This year Greece will introduce a digital working hour system and implement electronic work cards for employees.

Digital working time system

From 1 January 2020 the new Greek digital working hour system and the use of electronic work cards will be inaugurated. This measure seeks to keep a complete record of working hours as well as changes in real time for all employees employed in a company. The use of e-card aims at minimising undeclared and uninsured work, as well as types of falsely declared part-time work. In particular, overtime and overworking will be recorded and the Ministry of Labour's ERGANI II information system will be electronically updated in real time.

'E-cards' for employees

On 1 March 2020 a pilot scheme defined by Ministerial Decision for the use of e-cards will start in selected companies and by the end of 2020 it will become mandatory for all private sector businesses. This electronic system will record the time of arrival and departure of employees at real time. This data will be recorded in an electronic Personnel Clock (timekeeping) and will be automatically transmitted to the ERGANI II system, where it will be crosschecked with the data reported by  employers. This will prevent employers from acting arbitrarily, and in particular breaching the rules on daily working hours. More precisely, any overwork and overtime performed will be compensated with a proportionate increase in remuneration by the employer, regardless of any contradictory statements the employer may have made regarding working hours or payment.

A scientific working group that has already been set up to study proposals from the Greek social partners aims at establishing a system that will operate in conjunction with other critical State databases, such as EFKA (social security organisation) and AADE (tax authorities). Lastly, a proposed Ministerial Decision seeks to control the labour market as well as to protect the rights of employees effectively against any illegal conduct by employers.

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