Changes in the part time employment – What should employers be aware of
With the new Law, is replaced, among others, paragraph 11 of article 38 of Law 1892/1990 and from now on when there is a need for additional work beyond the agreed working hours, the employee who is working under part time employment is entitled to an increased pay of 12% to the agreed hourly wage for each additional hour of work and until the working hours of a comparable full time employee are reached. When there is no comparable full-time employee, the comparison is made with reference to the collective agreement, to which the employee is subject, if he/she had been hired under a full-time employment contract. Providing additional work until the working hours of a full-time employee are reached with the equivalent increment in the salary is a safeguard for tackling undeclared overtime and circumvention of the nature of part-time work. The legislator’s purpose is the protection of part-time employees from the violation of their rights as well as the prevention of employers from abusively turning to part-time employment contracts. The abovementioned increment acts as a motive in order for employers to opt for full-time employment rather than part-time employment or job rotation. In case of employer’s noncompliance to the above, the employee can claim the delayed salary with the above increments.
The employers should be especially careful with the strict compliance of their employees’ timetable, so that a full-time employment should not be concealed under a part-time employment contract. In 2019 the rate of undeclared employment was already up to 10, 3 %, with most employees identified as undeclared being those who were registered as employed for 4 hours a day, namely as part time employees. It should also be noted that article 7 of Law 4554/2018 is amended and a «Registry of Offenders for Undeclared Work» is established in the informational system «ERGANI». In this registry, enterprises, and in general employers, persons and legal entities, on whom penalties for employing undeclared workers have been imposed, will be registered. Employers with an infringing behavior will be excluded from favorable insurance regulations. Labor Inspection and EFKA are competent for maintaining and updating this registry. With this registry is also enabled better compliance and performance of audits, since enterprises or employers who refuse to comply with the above regulations will be easily identified, so that a safe mechanism for the prevention of violations and for achieving employees’ insurance is established.
Lastly, with article 38 (1) of Law 1892/1990, the employer and the employee can agree, with a written individual employment contract, on a daily or weekly or fortnightly or monthly work, for a fixed or indefinite period, which will be for a shorter duration than normal (part-time). However, in case there is no written agreement, or this agreement is not notified within eight (8) days of its conclusion to the relevant Labor Inspectorate, a full-time employment of the employee shall be presumed.
Thus, there is a compelling reason that prior to any drafting of a part-time employment contract, a legally assessment and adaptation to the ad hoc needs of the employer and employee should be made.
