Sick leave in Greece: how many days the employer pays, the first 3 days and ΕΦΚΑ

02

How many days the employer pays

An employee keeps the right to their pay if, after working at least ten days, they are prevented from working by a serious reason that is not their fault (Civil Code, article 657). Illness is such a reason (Labour Inspectorate).

• Up to one month’s pay if the illness started at least a year after the contract began; up to half a month in any other case (Civil Code, article 658). In practice: 15 days in the first year, one month in later years (Labour Inspectorate).
• The year runs from the hiring date to the same date the next year — the “working year” — and each new working year restores the right to up to one month (Labour Inspectorate).
• The right exists even if the employer terminates the contract because the illness gave it that right (Civil Code, article 658).

03

The first three days and the ΕΦΚΑ benefit

• For the first three days of the illness the employer pays half the daily wage or the corresponding salary (Law 178/1967, article 5, as applied by the Labour Inspectorate).
• For the rest of the period the employer pays the wages and may deduct whatever the employee received for the same reason from compulsory insurance — the sickness benefit (Civil Code, article 657).

04

When an illness is “short” — and what that means for the contract

Absence because of a relatively short illness is not treated as the employee ending the contract (Labour Code, article 349). A short illness is one that lasts:

• up to 1 month, for those with up to 4 years’ service;
• up to 3 months, for more than 4 and up to 10 years;
• up to 4 months, for more than 10 and up to 15 years;
• up to 6 months, for more than 15 years (Labour Code, article 349).

05

Can an employer dismiss someone who is off sick?

Dismissal during an illness is not prohibited unless special provisions or the individual contract say otherwise — provided the legal formalities are followed, severance is paid and it is not an abuse of right (Labour Inspectorate, citing Civil Code article 281). Pay for the period under article 658 is still owed.

06

Rest days and annual leave

• Rest days: an illness does not change the usual order of rest days. When the employee returns, they get their scheduled rest day as if the illness had not happened (Labour Inspectorate).
• Annual leave: days of short illness count as time actually worked and are not taken off annual leave. If the illness goes beyond the short-illness limits, the extra days may be set against leave days — but not against leave pay or the leave allowance (Labour Inspectorate).

07

When a child or another family member is ill

• Unpaid leave of up to 6 working days a year for the illness of dependent children or family members; 8 if the parent looks after two children and 14 if more. It can be taken at once or in parts (Labour Code, article 244).
• Dependants include children up to 16 and a spouse who cannot look after themselves because of illness or disability, among others (Labour Code, article 244).
• Special paid leave of 10 working days a year for children up to 18 with the serious conditions the law lists, and unpaid hospitalisation leave of up to 30 working days a year when a child is in hospital (Labour Code, article 245).

08

On the roster and in ΕΡΓΑΝΗ

Leave is declared to ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ΙΙ after the fact, within the calendar month after the month it was taken (Ministerial Decision 40331/Δ1.13521/2019).

• In 365shift, the “Shift type” list has a ready-made «ΑΝΑΡΡΩΤΙΚΗ ΑΔΕΙΑ» (sick leave), placed on the roster like a day off.
• With the ΕΡΓΑΝΗ module, «ΑΝΑΡΡΩΤΙΚΗ ΑΔΕΙΑ» is declared with code ΑΔΑΣ in the leave declaration. A child’s illness has a different ΕΡΓΑΝΗ code and is not declared automatically: it is shown for an administrator to handle.
• In Leave, each employee’s statistics count the sick-leave days of the year separately from annual leave.