Everything you need to know about summer leave: how many days you are entitled to and what benefits you will receive

The first week of July has arrived and most of us have already started planning our summer vacation. Now is the time to find out how long a vacation is in Greece, how vacation pay is calculated, what compensation will be received by those who did not go on vacation and much more.

According to the law, vacation pay is calculated based on the time worked, and during annual vacation, dismissal of an employee is prohibited.

The annual leave is calculated from the beginning of the employee's employment, in accordance with his weekly work schedule (five or six days), and it is not required that the employee has worked for a certain period of time with the given employer. According to the Labor Inspectorate, in accordance with Article 3 of Law No. 539/45, during the leave period the employee has the right to receive “normal remuneration”that is, the remuneration that he would have received if he had worked for the company during the relevant period.

The employer is obliged to provide him, no later than March 31 of the following year, with a portion of the vacation days to which he is entitled from the date of employment until December 31 of the relevant calendar year, in proportion to the months of his work. The proportion of leave is calculated on the basis of 20 working days of annual leave for those who work five days, and 24 working days for those who work six days.

When an employee has worked for the same employer for at least 12 months

• According to the Institute GSEE, If an employee has worked for 12 months, he is entitled to 21 days of vacation for a five-day workweek and 25 days for a six-day workweek..
• For the third and subsequent years, the employee is entitled to his normal annual paid leave from January 1 of each year, i.e. 22 days (for five-day work) and 26 days (for six-day work).
• If an employee has worked for 10 years with the same employer or 12 years with any employer, he is entitled to 25 working days (five-day working day) and 30 working days (six-day working day).
• If the length of service with any employer is 25 years, the employee is entitled to one additional day of vacation, i.e. 26 days (five-day work) and 31 days (six-day work).

Only working days are counted towards the annual leave. Therefore, Sundays, public holidays, days related to local customs, illnesses and special leaves provided for by other regulations, if they coincide with them (for example, marriage leave, parental leave, maternity leave) are not counted.

Rules for home workers

Under the new institutional framework developed in response to the pandemic, home workers retain the right to “switch off”. This means they have the right not to communicate digitally and not to respond to phone calls, emails or any other form of communication.

Article 61 of Law No. 4808/2021 provides for the possibility of postponing annual regular leave to the first quarter of the following calendar year. That is, in 2024, employees can take leave for rest until the end of March 2025.

When employees can take vacation. Splitting vacation into parts

• Annual leave for rest is granted by agreement between the employer and the employee. At least half of the company's employees can take vacation between May 1 and September 30. If an employee does not use the vacation before the first quarter of the following year, he may be paid compensation for it.
• Employers who hire employees with children under 16 years of age and disabled children over 16 years of age are required to take into account the needs of their families when planning the timing of annual leave for their employees.
• Under strict conditions, it is permissible to split annual leave during one calendar year into two periods if a serious or urgent need arises.
• The first period of leave may not be less than six (6) working days in the case of a six-day workweek, five (5) working days in the case of a five-day workweek, or twelve (12) working days in the case of minors working legally.
• Upon written application of the employee to the employer, the vacation may be divided into more than two periods.
• One of them must include at least 12 (twelve) working days for a six-day work week and 10 (ten) working days for a five-day work week, or 12 (twelve) working days if we are talking about minors working legally.

As for enterprises employing permanent and seasonal staff, and which, due to their type or volume of work, accumulate a special amount of work during a certain period of the year (for example, hotels, shops in tourist areas), then for permanent staff the employer may grant a part of the leave of 10 working days within five days or 12 days within six days at any time during the calendar year.

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