Clarifications regarding the granting special leave of absence with wages to employees of the private sector, in order to exercise the right to vote (YA 46445/Government Gazette B΄2989/6-5-2023), is provided by the General Confederation of Greek Workers, with the Confederation’s Workers & Unemployed Information Center (KE. P.E.A./GSEE).

Specifically, as stated in the relevant announcement, the following apply:

1. All industrial, craft and commercial enterprises, holdings and operations of the private sector, as well as those that generally employ staff and belong to the private sector, are obliged to grant their staff a special leave of absence with remuneration to facilitate the exercise of their right to vote, during the parliamentary elections of 21 May 2023.

2. The number of leave days, granted for this purpose and covering the absolutely necessary time for the workers to go to the place of exercising their right to vote and their return from it, is determined as follows:

A. For employees for which a regime applies five-day work week:

i) Those who move, in order to exercise their right to vote, at a distance of 200-400 kilometers, are granted a leave of one working day.

ii) To those who travel a distance of 401 kilometers or more, a two working day permit is granted, as long as they travel entirely by road, based on their responsible declaration.

iii) For those who travel to and from islands, for which there is no road access, the number of days of leave granted will be considered on a case-by-case basis, depending on the distance and the special conditions of travel, without, however, the leave in the cases these to exceed three working days.

B. For employees for which a regime applies six-day work week:

i) Those who move, in order to exercise their right to vote, at a distance of 100-200 kilometers, are granted a leave of one working day.

ii) For those who move 201-400 kilometers away, two working days leave is granted.

iii) To those who travel a distance of 401 kilometers or more, a permit of three working days is granted, as long as they travel entirely by road, based on their responsible declaration.

iv) For those who travel to and from islands, for which there is no road access, the number of days of leave granted will be considered on a case-by-case basis, depending on the distance and the special conditions of travel, without, however, the leave in the cases these to exceed three working days.

C. The above also applies to the granting of a special leave of absence with pay to staff with a private law employment relationship of the State, NPDD, OTAs, as well as to the staff of other legal entities in the public sector of any category, branch and employment relationship ( Ministry of Interior circular DIDAD/F.18.33/2632/oik.7623/28-4-2023).

It is noted that:

1) For those employees, who must move, based on the above, to exercise their right to vote, Sunday May 21, 2023 (voting date) is a working day, then this is considered a special paid leave of absence day , in addition to those defined above.

2) The special leave of absence for the exercise of the right to vote is not offset against the annual paid leave (leisure leave).

3) With the circular of the Ministry of Labor dated 24/5/2019 and protocol number 23400/662, clarifications are given regarding the existence of an important reason for abstaining from work, due to the call and participation of an employee in an electoral committee for the conduct of elections.

In particular, “the participation of an employee as a member of an electoral committee, following a summons by a public authority, constitutes the performance of a legally mandatory duty and, therefore, constitutes an important reason for abstaining from work, on the day of the voting, dealt with in accordance with the articles 657-658 of the civil code. Further and, taking into account the time required for the performance of the duties of a member of the electoral committee, which cannot be precisely determined in advance, the employee’s absence from work and during the day following the conduct of the vote, if it is connected with the performance of the above tasks, constitutes an important reason for abstaining from work and is dealt with similarly, according to articles 657-658 of the civil code”.