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Greece - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Athens

 

CLIMATE

Temperate. Mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers.

 

LANGUAGES

Greek (official, 99%), English and French.

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Based on codified Roman law. The judiciary is divided into civil, criminal and administrative courts.

 

CURRENCY

Euros (1 USD = 1.07090 EUR as of June 1, 2002)

 

GREECE - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

GREECE - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Athens

91 Vasilissis Sophias Avenue

10160 Athens, Greece

PSC 108 APO AE 09842-0108

Athens, Greece

Telephone: [30] (01) 721-2951

Fax: [30] (01) 645-6282

E-mail: usembassy@usembassy.gr

http://www.usembassy.gr

 

Embassy of Greece at Washington D.C.

2221 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 939-5800

Fax: (202) 939-5824

E-mail: greece@greekembassy.org

http://www.greekembassy.org/

 

GREECE - HOLIDAYS

 

GREECE - LEAVE

Annual Leave: 1 month paid vacation per year.

 

Maternity Leave: 16 weeks – 75% of pay (paid for by social security).

 

GREECE - MINIMUM AGE

The minimum age for employment in the industrial sector is 15 years, with higher limits for certain activities. The minimum age is 12 years in family businesses, theaters, and the cinema. These age limits are enforced by occasional Labor Inspectorate spot checks and generally are observed; however, families engaged in agriculture, food service, and merchandising often have younger family members assisting them, at least part time.

 

(Section 6.d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment, Greece - Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

GREECE - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The national minimum wage is €21.19 daily and €472.89 monthly.

  

Collective bargaining between the General Confederation of Greek Labour (GSEE) and the Employers' Association determines a nationwide minimum wage. The Ministry of Labor routinely ratifies this minimum wage, which has the force of law and applies to all workers. The minimum wage of €21.19 daily and €472.89 monthly, effective July 1, 2001, provides a decent standard of living for a worker and family.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Greece - Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

GREECE - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

GREECE - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a.      The Right of Association

 

The Constitution and the law provide for the right of association, and workers exercised this right. All workers, with the exception of the military, have the right to form or join unions. Police have the right to form unions but not to strike. Approximately 26 percent of wage earners (nearly 650,000 persons) are organized in unions. Unions receive most of their funding from a Ministry of Labor organization, the Workers' Hearth, which distributes mandatory contributions from employees and employers. Workers, employers, and the state are represented in equal numbers on the board of directors of the Workers' Hearth. Approximately 10 public sector unions have dues withholding provisions in their contracts, in addition to receiving Workers' Hearth subsidies.

 

Over 4,000 unions are grouped into regional and sectoral federations and 2 umbrella confederations, 1 for civil servants (ADEDY) and another, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), for private sector employees. Unions are highly politicized, and there are party-affiliated factions within the labor confederations; however, neither political parties nor the Government control day-to-day operations. There are no restrictions on who may serve as a union official.

 

Legal restrictions on strikes include a mandatory period of notice, which is 4 days for public utilities and 24 hours for the private sector. Legislation mandates a skeleton staff during strikes affecting public services, such as electricity, transportation, communications, and banking. Public utility companies, state-owned banks, the postal service, Olympic Airways, and the railroads also are required to maintain a skeleton staff during strikes. The courts have the power to declare strikes illegal, although such decisions seldom are enforced; however, unions complain that this judicial power serves as a deterrent to some of their members from participating in strikes. The courts declared some strikes illegal during the year for reasons such as failure of the union to give adequate advance notice of the strike or the addition of demands by the union during the course of the strike; however, no striking workers were prosecuted.

 

Many strikes took place during the year. Although most strikes were fairly brief, they affected productivity and disrupted daily life in the center of Athens. Strikes by public sector employees, including mass transport employees, lasted between 1 and 5 days and primarily concerned securing timely pay increases and greater job security. Labor unions organized large demonstrations and rallies in April and May to protest government plans to reform the social security system.

 

Unions are free to join international associations and maintain a variety of international affiliations, and almost all do so.

 

b.      The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The law provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively in the private sector and in public corporations, and unions exercise these rights freely. There are no restrictions on collective bargaining for private sector employees.

 

Civil servants have the right to organize and bargain collectively with the Ministry of Public Administration. The civil servants confederation conducted official negotiations with the Ministry of Interior for the first time in 1999.

 

The law provides for mediation procedures, with compulsory arbitration as a last resort. A National Mediation, Reconciliation, and Arbitration Organization is used in the private sector and public corporations (the military and civil service excluded). While mediation is voluntary, failure to agree during mediation makes arbitration compulsory, as decided by the mediation organization.


Antiunion discrimination is prohibited. The Labor Inspectorate or a court investigates complaints of discrimination against union members or organizers. Court rulings have mandated the reinstatement of improperly fired union members.

 

Three free trade zones operate according to European Union regulations. The labor laws apply equally in these zones.

 

c.      Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, women were trafficked into the country for the purpose of prostitution (see Sections 5 and 6.f.). The Government may declare the "civil mobilization" of workers in the event of danger to national security, life, property, or the social and economic life of the country. The International Labor Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts has criticized this power as tantamount to forced labor. The Government did not resort to civil mobilization during the year.

 

The Constitution prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor although no legislation specifically prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, and girls are trafficked into the country for the purpose of prostitution. There are also reports that Romani children are forced into begging.

 

d.      Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The minimum age for employment in the industrial sector is 15 years, with higher limits for certain activities. The minimum age is 12 years in family businesses, theaters, and the cinema. These age limits are enforced by occasional Labor Inspectorate spot checks and generally are observed; however, families engaged in agriculture, food service, and merchandising often have younger family members assisting them, at least part time.

 

In November the Government ratified ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.

 

The Constitution contains a blanket prohibition of compulsory labor; however, no specific legislation explicitly prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, and there were reports of such practices among Romani children (see Sections 5 and 6.c.). Trafficking in girls for prostitution also was a problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

 

e.      Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

Collective bargaining between the GSEE and the Employers' Association determines a nationwide minimum wage. The Ministry of Labor routinely ratifies this minimum wage, which has the force of law and applies to all workers. The minimum wage of  $19.50 (7,221 drachma) daily and $435.50 (161,138 drachma) monthly, effective July 1, 2001, provides a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The maximum legal workweek is 40 hours in the private sector and 371/2 hours in the public sector. The law provides for at least one 24-hour rest period per week, mandates paid vacation of 1 month per year, and sets limits on overtime.

 

Legislation provides for minimum standards of occupational health and safety. Although the GSEE characterized health and safety legislation as satisfactory, it stated that enforcement, which is the responsibility of the Labor Inspectorate, was inadequate. The Labor Inspectorate operates under a central authority. Workers do not have the legal right to remove themselves from situations that they believe endanger their health; however, they do have the right to lodge a confidential complaint with the Labor Inspectorate. Inspectors have the right to close down machinery or a process for a period of up to 5 days if they see safety or health hazards that they believe represent an imminent danger to the workers.

 

Foreign workers are protected by law, but in practice their wages usually are lower, and they work longer hours.

 

f.      Trafficking in Persons 

The law does not specifically criminalize trafficking in persons, although other statutes in the Penal Code could be used to prosecute such cases, and Greece is both a transit and destination country for trafficked women and girls, primarily for sexual exploitation and domestic service. Local police corruption facilitates trafficking in the country.

 

GREECE - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The maximum legal workweek is 40 hours in the private sector and 37 1/2 hours in the public sector. The law provides for at least one 24-hour rest period per week, mandates paid vacation of 1 month per year, and sets limits on overtime.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Greece - Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

GREECE - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

GREECE - TOTALIZATION AGREEMENT WITH U.S.

Effective Date of Agreement: September 1, 1994.

 

Coverage and Social Security Taxes:

 

For employees sent by a Greek employer to work in the United States for five years or less, taxes and coverage fall to Greece. If the employee is sent to work in the U.S. for more than five years, was hired in the U.S., or works for a non-Greek employer, taxes and coverage fall to the U.S.

 

Certificate of Coverage Request: 

 

To establish an employee's exemption form coverage under the U.S. Social Security System, the employer in Greece must request a certificate of coverage from Greece by writing to the local Greek agency that collects the employee's Greek social Security taxes. The same information required for a certificate of coverage from the U.S. is needed to get a certificate from Greece except that the employee must show the insurance institution to which Greek contributions are paid, and the Greek Social Security number should be shown rather then the U.S. Number.

 

Minimum Credits Needed: 

 

An employee without enough work credits to qualify for Greek benefits may combine Social Security credits from the U.S. and Greece to meet eligibility requirements provided the employee has a total of at least 300 days of coverage under the Greek Social Security system.

 

Summary of Social Security Benefits:

 

Workers receive retirement or old-age benefits at age 65 to men and age 60 to women with at least 15 year of contributions. Reduced benefits are payable to age 60 to men and 55 to women. Disability benefits are payable at any age if work capacity is reduced by at least 80% by an impairment expected to last for a year or more. A pensioner receives a supplement if his wife is non-working. A Widow receives survivor benefits at any age if the marriage lasted at least 6 months, or two years of the deceased worker was receiving old-age or disability benefits. A widower receives the same benefits as a widow if he is a disabled dependent of the worker. Children receive orphan's benefits until age 18, or age 24 if full-time students. There is no lump-sum death benefit.

 

Additional Information: 

 

For specific information on Greece's Social Security program, visit any Social Security office in Greece, or write to:

 

Social Security Institute

Division of International Relations

8 Agiou Konstantinou Street

10241 Athens

GREECE

 

See Totalization Agreements