Leave allowance: When it is paid – How to calculate the amount

The vacation season has started and employees are preparing for their holidays, looking forward to it vacation allowance…

THE GSEE with the Information Center for Workers & Unemployed (KEPEA) of the Confederation www.kepea.gr informed about him annual leisure leave of employees and make available to them the possibility through the online application made by KEPEA on its website or through the App, to calculate the license they are entitled to in the following links:

The leave allowance

A. REGULATION OF ANNUAL RECREATION LEAVE BY PUBLIC RULES

The provisions of the institutional framework regarding the annual recreational leave of employees are in public order, with the consequence that any express or implied agreement to the contrary is not permitted and invalid, as well as the waiver of the employee in related claims.
The holiday allowance is further included in the 2010 National General Labor Law (Article 1) for private law employees throughout the Greek territory and is included with the basic arrangements for annual leisure leave in the Individual Labor Law Code (Articles 210-216 PD 80 /2022).
During the annual leave, dismissal of the employee is prohibited.
Teleworkers, according to current legislation, during their annual vacation have the right to disconnect, i.e. they have the right to completely refrain from giving their work and in particular, not to communicate digitally and not respond to phone calls, e-mails or any other form of communication.

B. PERIOD OF GRANT OF ANNUAL LEAVE

The employee’s annual leisure leave is granted in consultation with the employer at the time of granting it and in any case within two months from the submission of a relevant request by the employee.
At least half of a company’s employees must take vacation between May 1 and September 30.

Through the legislative regulation (Article 61 of Law 4808/2021) it is possible to transfer the annual regular leave until the first quarter of the following calendar year (for leisure leave in 2023 until the end of March 2024). If the first quarter of the next year also passes, the leave claim will be converted into a cash claim.

Employers who employ workers, who protect children up to 16 years of age (natural or adopted) and children over 16 years of age with disabilities must take into account the needs of those workers when planning the time to give their staff annual leaves. to lose.

C. DURATION OF ANNUAL LEAVE

The granting of annual paid leave to employees is calculated based on the calendar year.
The employee is entitled to a proportion of the annual vacation time from the start of his work according to his weekly working system (five days or six days), without having to complete a certain period in the previous service to his employer.
In particular, during the first calendar year in which the employee is hired, the employer is obliged to give him, no later than March 31 of the following year, a proportion of the vacation days to which he is entitled from his work until 31^THE December of the given calendar year, according to the months of his work. Every employee with an employment relationship of indefinite or fixed duration has the right from the beginning of his work until the completion of twelve months to receive the percentage of his leave. This ratio is calculated based on 20 working days of annual leave for those who work five days and 24 working days for those who work six days.
In the second calendar year, after the employee has completed twelve months of work, he is entitled to 21 days of vacation (five days of work) and 25 days (six days of work).
For the third and subsequent years of work, the employee is entitled from 1^THEJanuary of each year is his normal annual leave with pay, ie 22 days (five days of work) and 26 days (six days of work).
After completing 10 years of work with the same employer or 12 years of service with any employer, the employee is entitled to a vacation of 25 working days (five working days) and 30 working days (six days work).
After completing 25 years of service with any employer, employees are entitled to one additional day of vacation, ie 26 days (five days of work) and 31 days (six days of work).
Only working days count toward annual vacation days. Therefore, Sundays, official holidays, customary holidays, sick days and special leaves provided by other provisions are excluded if they coincide with it (eg marriage leave, child birth leave, maternity leave)

D. PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING ANNUAL RECREATION LEAVE

The basic rule is that annual leave is granted continuously and for the total number of days to which the employee is entitled depending on his seniority.
If more favorable conditions apply (for example from the SSE, Labor Regulation, business practice or custom) regarding the annual leave of employees and the leave allowance, this will prevail.
Data regarding the granting of annual leave to employees must be registered by the employer a) in the Leave Book, which can also be in the form of computerized pages and must be available for inspection by the Labor Inspectorate and b) in the ERGANI Information System , where according to the law, the granting of annual leave is notified electronically up to one (1) hour after its commencement. In Form E11 (announcement of details of annual regular leave), details of employees who received annual leave and leave allowance in the previous calendar year and registered in the special Leave Book are entered in April of each year.

Break up of annual leave

Exceptionally, the division of annual rest time within the same calendar year in two periods is allowed, due to a more serious or urgent business need. In any case, the first vacation period cannot include less than six (6) working days in a six-day working week and five (5) working days in a five-day working week or twelve (12) working days, if it concerns legally employed minors.
At the written request of the employee to the employer, the division of leave time is allowed in more than two periods, one of which must include at least twelve (12) working days in a six-day working week and ten (10) working days , within five days, or twelve (12) working days, as long as it relates to minors who are legally employed.
Especially, in cases of businesses that employ regular and seasonal staff and show a particular accumulation of work due to the type or scope of their work, in a specific time of the year, for regular staff, the employer may grant part of the leave of 10 days to workers on a five-day basis or 12 on a six-day basis, at any time during the calendar year.
It is pointed out that this request of the employee, as well as the decision of the employer, although they no longer require authorization from the competent SEPE department, are nevertheless kept by the company for five (5) years and must be in Labor Inspectorate.=

E. ANNUAL LEAVE BENEFITS AND TIMING OF PAYMENT

Leave allowance is further included in Article 2 of the 2010 National General Labor Code, which states:

“The employee who establishes the right to regular vacation leave, in kind or in money, has the right to receive the leave allowance, which is his regular earnings, calculated in the same way as the leave earnings calculated and subject to the same rules as they are.

The leave allowance is equal to the total of the regular ordinary wages actually paid for the leave, with a limit of not more than 15 days’ wages for those paid on a monthly salary and 13 days’ wages for those paid daily or by unit of work or by percentage or otherwise.

The corresponding leave allowance is paid in advance if the leisure leave or part thereof is taken together with the leave allowances.

General or specific provisions of laws, decrees, ministerial decisions, collective labor agreements, arbitration decisions, labor regulations and other regulations, which determine more favorable calculation methods, payment and the general granting of leave allowance shall prevail and remain in force.

Article 6 of the EGSSE 1997 on the granting of leave allowance in the case of early termination of the employment relationship is still valid, with the deletion of the words “before the employee completes twelve months of continuous employment with the same employer” , due to the next change in the conditions for taking leave ».

In the event that the employer does not grant the leave requested by the employee until the end of March of the following calendar year, he must pay the wages of the appropriate leave time with a surcharge of 100%, plus the leave allowance .

The unions, the local Labor Centers and the GSEE power Federations are attentive to the complaints of the workers.

GSEE is continuously and consistently available to unions and workers throughout the territory for any issue of information, support and collective action: