GREECE Law and Practice Contributed by: Anastasia Dritsa, Elisabeth Eleftheriades, Vicky Kriketou, Irene Kyriakides, Ioanna Kyriazi, Victoria Mertikopoulou, Claire Pavlou and Panagiotis Pothos, Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm
Executive Employees Under Greek law, only executive employees are exempt from working time provisions and are therefore not entitled to compensation for overwork or overtime. Executive employees are managerial employees, as defined by law, declared as such in the ERGANI II platform, and employed under a contract reflecting their status. 4.4 Termination of Employment Contracts Termination of Indefinite-Term Contracts Requirements Termination of indefinite-term employment agree - ments does not require a “serious cause”; however, in case of litigation, the employer must demonstrate that the termination was justified and the “last resort”. The validity of the termination requires: • written notification of the employee; • payment of the severance amount; and • employee’s registration with the competent social security fund. Where the employee has committed a criminal offence and the employer has filed a complaint, termination without severance may take place. In the event of the employee’s acquittal, statutory severance becomes payable. Employers are also required to notify the labour authorities. Notice period The employer may terminate the employment with prior notice or immediate effect. Where the statutory notice period is observed, the employee’s severance The statutory severance in Greece consists of the basic severance, applicable to all employees on indefinite contracts, and the additional severance, applicable to employees who, as of 12/11/2012, have completed 17 years of service with the employer. Basic severance amount (and applicable notice peri - od) depends on the employee’s length of service with is reduced by 50%. Severance payment
the employer and is capped at 12 monthly salaries. It is calculated on the employee’s total regular monthly remuneration of the last month before termination, multiplied by 14 (to include statutory allowances), and divided by 12, to produce a monthly average. Addi - tional benefits provided regularly, without reservation of amendment or revocation, should also be included. Employees who, as of 12 November 2012, had 17 years of service with the same employer are entitled to additional severance of one monthly salary per year beyond 17 years, up to 12 monthly salaries, based on last month’s earnings under full employment, capped at EUR2,000. Termination of Fixed-Term Contracts Fixed-term contracts are terminated automatically when their agreed term expires. Early termination is permitted for a “serious cause”, without notice or sev - erance. In the absence of serious cause, all salaries due until the initially agreed expiration date are pay - able. Redundancies Any type of redundancy is considered a justified rea - son for dismissal. However, the employer should be able to demonstrate, in potential litigation, that the position was genuinely made redundant and that selection complied with statutory criteria. Available alternatives (eg, redeployment) should be assessed before termination. Selection criteria apply to comparable employees and include performance (the prevailing criterion), senior - ity, age, family burdens, financial status and the pos - sibility of finding a new job. Collective Dismissals Specific provisions exist for collective dismissals. The procedure is triggered where an employer with 20-150 employees dismisses more than six employees in a calendar month, or where an employer with more than 150 employees dismisses more than 5% of its work - force and, in any event, more than 30 employees in a calendar month. Specific information and consultation requirements exist for collective dismissals, as well as notifica -
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