Summer holidays in Greece: what’s changing for workers

Annual leave rules change in Greece: workers will be able to distribute rest days more flexibly, but vacation cannot be split up indefinitely.

New rules for granting annual leave in Greece give workers more flexibility when planning their holidays. Leave can now be distributed over a greater number of periods during a calendar year if the employee and employer agree to this.

The main change concerns splitting annual leave. An employee is no longer required to use all rest days in one continuous period during the summer. For example, part of your vacation can be taken in August and the remaining days used later in the year.

On paper, it looks convenient: less pressure on the summer season, more opportunities for family planning and less dependence on a single holiday window. But, as usual, the devil is not on the beach, but in the details of labor legislation.

Vacation can be divided, but not in any way you like

Despite the great flexibility, vacation cannot be divided endlessly into separate days according to the principle “I left today, changed my mind tomorrow”. The new regulation provides for a minimum duration of each part of the holiday.

For workers with five day work week each part of the vacation must include a minimum five continuous working days. For workers with six day work week the minimum period is six continuous working days.

The meaning of this norm is clear: vacation should remain a real time of rest, and not turn into a set of scattered absences, after which a person seems to have “rested”, but looks like he was run over by the annual report.

An agreement with the employer is required

The key element remains agreement between employee and employer. The time for granting leave is still determined by agreement of the parties, taking into account the needs of the enterprise and the employee’s right to rest.

If a dispute arises, the employee may contact Labor Inspectoratewhich maintains a supervisory role and can intervene in case of violations. That is, the employer does not receive the right to individually cut vacation in a way that is convenient only for the business.

This is important: flexibility should not become the new name for pressure. If an employee is told that vacation can now be shared, this does not mean that he can be forced to take it in pieces that are convenient solely for the employer.

What’s changing in ΕΡΓΑΝΗ

The changes also apply to administrative procedures. Advance notice of vacation in the information system ΕΡΓΑΝΗ is no longer mandatory.

Instead, the employer is required to enter data on leave already granted retroactively – within the next calendar month after its provision. As noted Taxheaventhe purpose of the change is to simplify the procedure for registering vacations in ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ΙΙ.

For business, this means a reduction in bureaucracy. Another thing is important for employees: vacation data must still be recorded. If leave is granted, it should be reflected in the system, and not dissolve in verbal agreements, where then no one remembers anything except the employee, for some reason.

The duration of the vacation does not change

The new rules do not change the very principle of calculating the duration of annual leave. The number of days still depends on the length of service and the employment system – a five-day or six-day working week.

According to ΚΕΠΕΑ/ΓΣΕΕin general, after the second year of work, the employee receives 21 days holidays with a five-day week and 25 days at six days. From the third and subsequent years – 22 days during the five-day period and 26 days during a six-day period.

After 10 years working for the same employer or 12 years old total length of service, vacation increases to 25 working days with a five-day week and 30 days at six days. After 25 years old one more day of service is added.

Vacation cannot be replaced with money

The basic principle also remains: annual leave must be granted in kind, that is, as real rest time. It cannot be replaced by monetary compensation, except in cases of termination of the employment relationship.

If the employment contract is terminated before the employee has used the allotted vacation, he has the right to receive appropriate monetary compensation. But while the employment relationship continues, the employer cannot simply pay instead of rest and consider the matter closed.

This is not a whim of the law, but normal employee protection. Vacation does not exist to decorate the employment contract, but to recuperate. Although for some employers, of course, it would be more convenient to give an envelope, a pat on the shoulder and the phrase instead of rest “we are one team”.

Half of the employees have vacation from May to September

The rule remains that enterprises must ensure that at least half of the workers used annual leave during the period from May 1 to September 30.

This norm is important specifically for the summer period: it does not allow workers to be completely forced out of the traditional vacation season under the pretext of the needs of the enterprise. Yes, business needs organization. But the employee also needs life, no matter how strange it may sound to some HR departments.

What employees should remember

Employees should pay attention to three things: the leave must be agreed upon, each part of it must meet the minimum duration, and the grant of leave must be recorded by the employer in ΕΡΓΑΝΗ on time.

The new rules do provide more flexibility. But flexibility does not mean giving up rights. The employee does not lose vacation, does not lose holiday pay and is not obliged to agree to a scheme that is convenient only for the employer.

The main conclusion is simple: vacations can be planned more freely, but they cannot be turned into a management gimmick. If an employee rests only on paper, and the employer is satisfied with the schedule, then it is not the employee who is resting, but the conscience of the enterprise.

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