As employee within the reduced employment scheme, is the employee considered with a contract or an employment relation in which the working hours calculated on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis are less than the normal working hours (Article 2 of Law 3846/2010), in our country these are 8 hours per day / 40 hours per week (as determined by the collective employment agreement in the year 1984).

There are various forms of reduced employment such as:

a) part time work of a defined or undefined duration, of less working hours than the regular daily or weekly or bi-weekly or monthly working hours.

b) Employment on a rotation basis for fewer days a week, or less weeks a month, or less months a year and a combination of the aforementioned with full time daily working hours.

In the first case the contract of part time employment can be agreed during the employment process of the employee or during the employment relationship. In any case this needs to be done in a written form and in an individual contract.

In the second case the employer can, instead of proceeding to dismissals of working employments, in case his activities will be reduced, unilaterally impose an employment rotation system in his company, the duration of which may not exceed nine months in the same calendar year.

In order for the employer to impose unilaterally an employment rotation system in his company, he has first to inform and consult with either the employers themselves or their legal representatives, when the number of the employees exceeds the 50 when there is a trade union or 20 people if there is no trade union, Law.1767 / 1988 (Government Gazette 63 / A / 88).

These employees’ representatives can be:

a) the representatives of the trade union of the company,

b) the employees council,

c) in case there is no trade union or an employees’ council, the information and the consultation will take place with the total number of the employees.

If the employer does not include in this measure the whole staff, but only a part of it, he has to inform the representatives of the employees about the number of employees concerned, and explain the reason for selecting the specific employees or departments of the company.

The notification of the part-time and rotation employment should be submitted to the Labor Inspection Authority within 8 days from its preparation.

A termination of the contract due to non-acceptance of the employer’s proposal for part-time work from the employee is invalid.

If the part time work has been defined on a daily schedule of less working hours than normal, the submission of the agreed work of the part time employees must be continuous and offered once a day.