Trade with Greece
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flexible 10-hour workdays, following an agree-
ment between the employer and the union, or
an association of persons (at least 5 workers)
if no union exists. Flexible ten-hour workdays
can be implemented by increasing or reducing
working hours (less hours during idle periods,
more hours during peak periods) for 4 months
or 256 hours and up to 32 weeks per year.
•
Allowed employers to pay dismissal compen-
sation in instalments.
Law 3899, presented by Mrs. L. Katseli
:
•
Permitted the conclusion of enterprise-level
collective labour agreements. The new
salaries set by enterprise-level labor agree-
ments may now derogate from the industry-
wide collective labour agreements, but may
not be less advantageous than those con-
tained in the national general collective labour
agreement, as initially mandated by the
Memorandum.
•
Abolished the right of recourse to Arbitration in
regard to the terms of employment, leaving
open the possibility of determining working
hours and other terms of employment by
means of individual “contracts” if no mediation
exists. Abolished the 7.5% wage increment for
part-time employees who work for less than 4
hours per day, and the 10% increment for more
hours of overtime.
•
Further reduced the cost of compensation for
dismissal that was set by the Loverdos law,
especially whenever an enterprise-level agree-
ment applies (compensation on the basis of
the new reduced salary) for young persons
(those working on a 12-month probation basis
do not receive any compensation) and those
working for at least 2 years (those working for
up to 2 years are entitled to 1 salary instead of
the 2 salaries provided by the Loverdos law).
•
Increased from 6 to 9 months the period that
an employer can impose short-time work “in
case the enterprise is experiencing a reduction
in business activity and in order to avoid mass
layoffs”. The only condition is that “consultation
must have previously taken place with the
legal representatives of the workers, in accor-
dance with the provisions of PD 260/2006 and
law 1767/1988”, as stated in the provision that
amended the relevant stipulation of the
Loverdos’ law.
•
Increased the temporary agency workers’
duration of employment for the same indirect
employer to 36 months (from 18 months as per
the Loverdos law). The 36-month period
includes any written contract renewals.
months, it is presumed that the contract is a
“dependent employment contract”.
•
Short-time work may be imposed, following con-
sultations, by the employer when an enterprise
is experiencing a shortage of business activity,
instead of layoffs (leading to less working days
per week, fewer working weeks per month, less
working months per year) for a maximum dura-
tion of 6 months per calendar year.
•
The wage of part-time workers can be
increased by 10% when they work overtime.
The increment paid to part-time workers who
work for less than 4 hours per day, remains
unchanged at 7.5%.
•
The maximum duration of temporary agency
employment has been set to 18 months.
•
The maximum limit of employee suspension
(with payment of ½ of the salary) is set at 3
months, and can be repeated, provided that 3-
month periods of normal work and pay inter-
vene.
By means of Law 3863 (July 15, 2010) Mr.
Loverdos made a further set of changes:
•
Increased the threshold for mass layoffs to 5%
of the workforce (from 2-3%) and up to 30 peo-
ple per month in businesses with more than
150 employees and 6 people per month in
businesses with up to 20 employees.
•
Effectively reduced redundancy payments by
50% by shortening the dismissal notice period
from 1 to 4 months (depending on the number
of years with the same employer).
Redundancy payment is now based on a scale
from ½ to 12 salaries instead of 1 to 24
salaries for layoffs without notice. In the case
of two-years of employment with the same
employer the law provides for compensation
equal to 2 salaries.
•
Set low wages, equal to 84% of an unskilled
labourer’s wage, for young persons of up to 25
years of age that are hired under the provision
that the difference in social security contribu-
tions will be covered by the Manpower
Employment Organization (OAED).
•
Set the apprentices’ wage at 70% of the mini-
mum wage.
•
Reduced overtime cost (pay). For the so-called
“extra work”, i.e. work during the 41st, 42nd,
43rd, 44th and 45th hour per 5-day and 40-
hour week, additional pay was reduced to 20%
(from 25%), for overtime of up to 120 hours it
was reduced to 40% (from 50%), for more than
120 hours to 60% (from 75%) and for unstated
overtime to 80% (from 100%).
•
Provided for the possibility of implementing
