EMPLOYER OBLIGATIONS

Employer Obligations: The employer must register in the ERGANI Information System the lawful overtime employment of employees, in accordance with the legislation in force, prior to the commencement of such overtime, and so on.

Leave

The employer is obliged:

• To maintain a special book or computerised pages bearing the company’s details, marked “Leave Book”, and including the following columns: full name of employees, date of hire, number of leave days due, start and end dates of granted leave, leave pay, and leave allowance. Leave pay and the leave allowance must be entered in full by the end of the relevant year in which the regular leave is taken (paragraph 2 of sub-paragraph IA.5 of Law 4254/2014).
• To keep the Leave Book at the workplace and to produce it at any time to the Labour Inspectors (paragraph 7 of Article 24 of Law 3996/2011).
• To keep at the workplace and retain for five years the employees’ applications and the employer’s decisions regarding the splitting of employees’ annual leave (sub-paragraph IA.14 of Law 4093/2012).
• To notify the ERGANI Information System, during April of each year, of the details of employees who took their annual leave and leave allowance during the previous calendar year and who are recorded in the special Leave Book (Form E11).

Personnel Schedules

The employer is obliged:

• To post in a visible location at the workplace, accessible to employees, the personnel and working hours schedule, excluding the column showing salaries paid, and to protect it suitably against deterioration (Article 16 of Law 2874/2000);
• To submit to the ERGANI Information System the following forms in accordance with the applicable deadlines [Ministerial Decision 40331/D1.13521/2019 (Government Gazette 3520/B’), as in force]:

E3: Unified Form for Notification of Hiring (E3 Notification of Hiring and E4 Supplementary Personnel Schedule for New Hires).

The unified E3 form is submitted at the latest on the same day as the hiring and, in any event, before the employee takes up duties (Law 4093/2012). New employers hiring for the first time, and employers establishing branches with new hires, may submit the E3 form within three (3) working days from registration with the competent service of EFKA.

E4: Personnel Schedule:

• Annual: Submitted from 1 October to 31 October each year and lists all employees at the branch at the time of submission.
• Annual Supplementary: Submitted from 1 October to 31 October each year, only for employees who were working at the time of submission of the Annual schedule but were not included in it.
• Initial: Submitted in cases of establishment of a new branch or employment of personnel for the first time outside the period for submission of the Annual personnel schedule, namely from 1 November of each year to 30 September of the following year. The Initial schedule is submitted in order to enable electronic submission of amending and supplementary personnel schedules and to declare the details of the Safety Officer and the Occupational Physician.
• Supplementary Schedule of Working Hours: For each change or modification of working hours or of the organisation of working time, a supplementary personnel schedule for working hours is submitted, with respect to the modified data, on the same day as the change or modification and in any event before the employee takes up duties. In particular, for drivers of lorries and tourist coaches transporting more than nine persons, as well as Intercity and Urban KTEL operators employing bus drivers and having Work Regulations, who are governed by Regulations (EC) 561/2006 and (EC) 165/2014, the employer is obliged to register every change or modification of working hours or of the organisation of working time of employees fifteen (15) days after the end of each weekly working period (Article 78 of Law 4808/2021).
• Amending Schedule of Earnings: Submitted in case of a change in the earnings of employees, only with respect to the data of the change, within fifteen (15) days from the change.
• Submission of a supplementary E4 form is not required when the legal representative changes.

Construction Projects without Permanent Personnel

For construction projects, employers who do not employ permanent personnel and who are not required to submit a personnel schedule shall submit, as the case may be and in accordance with Ministerial Decisions 54286/D1.17642/21-11-2019 (Government Gazette 4293 B’) and 51524/1262/7-11-2019 (Government Gazette 4173 B’):

E12-e-OIKODOMO: Notification of Personnel Employed on Construction Work or Technical Projects.

Form E12-e-OIKODOMO is submitted before the start of daily employment of personnel engaged in construction work or a technical project. For scheduled construction or technical works of a duration of more than one day, the obligated party may submit the form once for the entire period of employment of personnel on the project, or for shorter periods, and in any event before the start of work by the employed personnel. In case of changes or modifications concerning the employed personnel, form E12-e-OIKODOMO is submitted as amended with respect to the modified data at the latest on the same day as the change or modification, and in any event before the personnel take up duties, indicating in the remarks field the reason for the change or modification.

A copy of the notification form is kept at the place of execution of the project.

E12-e-OIKODOMO REGISTRY: Registry Notification of Personnel Employed on Construction Work or Technical Projects.

Form E12-e-OIKODOMO REGISTRY is submitted in respect of personnel employed on a monthly basis by the last day of the month following the month of employment.

For those obliged to submit form E12-e-OIKODOMO REGISTRY, there is also an obligation to keep at the place of execution of the project the “Book of Daily Records of Personnel Employed on the Execution of Construction and Technical Works” (VIDAP).

Time Limits

The employer is obliged:

• To register in the ERGANI Information System the lawful overtime employment of employees, in accordance with the legislation in force, before its commencement (Form E8). In particular, for drivers of lorries and tourist coaches transporting more than nine persons, as well as Intercity and Urban KTEL operators employing bus drivers and having Work Regulations, who are governed by Regulations (EC) 561/2006 and (EC) 165/2014, the employer is obliged to register the lawful overtime employment fifteen (15) days after the end of each weekly working period (Article 78 of Law 4808/2021).
• To submit, through the employer’s personal account on the web portal of S.EP.E., an application for a permit to work on Sundays and public holidays [applicable to undertakings that are prohibited from operating and employing personnel on Sundays and public holidays (Article 9 paragraph 3 of Royal Decree 748/1966)].
  The deadline for submitting the application for a permit to work on a Sunday or public holiday is no later than the working day immediately preceding the holiday or Sunday to which the application relates, by 13:00 (Article 11 of Ministerial Decision 34331/D9.8920/26-07-2016).

• For road transport undertakings, to provide drivers with route logbooks and to maintain special control devices (tachographs).

Individual Contracts

The employer is obliged:

• To notify the employee of the essential terms of the contract or employment relationship (Presidential Decree 156/1994). The information is provided by delivering to the employee, no later than two months after the commencement of work, a written employment contract or other document containing the essential terms of the contract as set out in Article 2 of the Presidential Decree. If the contract or employment relationship lasts less than two months, the said document is delivered to the employee upon termination.
• To keep at the workplace (whether at the registered office, branch, separate establishments, central administrative system or human resources management system, etc.) the documents containing the individual terms of employment of personnel and to produce them at any time to the Labour Inspectors (paragraph 7 of Article 24 of Law 3996/2011 in conjunction with Ministerial Decision 27397/122/19.8.2013, as in force).
• To retain in the employer’s records, in printed or electronic form, for two years from their expiry date, copies of employment contracts, notifications and other documents provided to employees (Article 7 of Law 3762/2009).
• To notify the ERGANI Information System of part-time or rotational employment contracts, as well as relevant agreements or decisions concerning rotational employment, within eight (8) days of their conclusion or adoption (Form E9).
  Upon submission of Form E9, scanned documents of the individual part-time or rotational employment contract, as well as the relevant agreements or decisions concerning rotational employment, are attached, after all necessary signatures have been affixed in person.
• In case of termination of the employment contract by any means, to submit to the ERGANI Information System the forms “E5. Notification of Voluntary Resignation of Employee”, “E6. Termination of Open-Ended Employment Contract (with or without notice)” and “E7. Employer’s Certification-Declaration for Fixed-Term or Project Contracts”, within four (4) working days from the relevant event.

Payment of Salaries

The employer is obliged:

• To pay employees’ salaries exclusively into their bank accounts, indicating the reason and the period to which each payment relates. Payment of salaries shall be made by any means, including the use of electronic payment instruments or payment service providers (Article 38 of Law 4387/2016, as amended by Article 51 of Law 4611/2019).
• Upon payment of personnel salaries, to provide a payslip or, where a computerised system is used, a payroll breakdown. All categories of personnel earnings and the deductions thereon must be set out in detail (paragraph 1 of sub-paragraph IA.5 of Law 4254/2014).
• For employees who, by agreement, are paid a single lump-sum salary, the employer is obliged to provide a note stating the agreed single lump-sum salary and the deductions thereon, as well as a detailed breakdown of the earnings to which they would be entitled if paid on the basis of a sectoral or company collective agreement, together with the deductions on those earnings (Article 5 of Law 3227/2004).
• To keep at the workplace (whether at the registered office, branch, separate establishments, central administrative system or human resources management system, etc.) and to produce at any time to the Labour Inspectors the personnel payslips for at least the last quarter (paragraph 7 of Article 24 of Law 3996/2011 in conjunction with Ministerial Decision 27397/122/19.8.2013, as in force).

Protection

Termination of the Employment Contract of an Employee Protected on Grounds of Maternity

Where the employer terminates the contract of a pregnant woman, a woman who has recently given birth, or a breastfeeding woman for serious cause, the employer is obliged to provide written reasons for the termination and to notify the Labour Inspectorate in accordance with Presidential Decree 176/97.

Minors

Every employer who employs minors shall keep a relevant register recording the full name of the employee, date of birth, residential address, number of the work permit booklet, date of issue or renewal thereof, type of work, and start and end dates of the employment relationship (Article 9 of Law 1837/1989).

Violence and Harassment at Work

Every employer, regardless of the number of personnel employed, as well as the persons exercising managerial authority or representing the employer, are obliged to post at the workplace and to make accessible information on the procedures in place at company level for the reporting and handling of forms of violent and harassing conduct, as well as the contact details of the competent administrative and judicial authorities (Article 5 of Law 4808/2021).

Other Obligations

Collective Labour Agreements

The Company-Level Collective Labour Agreement or equivalent Arbitration Award is submitted to the ERGANI Information System (Form E10). Upon submission of the form, the scanned Company-Level Collective Labour Agreement or equivalent Arbitration Award is attached, after all necessary signatures have been affixed in person, together with any annexes and/or schedules thereto.

Availability (Suspension of Operations)

The employer is obliged to notify the relevant services of SEPE, EFKA and OAED by any means of the relevant declaration regarding the availability (suspension of operations) of part or all of the employer’s personnel.

Posting of Workers

Undertakings that post workers to the territory of Greece are obliged to comply with the provisions of Presidential Decrees 219/2000 and 101/2016. For further information, please refer to the Legislation section.

Work Permits for Foreign Nationals

The employer is obliged to keep a copy of the residence permit or other residence title at the disposal of the competent authorities, at least throughout the period of employment (Article 80 of Law 4052/2012).

Distribution of Products and Items

The employer shall submit, for each moped or motorcycle to be used by an employee in the performance of his or her work, for the transport or distribution of products and items, Form E13 (Employer’s Declaration on the use by employees, in the performance of their work, of a moped or motorcycle within the meaning of Article 2 of the Highway Code (Law 2696/1999, A’ 57), for the transport or distribution of products and items), no later than the date of first use thereof, and in any event before such use.

The employer shall likewise submit on Form E13, for each moped or motorcycle registered on this form, the cessation of such use by employees in the performance of their work for the transport or distribution of products and items, within three (3) days of the date such use is discontinued.

• See also article Termination of Employment Contract
• See also article Severance Pay
• See also article Modification of Terms of Employment
• See also article Withholding of Labour
• See also article Annual Regular Leave
• See also article Employee Remuneration
• See also article Additional Hours and Overtime
• See also article Employer Obligations
• See also article Conciliation Procedure

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON EMPLOYER OBLIGATIONS

1. What is the employer required to provide me upon hiring?

The employer must notify the hiring to the ERGANI Information System using Form E3 no later than the same day, and in any event before the employee takes up duties. In addition, the employer is obliged to notify the employee in writing of the essential terms of the contract (subject of work, salary, working hours, duration, place of performance) within two months from commencement, in accordance with Presidential Decree 156/1994. If these documents are not provided, or if the hiring is not registered with ERGANI, the employee may report the breach to the Labour Inspectorate and rely on this fact in any judicial claim for unpaid earnings or compensation.

2. What can I do if my employer does not declare my overtime?

Failure to declare overtime employment with ERGANI before its commencement constitutes a breach which gives rise to administrative fines and substantiates claims by the employee. The employee may collect supporting evidence (messages, witness statements, attendance records, electronic files, payslips) and lodge a complaint with the Labour Inspectorate. At the same time, the employee retains the right to bring an action before the Single-Member Court of First Instance for the payment of overtime due, with the statutory increases. Failure to register with ERGANI often leads to the work being characterised as unlawful overtime, attracting increased remuneration.

3. Am I obliged to be paid through a bank account?

Yes. Pursuant to Article 38 of Law 4387/2016, as amended by Law 4611/2019, salaries are paid exclusively into the employee’s bank account, with a clear reason and reference to the period concerned. Cash payment is not considered valid discharge, and the employer risks being required to pay the salaries again, since payment cannot be proven. The employee has the right to receive a payslip with a detailed breakdown of earnings and deductions. In case of refusal, a complaint to the Labour Inspectorate leads to the imposition of fines.

4. How am I protected if I am pregnant and dismissed?

An employee who is pregnant, has recently given birth, or is breastfeeding enjoys enhanced protection from termination of contract for a period of eighteen months after childbirth. The employer may terminate the contract only for serious cause, which must be set out in writing and notified to the Labour Inspectorate in accordance with Presidential Decree 176/1997. If this procedure is not followed, the dismissal is null and void and the employee is entitled to seek reinstatement and the payment of wages for default of acceptance. Judicial enforcement is pursued by way of an action before the Single-Member Court of First Instance.

5. Within what period can I claim against breaches by my employer?

Claims arising from the employment contract (unpaid earnings, overtime, leave allowances, severance pay) are as a rule subject to a five-year statute of limitations, which begins to run from the end of the year within which the claim arose. For claims based on unjust enrichment, the period extends to twenty years. A complaint to the Labour Inspectorate may be lodged at any time during the breach; however, prompt action strengthens the evidentiary value. It is advisable to gather supporting evidence and to obtain a legal assessment from a lawyer before the relevant time limits expire, so that the claim is not weakened.

6. What is the role of the lawyer in labour disputes?

The lawyer reviews the employment contract, the payslips, the ERGANI registrations and any other relevant evidence, in order to identify breaches of the employer’s obligations and to calculate the earnings due. The lawyer drafts and lodges the complaint with the Labour Inspectorate, represents the employee in the labour dispute procedure, and brings an action before the Single-Member Court of First Instance for the recovery of unpaid earnings, overtime, severance pay or annulment of the dismissal. ZIAMPARAS D. & ASSOCIATES has experience in handling labour cases and undertakes the protection of the employee’s rights at every stage.