Every country has laws in place to protect workers from harm and ensure they are treated fairly in the workplace. Employers hiring in Greece need to be aware of these rules to maintain compliance and create a safe, respectful environment for their teams.
In this section, we explore key areas of employee protections in Greece, including whistleblower rights, data protection responsibilities, and limits on workplace monitoring. We also explain the rules around equal treatment for temporary agency workers and the safeguards in place to ensure their fair treatment.
Finally, we examine anti-discrimination and harassment laws, employer duties to prevent unfair treatment, and the principles of pay equity. We also highlight upcoming obligations under the EU Pay Transparency Directive that employers in Greece will need to prepare for.
Whistleblowers play an important role in society by calling out wrongdoing that they witness in the workplace. For this reason, many countries have put in place specific legislation to facilitate whistleblowing and protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Read on to find out what you need to know as an employer in Greece.
Greece’s whistleblowing law is Law No. 4990/2022, which came into effect on 11 November 2022, implementing the EU Whistleblowing Directive. Under this law, companies with 50 or more employees are required to set up whistleblowing channels for their employees.
This also applies to all employees in certain sensitive sectors, regardless of their headcount. For example, all employers in financial services, products and markets, transport, and the environment are required to set up whistleblowing channels. Under Greece’s whistleblowing law, employees must be able to submit reports either in writing, verbally, or via an electronic platform.
Greece’s whistleblowing law only covers certain disclosures. These include breaches of EU or national law in the following areas:
While whistleblowers are usually employees, they may also be other individuals who have witnessed wrongdoing in the course of their work. For example, this might include:
The law also prohibits any form of retaliation against whistleblowers. This includes dismissal and any other negative actions against the employee, such as demotion, denying promotion, disciplinary action, changes of working conditions, etc. If a whistleblower suffers any type of retaliation in response to their whistleblowing, the action is considered null and void under Greece’s whistleblowing law.
Processing employees’ personal data is generally required as part of the employment relationship — and employers have a responsibility to keep that data safe and secure. For this reason, Greece has strict data protection laws, which employers must be aware of.
Greece’s data protection laws are based on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which applies across the EU. The main pieces of local legislation concerning data protection are:
These are supplemented by other national laws that include provisions for companies in specific sectors and for specific types of personal data processing. The authority responsible for overseeing data protection in Greece is the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA).
Employers in Greece must ensure they have a solid legal basis for processing employee data. It’s important to note that, in the employment context, consent may not be considered a valid ground for data processing because of the imbalance of power inherent in the employment relationship.
Employers in Greece should also follow the below best practices:
Employee monitoring and surveillance in Greece is strictly controlled under Greek data protection laws. For example, while CCTV may be used in the workplace, it can only be for the purposes of protecting people and property, not monitoring employees. CCTV surveillance of workstations, corridors, eating areas, and toilets is strictly prohibited. While there are some limited exceptions, employers wishing to use CCTV in this way must carry out a strict proportionality assessment before implementing such a system.
Employers that require additional staffing for a short period can source workers through a temporary work agency. However, there are specific rules and limitations that apply to this arrangement in Greece, which employers should be aware of.
Agencies that hire and lease out employees in Greece must have a specific administrative authorisation under the requirements of EU Directive 2008/104/EC on temporary agency work. Employers are hired directly by agencies and then assigned to user companies to perform work under their supervision and direction.
Temporary agency workers in Greece are entitled to equal treatment with directly employed workers in terms of pay, working hours, overtime, breaks, rest periods, night work, public holidays, and other working conditions.
Under the requirements of the EU directive and Greek labour law, temporary agency workers in Greece also benefit from the following rights and protections:
The Greek Constitution and several other key pieces of legislation offer employees protection from discrimination and harassment in Greece. Under these laws, employers have a responsibility to protect their employees from discriminatory treatment.
Anti-discrimination laws in Greece
In addition to the Greek Constitution, the following laws provide protections from discrimination for employees in Greece:
These laws prohibit both direct and indirect discrimination in all aspects of employment, including:
Under Greek discrimination law, employers in Greece may not treat employees differently on the basis of any of the following characteristics:
Harassment, including sexual harassment, is explicitly prohibited under Greek labour laws. Harassment is defined as unwanted conduct with the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic is a form of discrimination.
Employers in Greece have a responsibility for preventing harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Employees who believe they have been subjected to discrimination or harassment can file complaints with:
Legal remedies may include reinstatement, compensation for damages, and sanctions against the employer. Employers are explicitly prohibited from retaliating against an employee for filing a discrimination complaint, for example by dismissing them or refusing them a promotion.
The Constitution of Greece guarantees all employees the right to equal pay for work of equal value, regardless of their sex or any other characteristic. This is reinforced by Law 3896/2010, which implemented the EU Equal Treatment Directive.
Upcoming pay transparency measures in Greece
In 2023, the EU passed a new directive on pay transparency, which will come into effect across Europe by June 2026. This will introduce several new responsibilities for employers related to pay transparency and pay equity, including:
Greek employers should begin preparing for these requirements now to ensure they’re ready to comply by the time the new pay equity laws are introduced in Greece.
Understanding what you can and can’t do as an employer is one of the biggest challenges of hiring in Greece. Get it wrong, and you could face legal action and damage to your reputation.
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