Greece has passed a raft of amendments to employment legislation so far this year in a bid to cope with the country’s crunching debt crisis.
Chief among this flurry was a law published in February under the title ‘Approval of the draft financing facilitation agreements among the European financing stability fund, the Hellenic Republic and the Bank of Greece, of the draft MoU between the Hellenic Republic, the European Commission and the Bank of Greece, as well as other provisions of urgent nature about the dilution of public debt and preservation of national finance’.  
These amendments followed a series of reforms initiated in 2010 that triggered considerable social unrest and were heavily criticised as violating basic principles of the Greek constitution.

Salary reductions

There are several highlights in the amended legislation, not least measures covering the reduction of minimum salaries and daily wages. According to law 4046/2012, as of 14 February 2012, the minimum salaries and daily wages of the national general collective employment agreement of 15 July 2010 were reduced by 22 per cent. Furthermore, for workers aged younger than 25, the reduction was an even greater 32 per cent.
The minimum daily wage for blue collar workers older than 25 was fixed to €26.18 from 14 February 2012, whereas the minimum monthly salary for white collar employees older than 25 is fixed to €586.08 as of the same date. Accordingly, the minimum daily wage for blue collar workers younger than 25 was fixed to €22.83 from that date, whereas the minimum monthly salary for white collar employees younger than 25 was fixed to €510.95. Employers can adjust employees’ salaries to the new reduced minimum and daily wages without the workers’ consent.
From now on, all collective labour agreements are to be concluded for a definite term, which cannot be less than one year or more than three years. Under the previous legislation collective labour agreements could either be agreed for a fixed term or for an indefinite period.
 According to the new provisions, any existing collective labour agreements that on 14 February 2012 were already effective for more than 24 months automatically expire on 14 February 2013, in order to comply with the legal provision regulating that the maximum term of a collective labour agreement is three years. Therefore, any collective labour agreements that as of 14 February 2012 were already effective for less than 24 months automatically expire three years after their commencement dates.

Unemployment rate

Upon the lapse of a three-month period from the expiration or termination of a collective labour agreement -- and provided no new collective labour agreement has been executed in the meantime -- the terms that exclusively refer to the basic salary or the basic daily wage, and the allowances of seniority, children, studies and dangerous occupation, continue as long as they were provided for in the collective labour agreements that expired or were terminated. Consequently, an employer can unilaterally proceed to such amendment.
As of 14 February 2012 -- and until Greece’s national unemployment rate falls below 10 per cent – there is a suspension in the validity of legal provisions, regulatory acts, collective labour agreements or arbitration decisions providing for increases in salaries or daily wages.
Unilateral recourse to arbitration is abolished, meaning that any requests for arbitration are permitted only in cases were both contracting parties consent. The recourse to arbitration is exclusively limited to the determination of basic salary and/or basic daily wage, and should not include any other issues.
Also as of 14 February 2012, any employment agreements expiring at a specific age or on fulfilment of retirement conditions are considered as employment agreements of indefinite period, and in cases of termination the provisions of common law 2112/1920 apply.

Permanence clauses

Furthermore, the amended legislation has annulled any provisions or regulatory decisions -- as well as any terms of collective labour agreements and arbitration decisions and similar regulations -- that provide terms hiding permanence or permanence clauses and therefore deviate from the general rules of labour legislation and/or provide for the application of the provisions of the civil servants code. This amendment covers terms providing that an employee’s agreement can only be terminated on retirement or at a specific age and cannot be terminated by the employer for any other reason.
More specifically, employment agreements that would automatically expire at a certain age or on fulfilment of an employee’s retirement requirements are now considered as employment agreements of indefinite duration and may be terminated accordingly.
There have been other recent employment law developments in Greece.  
Law 4052/2012 was published on 1 March 2012 and implemented EU Directive 2009/38/EC into Greek legislation. The directive deals with the establishment and operation of a European Works Council and the information and consultation procedures around it. The same law also amended the existing legal framework regarding temporary agency work in Greece, fully to implement the Temporary Agency Work Directive (2008/104/EC). The amendments refer to the incorporation, legal status, authorisation procedure and operation of the temporary employment agency.
More recently, law 4075/2012 published on 11 April 2012 implemented Directive 2010/18/EC on parental leave. This legislation grants parental leave of at least four months, which can be taken at any stage during the first six years after a child’s birth. The leave is unpaid and is considered as a non-transferable individual right.
Working parents with children younger than 18  who suffer from diseases requiring a blood transfusion or dialysis, or who have a neoplastic disease, or a disease requiring a transplant, are entitled to special parental paid leave of 10 working days annually. In cases where an employee’s child is treated in hospital following sickness or accident requiring the direct presence of the employee, special parental unpaid leave is granted for the period of hospital treatment up to 30 working days per year.

Effie Mitsopoulou is an employment law specialist partner at Athens-based law firm Kyriakides Georgopoulos & Daniolos Issaias