HELLENIC REPUBLIC

MINISTRY OF LABOUR,

SOCIAL SECURITY AND SOCIAL SOLIDARITY

GENERAL SECRETARIAT FOR SOCIAL SECURITY

DIRECTORATE OF INTERSTATE SOCIAL SECURITY

DIVISION FOR BILATERAL CONVENTIONS AND RELATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL SECURITY  

Athens,          26 .07. 2016

Ref. No:

F 65130/33129/1721

Address : 29,  Stadiou str.

Postcode: 101 10 Athens

Info:  G. Vagenas

Phone     : 0030 210 3368170, 169

e-mail: [email protected]

TO:

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

DG I – Human Rights and Rule of Law

e-mail: [email protected]

CC: Permanent Representative of Greece

e-mail: [email protected]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (D03)

e-mail: [email protected]

Subject: Application of the article 76 (non-accepted parts) of the European Code of Social Security by Greece - 16th biennial report (Period from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2016).

Dear Sirs,

Please find enclosed the 16th report of Greece on non-accepted parts of the European Code of Social Security.

We are at your disposal for any further co-operation.

Kind regards,

Nikolaos Fragkos

Secretary General for Social Security


16TH BIENNIAL REPORT

ON THE APPLICATION OF THE

EUROPEAN CODE OF SOCIAL SECURITY

(ARTICLE 76)

REPORT

FOR THE PERIOD FROM 1 JULY 2014 TO 30 JUNE 2016

GREECE HAS NOT ACCEPTED

PARTS IV (UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS) AND VII (FAMILY BENEFITS) OF THE CODE.


GREECE

16TH REPORT

ARTICLE 76

EUROPEAN CODE OF SOCIAL SECURITY ON THE NON-ACCEPTED PARTS (IV,VII) OF THE CODE

I.       LEGISLATION

         PART IV - UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

         Laws and decrees covering the unemployment benefits:

         PART VII - FAMILY BENEFITS

         Laws and decrees that cover the family benefits:


II.

         1. Field of application

Statistical data:                               September                        September

2014

2015

Employed

3.550.700

3.628.800

Unemployed

1.245.600

1.193.600

Non – active

3.318.400

3.254.900

Unemployment Percentage

26,1%

24,8%

         *source: ELSTAT (Hellenic Statistical Authority), Labour Force Monthly Data        

        

2. Requirements for the entitlement to benefits

         PART IV - UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

        

Article 23

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT

Employees whose labor contract was terminated by the employer or ended and have been insured for unemployment in OAED (Manpower Labor Organization), may receive, under certain conditions, an unemployment benefit from OAED.

 

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION – BEGINNING OF GRANTING

The application is submitted by the applicant in person within 60 days from the date of the dismissal, to the Competent Service of the place of residence (or alternatively of the place of last employment).

The cases where applications are submitted within the first 7 days after dismissal are subsidized from the 7th day, while those submitted at a later time are subsidized from the date of application.

Conditions:

If subsidized for the first time:

• The insured person must have completed 80 days of work, for each year for the past two years, prior to its grant. For the last 14 months the person must have completed 125 days of work, not counting the last two months.

• An unemployment benefit is also granted to insured persons who  have  completed in the previous two years, before their  dismissal, 200 working days (not counting the days of work during the last two months), of which 80 days of work have been completed during the last year.

If subsidized for the second time and so on:

The insured person must have completed 125 working days in the last 14 months before his dismissal, not counting the working days of the last two months.

For insured persons who have been employed in tourism and other seasonal occupations, for two consecutive periods (seasons), 100 working days in the last 12 months are sufficient.

From 01.01.2013 the following condition is also applied:

From 1.1.2013, in every case, the daily unemployment benefit paid, within the previous four years from the day of the beginning of the granting of unemployment benefit, cannot exceed four hundred fifty (450) days. If, within the previous four years, the unemployed person is subsidized for a period of less than four hundred fifty (450) days, he shall be entitled to the unemployment benefit for the rest of the number of days, until the completion of the ceiling of four hundred fifty (450) days.

Also, from 1.1.2014 the daily unemployment benefit within the previous four years cannot be more than four hundred (400) days.

CONDITIONS FOR BENEFITS PAID TO SEASONALLY EMPLOYED

According to the provision of paragraph 1 of Article 39 of Law 3986/2011, more restrictive conditions have been applied concerning the period of receiving an unemployment benefit and in particular the limit of 450 days of payment of unemployment benefit from 1/1/2013 (400 days from 01/01 / 2014), within the four years before the beginning of the subsidy. With the provision of Article 26 of Law 4203/2013 (235 A/1.11.2013) the duration of unemployment subsidies for those working in seasonal businesses has been amended, that because of the repeated, each year, grant of unemployment benefit, they complete faster the 450 days in the last 4 years before  the beginning of  each grant.

From now on, the following apply for this specific category of workers:

Employees with dependent employment exclusively in seasonal businesses, whose work relationship ended from 31.8.2013 onwards, are divided in two categories as far as the duration of receiving the unemployment benefit is concerned:

a) The insured persons, who have completed, during the critical for their subsidizing periods (12 months or 14 months), from 100 to 149 days of work – insurance, in a business that operates seasonally and are necessarily included in the category of those who receive a regular unemployment benefit for a period of 3 months and 5 days (total grant 80 days).

b) The insured persons who have completed, during the critical for their subsidizing periods, from 150 to 200 days of work –insurance, in a business that operates seasonally, have a choice, with irrevocable solemn statement of Law.1599/86 submitted to the competent OAED office, between subsidies for a regular unemployment duration of 3 months and 5 days, as provided by this provision or under the previous regime.

In contrast, the insured persons who have completed more than 201 days of work - insurance are subsidized under the previous regime and are not falling under the aforementioned provision.

The persons of the above categories (a), that fall under  the previous provisions, as well as those of  category (b) that choose to  be  subsidized under this arrangement, shall be excluded from the limitation of 450 day of subsidy for the year 2013 or the 400 days of subsidy for the last four years from 2014 onwards.

Article 24

DURATION – AMOUNT OF BENEFIT

The duration of the subsidy depends on the days of work completed ​​by the insured persons in these critical intervals (14 months, 12 months or two years).

From 01.01.2013 the duration of subsidy as shown in Table 1 below, depends now also on the limit of 450 (for 2013) and 400 (from 01.01.2014 onwards) days of unemployment benefit, for four years before the beginning of subsidy.

TABLE 1

GENERAL CATEGORY OF EMPLOYEES

CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

DURATION OF SUBSIDY

14MONTH

14MONTH

DAYS OF WORK

DAYS OF WORK

125-1491

100-149

5 months

150-1792

150-179

6 months

180-2193

180-219

 8 months

220-249

220-249

10 months

250 and more

250 and more

12 months

210 and completion of 49th year of age

210 and completion of 49th year of age

12 months

1.or 200 during the last two years
2.or 250 during the last two years
3.or 300 during the last two years

TABLE 2 
CONDITIONS FOR THE DURATION OF SUBSIDY FOR THOSE WORKING SEASONALLY
(ARTICLE. 26 of Law.4203/2013)

EMPLOYEES IN SEASONAL AND TOURISTIC PROFESSIONS 

DAYS OF WORK

DURATION OF SUBSIDY

12 MONTH OR 14 MONTH

Days of work

1st Category

100-149

100-149

3 months and 5 days (exclusion from the limitation of 400 days of unemployment benefit during the  4 years preceding the beginning of subsidy)

2nd  Category

150-200

(submission to article 26 of Law 4203/2013) 

150-200

3 months and 5 days (exclusion from the limitation of 400 days of unemployment benefit during the  4years preceding the beginning of subsidy)

150-200 (without solemn statement – application of the other provisions)

150-179

6 months

180-199

8 months

201 and more (not falling under the provisions of article 26 of Law 4203/2013)

201-219

8 months

220-249

10 months

250 and more

12 months

- The benefit is paid once a month for 25 days.

- From 12.03.2012 the basic monthly benefit shall be at 360,00 Euro.

- For each member of the family the benefit is increased by 10%.


PART VII - FAMILY BENEFITS   

Article 40

Based on the provisions of Law 4254/2014 (A’ 85- article First, paragraph A’, subparagraph IA.3, 1.A’) the social security contributions for family benefits from 01.07.2014 are abolished, more specifically:

a) the provisions of paragraph 1a, article 3 of Legislative Decree 3868/1958 (A’ 178) for the employers contribution 1%,

b) the provisions of paragraph 1b, article 3 of Legislative Decree 3868/1958 (A’ 178) for the employees contribution 1%,

 c) [....},

 d) articles 1,2,3, paragraph 1c and paragraph 2 and 3, articles 4 to 11 and article 13 of the Legislative Decree 3868/1958 (A’ 178), as well as the regulatory acts issued based on these articles.

The abolishment of the social security contributions leads to the abolishment of the family benefits covered form these resources. From 1/1/2015 OAED has ceased the granting of family benefits to its beneficiaries (employees of the private sector that were not entitled to receive the benefit from their employer).