Individual Labour Law, in exceptional cases, where the undertaking has an unforeseeably heavy workload, workers may be allowed to work on the sixth day of the week. This special condition shall be notified by the employer to the Labour Inspectorate before the employee takes up duty and shall be subject to inspection in accordance with the applicable provisions. Employees shall not work more than eight hours on the additional day. No overtime or overtime work may be performed by the employee on this day. The employee shall be paid the daily rate of pay for that day, plus 40%, and shall be subject to the employee's compliance with the employee's work time limits and the application of employee health and safety rules. Employees of hotel and catering establishments are not covered, as well, hereunder. Employees, by virtue of art 9: Parallel employment - Replacement of Article 189 of the Individual Labour Code (Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2019/1152), are allowed to hold a second part-time job, and work up to 13 hours in total per day, enabling them to work between 65 to 78 hours per week [notably, Greece's food and tourism sectors are excluded from this Law, as they have traditionally operated under different regulations, as stated by the Athens Labour Unions Organization (EKA)]. In order to avoid abusive application, parallel employment shall not be understood between affiliated undertakings as defined by the applicable legislation.Finally, the Law, for the first time, introduces the concept of on-demand employment contracts, in the context of which employees agree to be available to provide work within a pre­defined reference period (Article 10: Minimum predictability of work - Protective measures - Addition of Article 182A to the Code of Individual Labour Law (Articles 10 and 11 of Directive (EU) 2019/1152)). On-demand contracts must provide for a minimum number of paid working hours that are not less than ¼ of total agreed hours. Employees are obliged to provide their services on condition that: a) the employment contract sets out specific reference days and hours for the provision of work and b) the employee receives prior written notice by the employer, which in principle cannot be less than 24 hours. Should the employer cancel the request at any time after such notice is given and before the commencement of work, employees are entitled to the corresponding wages.

Use of measure

Effectiveness: It is a measure that most probably is welcomed on the employer's side while trade unions also reacted. According to a recent poll conducted by the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) in collaboration with the Labour Institute of GSEE (INE/GSEE), one in three private sector employees (33% of the interviewees) have seen their employment relation change after the pandemic (14% via telework, 19% part-time or shift work). The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,500 people throughout Greece from 9 to 14 June 2020. Furthermore, although a lockdown is no longer in place, 19% of employees stated that they continue teleworking while 14% stated that they continue part-time or shift-work. While teleworking, 35% of the employees stated that they worked more time than their working hours. According to GSEE, significant distortions in the labour market will intensify as part-time work, job flexibility and reduced wages are utilised to increase competitiveness and combat unemployment. It is necessary to develop an institutional framework for the regulation of telework, through specialised social dialogue, with the aim of capturing and highlighting both positive and 'grey' areas of this type of work before it is transformed from an opportunity into another negative parameter for work.

Strengths: Through this measure layoffs can be hindered and at the same time the employer is saving employment costs in times of crisis.

Weaknesses: In times of harsh economic climate it is doubtful that this measure alone can hinder the business closure.

[paradoxically, as Eurostat indicates Greeks are among those who work longer hours compared to other EU member states] .

Since the voting of Law 5053/2023 there is no any available information on its implementation.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Unknown

Views and reactions

According to the Hellenic Federation of Enterpises (SEV) the transposition of the Directive is in the right direction as it helps healthy and modern businesses to operate in the growing international competition. The Directive, for SEV, creates a clear framework for safeguarding workers and provides the framework within which businesses are able to operate and grow against their international competitors in an ever-changing and unpredictable business environment. In this context, for SEV there are positive provisions such as the sixth day of the week arrangements for continuous or non-operational businesses are provided. The Sunday employment arrangements that enable healthy and consistent businesses to become more extroverted and exploit their potential, as is the case in all European countries, while respecting the statutory working time limits. It points out, however, that some of the provisions were duplicating bureaucracy, such as the obligation for the company to state in the basic conditions, among other things, the subject of the work in cumulative terms. The immediate posting of the contract on ERGANI. The impossibility of group posting. SEV describes the obligation to declare the sixth day of the week as unnecessary since, the electronic employment card is available.

On the opposite side, all trade unions condemned the draft law as anti-worker, demanded its withdrawal, and went on strikes and several protests. Their criticism, among other things, focuses on that the bill aims to abolish the five-day working week not only for continuous production enterprises, but also for those that can work 6 and 7 days a week on a shift system and instead of employers hiring, new, unemployed workers thus bringing unemployment down below 10%, they are attempting to 'recycle' the same personel thus driving them to 'burn out'. In addition, it is proposed the abolishion of the possibility of settlement by individual agreement between employer and employee as, due to the existing inherent inequality in the employee-employer relationship, in no case, especially in conditions of increased precariousness, could the employee normally refuse the employer's proposal to submit a request to settle working time, since at this level - and indeed without the intervention of a trade union organisation - the employer is sovereign and can impose his will on the employee

Sources

• 12 March 2020: New Legislative Act on tackling the negative impact of COVID-19 New Legislative Act (11 March 2020) on Tackling the Negative Impact of COVID-19 New Legislative Act (11 March 2020) on Tackling the Negative Impact of COVID-19 New Legislative Act (11 March 2020) on Tackling the Negative Impact of COVID-19 New Legislative Act (11 March 2020) on Tackling the Negative Impact of COVID-19 New Legislative Act (11 March 2020) on Tackling the Negative Impact of COVID-19 (www.athenslawoffice.com)
• 03 September 2021: Implementing circular for the new framework governing overtime, working time arrangements and other provisions. (ypergasias.gov.gr)
• 18 September 2023: Text of positions and proposals of the GSEE on the Labour Bil (gsee.gr)
• 26 September 2023: Law 5053/26.09.2023 (www.taxheaven.gr)