By Vangelis Dourakis

Time is counting down for the holidays Christmas and her New Year and most workers already wait for the specific days to rest. But there are also those who are forced to work during that time and if nothing else they “bet” that they will collect some more money as a fee. And so it is as the relevant predictions are clear.

This year, in fact, private sector workers will collect the Christmas bonus earlier than in other years. Regarding the pay for those days, the amounts that will be received by those who work will be increased.

And this is because Christmas and New Year’s holidays are mandatory holidays by law and are specifically considered as such: Wednesday, December 25, 2024 (Christmas), Thursday, December 26, 2024 (Monday), Wednesday, January 1, 2024 (New Year’s Day) and Monday, January 6, 2025 (Theophany).

What will be the remuneration of those who work?

On a mandatory holiday, the employment of workers and the operation of businesses, except for those that legally operate on Sundays and holidays, are prohibited.

Additional:

– It is not legal to set off a day of due rest (day off) with a mandatory holiday.

– Mandatory holidays are not included in the annual leave with pay.

So what about pay on statutory holidays?

1) For non-operating businesses.

In businesses that do not operate on Sundays and statutory holidays, the usual daily wage is paid without any additional charge to those who are paid by the day, while those who are paid by a salary, no additional remuneration is due, beyond their monthly salary.

Exceptionally, if work is provided to businesses, which are late on Sundays and public holidays and for an extraordinary reason operate, with the legal formalities, then for their full employment the employees who are paid a salary are entitled to an increase of 1/25 and those paid with daily wage, another one of their daily wages, on whose hourly wage the 75% increase will be calculated for working on a mandatory holiday.

2) For businesses that operate legally.

In businesses that operate legally on Sundays and
days of compulsory holiday, the employees who will
be employed are entitled to:

– if they are paid a daily wage, their usual daily wage and a 75% surcharge that will be calculated on their legal hourly wage for all the hours they work

– in the event that employees are paid a monthly salary, a 75% surcharge is due, calculated on their legal hourly wage for all the hours they work.

In the event that more favorable conditions apply (e.g. from SSE, Labor Regulation, business habit or custom) regarding the pay increases for work on a mandatory holiday or Sunday, these prevail.

When is the Christmas Gift paid – What happens in case of non-payment

The payment of the Christmas Gift this year will be made earlier than in other years, namely until the end of this week, i.e. Friday, December 20, 2024. The payment of the gift is made until December 21, but this year it falls on a Saturday, so the payment has been determined of for Friday.

In the event that the Christmas Gift is not paid on time, the employees and/or the unions can and must appeal to the relevant Labor Inspectorate in order to draw up a complaint.

The complaint is forwarded to the Public Prosecutor for individual prosecution against the employer, while at the same time it is also forwarded to the relevant police department for the initiation of the automatic procedure. Employees and/or their unions have the right to file a complaint directly with the relevant police department and request the application of the automatic procedure.

Please note that the petition should include the employer’s business and residential details, if possible, since the auto-forfeiture process takes up to 48 hours.

In any case of non-payment of the Christmas Gift, within the set deadline, the Labor Inspectors have an obligation to intervene immediately, carrying out checks and
are fully prepared for the exercise of the self-imposed procedure and the imposition of the relevant sanctions.

Employees can make named or anonymous complaints to the single service line 1555 or to the online anonymous complaint submission service of the Labor Inspectorate or by sending a message via e-mail (email) to the Inspection Department of their place of work.