A new employment law was voted by the Parliament on the 22nd of September 2023, changing significantly the existing regime through the integration of the Directive (EU) 2019/ 1152 as well as with the addition of new provisions.

The main new rules are summarized below:

Trial period
A six-month trial period may be agreed between the employer and the employee upon conclusion of an indefinite -term labor agreement.

In the case of fixed -term agreements the trial period may not exceed 1/4 of the total term of the employment with a cap of 6 months.

Employees’ information
The employer must inform in writing the employee about the working terms either through a document or electronically as below:

• Within one week from the start of the employment the employer should communicate the identity of the parties, the work place, the position, the starting date, the duration, the remuneration and the working hours.
  
  
• Within one month from the hiring the employer should inform the employee about the terms concerning the termination, the applicable Collective Employment Agreement and the Social Security Fund.

Parallel employment
Any agreements or clauses prohibiting the employee to work for other employers outside the agreed working hours with the specific employer are invalid, unless justified by an objective ground e.g. health and safety, protection of company’s confidential information etc.

In case of parallel social security coverage or multiple payment of contributions the salary which will be taken into account for the pension is increased.

The parallel employment is permitted with the reservation of the applicable provisions for working hours and rest of employees.

Any adverse treatment of an employee by the employer due to the provision of work to other employers is prohibited.

A future Ministerial Decision will regulate the details for implementing the above rule.

ERGANI issues
a)  Upload of working terms
The employer should upload in ERGANI system the working terms, prior to the commencement of employment as well as any future amendment.

b)    Registration of working hours changes and overtimes
Employers who have adopted the digital employment card may avoid the obligation to register changes of working hours and overtimes prior to the commencement of said changes/ overtimes.

Work on the sixth day of the week
Work on the sixth day of the week will be, exceptionally, lawful:
•    In the case of companies operating non-stop and with an alternating shifts system on a five days weekly schedule and
•    In the case of companies, which operate five days a week and could potentially operate from Monday through Saturday for 24 hours with alternating shifts, when the said companies experience extreme workload.

In both cases the employment on the sixth day may not exceed 8 hours, it will remunerated with the daily wage increased by 40% and this work should be registered in advance with the ERGANI system.

Prior service benefit
Any prior service of an employee hired before 14.2.2012 and accumulated up to the said date will continue to increase and be taken into account for the related benefit as of 1.1.2024.

The prior service of an employee hired after 14.2.2012 will start to be taken into account for the relevant benefit as of 1.1.2024.


Download the Tax-i in pdf here.