HELLENIC REPUBLIC

MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND

SOCIAL AFFAIRS

GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF

SOCIAL SECURITY

DIRECTORATE OF SPECIFIC ISSUES

IN SOCIAL SECURITY AND BENEFITS

DEPARTMENT OF INTERSTATE/BILATERAL AGREEMENTS AND RELATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL SECURITY

Athens, 24-07-2020

Ref. No: F. 65130/26523/1053

Address: 29, Stadiou str.

Postcode: 101 10 Athens

Info: P. Gkova - G. Vagenas

Phone : +30 2103368196 -170

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 article 76 (non-accepted parts) of the European Code of Social Security by Greece - 18^th biennial report (Period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2020).

Dear Sirs,

Please find enclosed the 18^th report of Greece on non-accepted parts of the European Code of Social Security.

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

Kind regards,

Ioannis Vroutsis

Minister of Labour

and Social Affairs

Enclosed: National Report on the Application of the non-accepted parts of the ECSS

18TH BIENNIAL REPORT

ON THE APPLICATION OF THE

EUROPEAN CODE OF SOCIAL SECURITY

(ARTICLE 76)

REPORT

FOR THE PERIOD FROM 1 JULY 2018 TO 30 JUNE 2020

GREECE HAS NOT ACCEPTED

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

GREECE

18^TH 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:

the Legislative Decree 2961/1954 (A’ 197 - articles 11-38),
the law 1545/1985 (A’ 91-articles 3-8),
the law 1836/1989 (A’ 79 - articles 15-24),
the law 1892/1990 (A’ 101 - article 37)
the law 3552/2007 (A’ 77 - article 5)
the law 3986/2011 (A’ 152- article 39)
the law 3996/2011 (A’ 170 - article 71 and the decision of the council board of OAED 3701/55/22.11.11)
the law 4203/2013 (A’ 235 - article 26)
the law 4301/2014 (A’ 223 – article 54)

PART VII - FAMILY BENEFITS

Laws and decrees that cover the family benefits:

the law 4254/2014 (A’ 85- article First, paragraph A’, subparagraph IA.3, 1.A’)

II.

1. Field of application

Statistical data

	March 2019	March 2020
Employed	3.887.360	3.874.437
Unemployed	856.974	653.686
Non – active	3.200.115	3.373.369
Unemployment Percentage	18,1%	14,4%

*source: ELSTAT (Hellenic Statistical Authority), Press Announcement dated 11.06.2020

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 either in person (or through the web services of OAED) 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 (the persons employed in hotel-tourism-food businesses are always subsidized from the 7^th day).

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 their 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 applies:

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.

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
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 49^th year of age	210 and completion of 49^th 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

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 450/400 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 230 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 201/231 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 400 days of subsidy for the last four years from 2014 onwards.

TABLE CONDITIONS FOR THE DURATION OF SUBSIDY FOR THOSE WORKING SEASONALLY (article 26 of Law.4203/2013 & article 54 of Law 4301/2014)
1^st Category: 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).
	12 MONTH OR 14 MONTH	DAYS OF WORK	DURATION OF SUBSIDY
	Days of work
	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)
2^nd Category: The insured persons who have completed, during the critical for their subsidizing periods, from 150 to 230 days of work –insurance, in a business that operates seasonally, have the choice: a) 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 or b) according to the previous regime
Case a)	12 MONTH OR 14 MONTH	DAYS OF WORK	DURATION OF SUBSIDY (exclusion from the limitation of 400 days of unemployment benefit during the 4years preceding the beginning of subsidy)
	Days of work
	150-230 (submission to article 26 of Law 4203/2013)	150-230	3 months and 5 days
Case b)	12 MONTH OR 14 MONTH	DAYS OF WORK	DURATION OF SUBSIDY (exclusion from the limitation of 400 days of unemployment benefit during the 4years preceding the beginning of subsidy)
	Days of work
	150-230 (without solemn statement other provisions apply)	150-179	6 months
		180-219	8 months
		220-230	10months
3rd Category: The insured persons who have completed more than 231 days of work - insurance are subsidized under the previous regime and are not falling under the aforementioned provision
	12 MONTH OR 14 MONTH	DAYS OF WORK	DURATION OF SUBSIDY (exclusion from the limitation of 400 days of unemployment benefit during the 4years preceding the beginning of subsidy)
	Days of work
	231 and more (no submission to provisions of article 26 of Law 4203/2013)	231-249	10months
		250 and more	12months
		210 and over the age of 49	12months

- The benefit is paid once a month.

- From 01.02.2019 the basic monthly benefit is 399.25 Euro.

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

PART VII - FAMILY BENEFITS

Article 40

No changes