GREECE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Maria Antoniadou and Sofia Chrysakopoulou, Machas & Partners
• informing employees about the potential risks of violence and harassment in the workplace, the applicable legal framework and available protection mechanisms. Development of a preventative action plan and improvement of working conditions This should include a focus on the evaluation of psy - chosocial risks or harassment-related hazards. Enhanced role of the occupational physician This person is granted new responsibilities beyond those stipulated in Law 3850/2010, including: • providing advice on the prevention, resolution and management of incidents of violence and harass - ment; and • offering direct support to victims. Mandatory policies for companies with more than 20 employees These include: • a policy for the prevention and combating of vio - lence and harassment; and • a policy for the handling of internal complaints. In addition to the obligation to draw up the aforemen - tioned policies, companies that employ 70 or more people and that are required to have a work regu - lation are obliged to incorporate the aforementioned policies into the work regulation. These policies may be a negotiable subject for the drafting of a Collec - tive Agreement. Moreover, the Internal Work Regula - tions must explicitly include provisions on disciplinary offences, disciplinary proceedings and sanctions in the context of or following complaints about incidents of violence and harassment at work. Regarding the content requirements of the policies, the following should be noted. Concerning the prevention and combating of violence and harassment, the policy should: • include the risks associated with violence and harassment, and specific risks faced by particular categories of workers, such as night-shift workers and newly recruited employees;
• include preventative and response measures, such as fostering respect and co-operation, open com - munication, open incident-reporting processes, employee training, installation of technical safety systems, and guidance for victims of violence – regular evaluation of the effectiveness of measures is required; • provide for information and awareness-raising activities for staff, with training seminars and coun - selling; • inform employees of their rights and provide easy access to the details of the relevant competent authorities; and • designate a “reporting person” who acts as a responsible liaison to guide and inform employees on issues related to violence and harassment. Concerning the handling of internal complaints, the policy should include: • secure communication channels – easily accessi - ble ways to make complaints and clearly designate responsible parties within the company to receive and investigate them; • impartial investigation and data protection – ensur - ing confidentiality and prompt action to protect those affected, with access to the information necessary to establish the facts; • prohibition of retaliation – the company’s commit - ment to protect the aggrieved person from retalia - tion; • consequences of violations – provisions for sanc - tions, such as position changes or even termina - tion of the offender’s employment, to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents; and • co-operation with competent public authorities – the company is obliged to provide information and co-operate fully with the authorities if requested. Implementation of the Digital Work Card Article 74 of Law 4808/2021 established the legal framework for the digital organisation of working time and the implementation of the digital work card. Spe - cifically, under the delegated ministerial decisions, Greek employers’ businesses were gradually obli - gated to join the digital card mechanism by operating an electronic system for recording the working time of their employees working under a contract of depend -
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