GREECE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Maria Antoniadou and Sofia Chrysakopoulou, Machas & Partners
• health and safety rules applicable to the home workspace, including the procedure for reporting work-related accidents; and • the obligation to protect professional and personal data, as well as the procedures required to ensure data protection compliance. Prevention and Combating of Violence and Harassment in the Workplace The imperative to shape a work environment centred on the safeguarding of human dignity led Greece to ratify ILO Convention No 190 through Law 4808/2021, thereby providing “a broader and enhanced protection of the personality and dignity of the employee against all forms of violence and harassment”. The subjective and objective scope of application of this law may be characterised as particularly broad. It extends protection to workers in both the private and public sector, regardless of the employment relation - ship, including those engaged under contracts for ser - vices, independent services, salaried mandates, and employees through third-party service providers, as well as for trainees, apprentices, interns and volun - teers (among others). A similar expansion applies to the objective scope, as the law covers harassing behaviour that may occur in any location or circumstance connected to work, including during work-related travel or work commu - nications. In terms of content, the concept of harassment encompasses a wide spectrum of unacceptable behaviours and practices in the workplace, including but not limited to mobbing, stalking, cyberstalking, sexual harassment and any form of physical, psycho - logical, verbal or non-verbal violence or mistreatment in the world of work. Specific rights Specifically, the law establishes the following rights for affected persons.
The right to submit a complaint within the company (Article 10 of Law 4808/2021) This is in accordance with the complaint submission and management procedure that every employer is obliged to adopt. The right to appeal to the Labour Inspectorate and the ombudsman This is in addition to any legal protection chosen by the affected party, and in accordance with Law 3896/2010 and Law 4443/2016 on equal treatment. The right to leave the workplace Any affected person, if they reasonably believe that there is an imminent serious risk to their life, health or safety, has the right to leave the workplace for a reasonable period of time without loss of pay or other adverse consequences, subject to prior written noti - fication to the employer, indicating the violence and harassment incident and the circumstances that jus - tify such belief. However, once the risk has ceased to exist and if the affected person refuses to return to the workplace, the employer may refer the matter to the Labour Inspectorate to request a resolution of the dispute. Specific obligations Accordingly, the legislation establishes specific obli - gations for employers to prevent and address violence and harassment in the workplace (Articles 5–11 of Law 4808/2021) – namely, as follows. Zero-tolerance policy Employers must demonstrate a zero-tolerance stance towards violence and harassment. In this context, they are required to implement concrete measures to prevent and respond to such incidents, such as: • training and awareness programmes for staff and management on respect, dignity, and conflict man - agement; • regular assessment and review of the effectiveness of prevention mechanisms; • establishment of an internal procedure for handling complaints; • respecting the principles of impartiality and confi - dentiality; and
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