Blue- and white-collar workers:

Blue-collar workers are the persons providing manual labor that does not require specialized knowledge or experience.

White-collar employees, on the other hand, undertake initiatives and assume responsibilities based on special qualifications or prior experience.

Freelancers: Pursuant to the jurisprudence of the Greek courts, the main characteristic of an employment contract is the element of subordination of the employee to the employer as regards the “time, place and manner of work”. This is generally evidenced by the exercise of control by the employer and the provision of guidelines and instructions which are binding upon the employee. A common legal risk associated with freelance contracts is their re-qualification as employment contracts. In case of dispute, the true nature of the contractual relationship will be determined by the courts based on the facts of each case. Furthermore, under Greek law, freelance contracts are presumed as employment contracts if the freelancer provides his/her services exclusively or mainly to the same employer for nine (9) consecutive months (although this could be overruled if the employer brings evidence to the contrary).

There are two main types of employment contracts under Greek law: contracts of indefinite term and contracts of fixed term.

Fixed-term contracts involve the employment of a limited/short-term nature, whereas indefinite-term contracts involve the employment of a continuous nature. The execution of a fixed-term employment contract must be justified by the circumstances and the aim of the contract (e.g. to cover seasonal or temporary needs, to replace an employee on maternity leave, etc.). In the absence of such circumstances, the employee may claim conversion of the contract into one of indefinite terms.

As regards termination, the two types of employment contracts are subject to a different legal regime. Please see the response to "Is your jurisdiction an employment-at-will jurisdiction? What are the employer’s termination rights?" for details.

The validity of an employment contract is subject to the same requirements as any other contract, namely, it requires the legal capacity of the persons concluding the contract, while, in principle, the contract does not necessarily need to be in written form (however, the employer is obliged to notify the employees about the main terms of their employment). Some professions, finally, are subject to specific licensing or other requirements.

Greek law provides part-time employees with the same rights as full-time employees. For example, the employee’s salary during part-time employment is calculated in the same way as the salary of a comparable full-time employee, prorated to the hours of part-time employment. Furthermore, the provisions on Sunday work, night work, annual leave, etc. apply equally to part-time employees.

Under Greek law, employment contracts are not freely assignable.

In accordance with Greek Presidential Decree 178/2002, which implemented the Acquired Rights Directive, on the effective date of the transfer all employees of the transferred business move to the transferee by operation of law. Greek law does not provide employees with a right to object to the transfer. This does not mean, however, that employees may not freely resign, in case they do not wish to continue their employment under the new employer. However, upon the occurrence of such an event, no severance indemnity is due. Pursuant to Presidential Decree 178/2002, the transferor and the transferee are obliged to inform their employees, in writing, about the (proposed) date and reasons for the transfer, the legal, economic and social implications and the envisaged measures in relation to the employees (if any). The transferor is obliged to inform the employees in good time before the transfer (the law does not provide for a more specific time frame), while the transferee is obliged to inform its employees in good time and in any case before the employees are affected by the transfer. When measures affecting the employees' status are envisaged the transferor and the transferee are also obliged to consult with the employees' representatives with a view to reaching an agreement. After the transfer, the transferee continues to be bound by all terms of the transferred employment contracts and applicable collective labor agreements, as they existed at the time of the transfer (with the exception of existing pension schemes, which the transferee may continue, amend or cancel subject to a specific consultation process provided in the law). Finally, as of the date of the transfer, both the transferor and the transferee are jointly and severally liable with respect to all employment obligations which arose until the date of the transfer.

A transfer of shares does not result in a change of the employing entity and would not, as such, trigger any statutory information/consultation obligations, unless combined with other measures affecting the employees e.g. redundancies.

In case of a unilateral detrimental change of the employment terms the employee has the following options:

• to accept the change (in which case the terms of employment are amended accordingly);
• to demand the restoration of the previous terms and conditions, or
• to consider the change as a (constructive) dismissal and claim severance indemnity.

Greece is not an employment-at-will jurisdiction. The termination of employment contracts is subject to strict legal requirements, which differ depending on whether the contract is of indefinite or fixed term.

More specifically: The termination of indefinite-term employment contracts requires a) handing of a written termination letter to the employee and b) simultaneous payment of the legal severance indemnity. Also, in order for the termination to be valid, the employer must have registered the employee with the competent social security fund, which must take place as of the first day of employment. The legal severance indemnity is calculated on the basis of the employee’s length of service with the employer and his/her “regular emoluments” over the last month prior to termination. “Regular emoluments” include base salary and benefits granted regularly and over an extended period of time. Greek law does not impose the granting of prior notice of termination to the employee unless agreed between the parties. The law does, however, give the employer the option to terminate the employment contract with a minimum period of notice (“lawful notice”) and pay half (½) of the legal severance indemnity that would be due in case of termination without prior notice. This option, however, is rarely followed by employers, in practice. Under the law, the parties to an indefinite-term contract may agree to a probation period of up to 6 months. In any case, under the law during the first 12 months of employment, no severance indemnity is due to the employee. In case of redundancy, the employer must also comply with other requirements, as laid out in the jurisprudence of the Greek Courts, such as the exhaustion of all alternative means (“principle of ultima ratio”), the implementation of specific selection criteria and the legislation on collective redundancies. Fixed-term contracts, on the other hand, expire automatically upon their agreed expiry date without payment of severance indemnity. However, early termination of such contracts i.e. termination before the agreed expiry date is possible only for "serious cause". In case of termination for serious cause, no severance or other indemnity is payable to the other party. Pursuant to the jurisprudence of the Greek courts, "serious cause" constitutes "any cause which, in accordance with the principle of good faith, makes the continuance of the employment contract impossible for the parties". In general terms, the existence of a "serious cause" is very difficult to establish.

Under Greek law, employees have three (3) months from their termination date in order to challenge the validity of the dismissal. If the dismissal is challenged based on one of the specific grounds explicitly prohibited by law, then the burden of proof is reversed, and the employer is required to provide substantial evidence in court in order to prove that the termination took place for reasons other than those invoked by the employee. In such cases, instead of challenging the termination as invalid and claiming reinstatement and payment of back salaries, the employee is entitled to ask the court to adjudicate an additional amount of compensation, which cannot be less than the employee’s regular emoluments of three months or more than double the legal severance indemnity. If the termination is challenged for other reasons than those explicitly prohibited by law, then the court, upon either the employer’s or the employee’s request, may adjudicate, instead of any other legal consequence, in favour of the employee an additional amount of compensation up to two times the legal severance indemnity, as set out above.

Law 4990/2022 has transposed into Greek law EU Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of EU law. Law 4990/2022 has introduced provisions for the protection of whistleblowers who report breaches of EU law, an obligation to appoint an Officer responsible to receive and manage reports, and an obligation to implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure confidentiality; importantly, criminal sanctions and monetary fines are provided for non-compliance with provisions of Law 4990/2022. Reports can be submitted by persons, who acquired information on or observed violations of EU law in their work-related activities.

Law 4990/2022 prohibits any form of retaliation against whistleblowers, including threats of retaliation and attempts of retaliation including, indicatively, in the form of suspension, dismissal, demotion or withholding of promotion, change of location of place of work, reduction in wages, change in working hours, withholding of training, discrimination, disadvantageous or unfair treatment, failure to renew, or early termination of, a temporary employment contract, etc. Moreover, whistleblowers who do suffer retaliation may be entitled to compensation. Also, any termination of employment in the form of retaliation is invalid. Last but not least, whistleblowers are entitled to free legal advice and representation from lawyers including a relevant legal aid catalogue.

The processing of employees’ personal data is governed by the GDPR and the Greek Data Protection Law 4624/2019, which supplements the GDPR and includes specific provisions in relation to the processing of personal data in the context of employment.

Among others, the Greek Data Protection Law 4624/2019 provides that the consent of the employees should be considered as a lawful basis for the processing of their personal data only in exceptional cases, and when assessing whether consent is freely given, mainly the following factors must be considered: (a) the “dependence of the employee” according to the employment agreement, and (b) the circumstances under which consent has been provided.

Moreover, according to the Greek Data Protection Law 4624/2019, the employees’ images recorded through CCTV systems operating in the work premises should not be used by the employer for the assessment of the performance of the employees. The employees must be informed in writing about the installation and operation of a CCTV system in the working areas.

The use of biometric methods for identification and access control purposes in the workplace can be permissible only where this is required due to special safety requirements (e.g., in high-risk laboratories or high-security facilities) and where, also, there is no other, less privacy intrusive means to achieve the said purpose.

On a regulatory level, the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) takes a rather strict approach to the processing of employees’ personal data and follows the Opinions of the former WP29 and the Opinions and Guidelines of the existing European Data Protection Board. Pursuant to the GDPR, any data subject who suffers damages or moral distress as a result of a violation of the GDPR has the right to claim compensation from the data controller. Moreover, a breach may be subject to administrative fines of up to EUR 20 million or 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, pursuant to the GDPR. Furthermore, the Greek Data Protection Law 4624/2019 provides for severe criminal sanctions in cases of certain violations of the data protection legislation which may be up to 10 years of imprisonment and pecuniary penalties up to EUR 300,000.

In 2019, the DPA imposed on a Greek company a monetary fine on the grounds of the employees’ invalid consent for the processing of their personal data amounting to EUR 150,000.

 Also, in its Decision 43/2019 the DPA found that, in the case of reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, an employer can have a legitimate interest and right to have access to an employee’s emails stored on the company’s servers; it also pointed out that the employer had relevant policies in place and had informed the employees accordingly. More specifically, the DPA argued that an employer, exercising its managerial right to protect the property and the proper functioning of the company, has the right to exercise control over the electronic media it provides to its employees for performing their duties within the scope of the company’s business operations, provided that the employees are adequately informed about relevant processing. The DPA stated that an employer’s legitimate interest can be the safeguarding of know-how, confidential information and trade secrets, ensuring the proper functioning of the business and obtaining confirmation or proof of the criminal activities conducted by an employee.

Greek law lays down a general framework for combatting discrimination on the grounds of disability, age, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, family or social status, race, color, ethnicity, etc. The relevant framework seeks to prohibit discrimination both at the initial stage of access to employment as well as during the employment relationship. The law imposes administrative fines in case of infringement and provides access to independent bodies (such as the Labour Inspectorate and the Greek Ombudsman), while in case of litigation, the burden of proof lies with the employer. Pursuant to L. 4808/2021, employers having over 20 employees are obliged to adopt policies against violence and harassment in the workplace as well as for managing relevant internal complaints. The statute also provides additional protection for pregnant women, mothers and fathers. Pregnant employees are protected from dismissal for any reason other than material grounds throughout pregnancy and for 18 months following childbirth, while the father of the child is protected for 6 months following childbirth.

Annual Leave: The annual leave entitlement provided by law ranges from twenty (20) to twenty-six (26) days, based on years of service. The accrual of annual leave during the first and second calendar years of employment is proportionate to the employee’s period of service. As of the third calendar year, the employee is entitled to the total number of leave days granted by law as of January 1st. The employer is obliged to grant the full annual leave to its employees up to the end of March of the next calendar year.

Sick Leave: Employees who are prevented from work due to a serious reason, including illness, for which they cannot be held responsible, are entitled to their normal remuneration during the period of absence on condition, that they have been providing their services to the employer for at least ten (10) days before their illness. This entitlement does not last for the entire period of the employee’s absence but ranges from 15 days to one (1) month, depending on the employee’s years of service. The employer has the right to deduct from the amount payable to the employee any amounts which the latter received from the social security authorities.

Parental Leave: Employees who have completed one (1) year of service with the same employer are entitled to parental leave of four (4) months (8 months for single parents) per child (provided that 1 year has lapsed from the expiry of the previous parental leave taken). The above right is non-transferable and can be exercised until the child reaches the age of eight (8) by both birth and adoptive parents. Parental leave may be taken in one or more parts. The first 2 months of the leave are paid by DYPA with a subsidy equal to the minimum legal salary.

Non-compete clauses are not specifically regulated in the law. Nevertheless, the inclusion of a non-compete clause for the duration of the employment contract is possible (and also derives from the general duty of faith towards the employer), while for the post-termination period, the non-competition obligation can be assumed by agreement of the parties. The validity of a non-compete obligation for the post-termination period depends mainly on the proportionality of the restrictions imposed upon the employee compared to the interests of the employer. Usually, the courts examine whether the obligations agreed with the employee are not excessive with respect to the duration of the non-compete obligation, the geographical area covered (the stricter the area, the more enforceable the clause), the scope of prohibited activities (a list of existing competitors reinforces the validity of the clause), the manner of termination of the employment contract, the amount of severance indemnity paid, the existence of a non-compete fee and the existence of reasonably justified interests of the former employer. Payment of a non-compete fee is not imposed by law but it would in principle strengthen the enforceability of the clause, depending also on the overall circumstances.

No. Such termination would in principle be abusive. The payment of a non-compete fee is not imposed by law but can be freely agreed upon between the parties.

Greece operates a state-run social security system (providing both medical and pension benefits), to which both employers and employees are obliged to contribute.

Under Greek law, employees are entitled to a total of 14 salaries per year, including 12 monthly salaries, one salary as Christmas allowance, half salary as Easter allowance and half salary as leave allowance. Further allowances or benefits may be provided for in specific collective labor agreements.

The entitlement to pension is contingent on the employee’s age and years of insured employment. The fulfillment, however, by an employee of the eligibility criteria for state pension does not lead to the automatic termination of the employment contract i.e. the employee may choose not to apply for a pension and continue to work. If either party (employer or employee) wishes to terminate the employment contract, they must follow the statutory rules on termination.

When work continues after the employee has reached the eligibility requirements for state pension, both parties (employer and employee) must continue to contribute to the state social security system. As regards benefits deriving from private insurance schemes, the continuation or not of benefits beyond retirement age depends on the terms of the scheme.

Given that vaccination has been designated as voluntary by the State, employers cannot impose this upon employees, nor terminate the employment contract on such grounds.

Pursuant to the general legal framework, remote work is voluntary both for the employee and the employer and can be agreed upon either upon recruitment as part of the initial job description or at a later stage as an amendment of the employment contract. Any remote work should be based on mutual agreement between the parties. An employee’s unjustified refusal to return to the agreed place of work would constitute an infringement of the employee’s contractual obligations and could in principle be considered a non-abusive reason for termination (although each case should be reviewed on an ad hoc basis).