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 |
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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] |
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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 |
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GENERAL CATEGORY OF EMPLOYEES |
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS |
DURATION OF SUBSIDY |
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14MONTH |
14MONTH |
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DAYS OF WORK |
DAYS OF WORK |
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125-1491 |
100-149 |
5 months |
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150-1792 |
150-179 |
6 months |
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180-2193 |
180-219 |
8 months |
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220-249 |
220-249 |
10 months |
||||
250 and more |
250 and more |
12 months |
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210 and completion of 49th year of age |
210 and completion of 49th year of age |
12 months |
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1.or 200 during the last two years |
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TABLE 2 |
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EMPLOYEES IN SEASONAL AND TOURISTIC PROFESSIONS |
DAYS OF WORK |
DURATION OF SUBSIDY |
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12 MONTH OR 14 MONTH |
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Days of work |
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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) |
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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) |
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150-200 (without solemn statement – application of the other provisions) |
150-179 |
6 months |
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180-199 |
8 months |
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201 and more (not falling under the provisions of article 26 of Law 4203/2013) |
201-219 |
8 months |
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220-249 |
10 months |
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250 and more |
12 months |
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- 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).