Family and special leave in Greece: marriage, paternity, maternity, parental, child-care and the rest

02

Marriage leave

For a marriage or a civil partnership, 6 paid working days on a six-day week and 5 on a five-day week. This leave is not counted against annual leave (article 241).

03

Paternity leave: 14 working days

• Every working father is entitled to 14 paid working days, taken around the birth: either 2 days before the expected date of birth and the other 12 within 30 days of the birth, all at once or in parts, or all after the birth (article 230 §1).
• The employer must grant it, with no condition of prior service or family status (§2). The employee tells the employer the expected date of birth (§1).
• For adoption or fostering of a child up to 8, it is granted from when the child joins the family (§3).

04

Maternity leave and the special benefit

• Maternity leave lasts 17 weeks: 8 compulsorily before the expected date of birth and 9 after. If the birth comes earlier, the remainder is given after, so that the 17 weeks are complete (article 236 §1).
• A mother who adopts or fosters a child up to 8, and the presumed mother in surrogacy, are entitled to the post-natal part of the leave (§2).
• After the post-natal leave ends — and the equivalent reduced-hours leave, if she takes it — a mother insured with e-ΕΦΚΑ who received the pregnancy and maternity benefit is entitled to a 9-month special maternity protection leave; ΔΥΠΑ pays each month an amount equal to the minimum wage, with a proportion of the holiday bonuses and the leave allowance (article 238).

05

Child-care leave: one hour less a day

• For 30 months after maternity leave, the special benefit or parental leave, one parent — alternating between the two — arrives an hour later, leaves an hour earlier or breaks work for an hour every day, as they request (article 239 §1).
• By agreement the reduced hours may be given differently: 2 hours less a day for 12 months and 1 hour for 6 months, whole days off within the week, an equivalent continuous leave, or as otherwise agreed (§1).
• It is paid and counts as working time (§3). For part-time work, in proportion to the daily hours (§4).

06

Parental leave: 4 months

• Each parent has an individual right to 4 months of parental leave, continuous or in parts, until the child turns 8, after one year with the same employer (article 231 §§1–2).
• For the first 2 months ΔΥΠΑ pays an allowance equal to the minimum wage, with a proportion of the holiday bonuses and leave allowance (§3).
• The request is made at least one month ahead, except for urgent reasons. The employer answers within one month and grants the leave at the time requested, unless that would seriously disrupt the business — in which case it justifies the postponement in writing — and in any case within two months of the request (§6).
• It can also be taken flexibly, for example as reduced daily hours or as days off spread over the week or month (§6).
• It is posted in ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ΙΙ (§7), counts as actual service (§11), and afterwards the employee returns to the same or an equivalent job (§10).

07

Carers, force majeure, sick and hospitalised children

• Carer’s leave: an employee with 6 months of work is entitled to up to 5 working days a year to care for a relative or a member of the household who needs significant care for a serious medical reason, certified by a doctor (articles 229 and 232). Article 232 does not set pay.
• Force majeure: a parent or carer may be absent up to twice a year, up to one working day each time, paid, for an urgent family matter — an illness or accident that needs the employee there at once, certified by a hospital or the treating doctor (article 233).
• A sick child or other dependant: up to 6 working days a year, unpaid, all at once or in parts; 8 with two children, 14 with more (article 244).
• Serious illness of a child (for example cancer, a transplant, dialysis): 10 working days a year, paid, once other related paid leave apart from annual leave is used up. A child in hospital: for as long as it lasts, up to 30 working days a year, unpaid (article 245).

08

School, medical checks, single parents, bereavement

• School visits: up to 4 working days a year for each child up to 18, in hours or whole days, without loss of pay and with the employer’s permission (article 240).
• Prenatal exams that must take place during working hours: time off without loss of pay, after informing the employer. Gynaecological check: one paid day a year (article 242).
• Widowed parents and unmarried parents with sole custody: 6 paid working days a year on top of other leave; 8 with three or more children (article 247).
• Death of a child: 20 paid days (article 246).
• Parents of a child with a disability, in a business with at least 50 people, may ask for one hour less work a day, with a proportional cut in pay (article 243).

09

Requests for flexible working

Parents of children up to 12 and carers with 6 months of work may ask, for care reasons, for teleworking, flexible hours or part-time work. The employer considers the request within one calendar month and justifies any refusal or postponement; when the arrangement is for a set period, the employee then returns to the original form of work (article 234).

10

Declaring leave to ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ΙΙ

Leave granted is declared to ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ΙΙ as a record, within the calendar month after the month it was granted: for each employee the dates, the number of days and the type of leave, and the hours for hourly leave (Ministerial Decision 32689/2025). Parental leave is posted in ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ΙΙ (article 231 §7).

11

Fines

Per employee concerned (Ministerial Decision 80016/2022, Annex II):

• €4,000 for not granting maternity leave, and €3,000 for not granting the special maternity protection leave.
• €3,000 for not granting paternity leave, parental leave or the child-care reduced hours.
• €3,000 for employing someone while they receive a ΔΥΠΑ allowance for parental leave or the special maternity benefit.
• €4,000 for dismissing a pregnant employee or a new father without serious cause, for dismissal because an employee asked for or took leave, and for not letting them return to the same or an equivalent job after leave.

12

Special leave and the shift schedule

• Ask early for the expected date of birth: maternity leave starts 8 weeks before, and paternity leave can start 2 days before.
• Parental leave is requested at least a month ahead — enough time to find cover.
• Child-care reduced hours change every day’s shift for 30 months: schedule the shorter shift and declare the new hours to ΕΡΓΑΝΗ before they apply.
• In 365shift the employee asks for leave from their phone or computer, and an administrator approves it or rejects it with a reason.
• In the schedule, write the leave with its own title — for example “ΑΔΕΙΑ ΓΑΜΟΥ”, “ΑΔΕΙΑ ΠΑΤΡΟΤΗΤΑΣ”, “ΓΟΝΙΚΗ ΑΔΕΙΑ”. Any title containing “ΑΔΕΙΑ” counts as leave, not work, for hours, rest and rules.
• With the ΕΡΓΑΝΗ add-on, titles that match one leave type without doubt — annual, sick, parental, maternity, paternity, marriage, blood-donation, unpaid, electoral — are declared to ΕΡΓΑΝΗ with their code when you submit the schedule. Anything that does not match one of them for certain — hourly leave, a child’s illness, the special maternity benefit, carer’s leave — is not sent: it is listed as not declared, for you to declare yourself.