Six-day working in 24-hour businesses and digital cards in industry and retail went into effect on July 1.

Specifically, the possibility to declare and apply six-day work to businesses that by their nature are continuously operating, as well as to those already operating on a 24-hour basis, 5 or 6 days a week, is effective from Monday, July 1.

The work of employees in retail stores, banks and others will not be affected.

Labor consultant Vassilis Prassas spoke to “Κοινωνia Ora MEGA” and provided necessary clarifications.

“Tourism and catering in principle are excluded because there is a special provision in their collective agreements, which allows in periods of high intensity and workload, to have a 6th working day with one detail: that the 6th day is paid extra and has no surcharge. This provision, which has stirred up a wave of opposition, mainly concerns industries that operate continuously or 24/7, or 24 by 5 and allows the employer to set a 6th working day which has two divisions: the first is that it is compulsory with the employee not being able to refuse. To clarify that this 6th day is additional work, which sets an additional 40% pay. It is not an obligation of the employer to notify the employee in advance, he has the right to set it if there is a workload,” Prassas said.

What happens if the employee refuses?

According to Prassa, no one is touching this “hot potato.” The law does not give the employee the right to refuse and the burden of justifying the refusal will fall on the employee.

The six-day job

Employers in so-called continuous flow industries have the right to unilaterally ask their employees to work the 6th day of the week, with extra pay but forfeiting one of their two days off.

The possibility of working six days was introduced by articles 25 and 26 of Law 5053/2023 in order to cover the great shortages of human resources in certain sectors of the economy, which inevitably lead to the utilization of existing human resources, to work extra hours in order to have the shifts covered.

This is a way to combat undeclared overtime that might have been done in continuous operations, while increasing the income of workers who work the 6th day, since their pay for that day will be increased by 40%.

If the 6th day coincides with a Sunday or a public holiday, the employee is entitled to have his/her daily wage increased by 115% (40% of the 6th day’s increment plus 75% for working on Sunday/holiday), an increment that can potentially exceed 115% in case of working at night hours for which an additional 25% increment applies.

Who is affected

The six-day work option applies exclusively to:

Continuous operations by nature, which operate all days of the week on a 24-hour basis on a rotating shift system and which implement a five-day workweek system for their employees; and
Non-continuous operation enterprises operating 5 or 6 days a week on a 24-hour basis with alternating shifts and applying a five-day working week for their employees, in the event of an increased workload, with an obligation to make a declaration in the ERGANI.

It will not be applied to PSUs, the public sector and banks, while tourism and catering are exempt from regulation.

Employment in this case may not exceed 8 hours per day, while the protection limits for workers regarding 11 hours of mandatory daily rest, mandatory 24-hour weekly rest (1 day off) and the maintenance of an average weekly working time of 48 hours (including overtime) over a reference period of 4 months are fully maintained.

Employers who make use of the 6-day working period are required to enter the details of the working time limits of their employees who will work on the 6th day in the declaration on the organisation of working time in the PES ERGANI before the employees take up duty. The possibility of pre-declaration of this measure has already been implemented.

Digital working card

As the Ministry of Labour points out, the introduction of these provisions does not in any way imply the abolition of the five-day working system established and applied in each company. It is an exceptional condition that comes to cover an emergency need that must be met by qualified personnel and there is no corresponding offer for this period.

At the same time, with a circular issued by the General Secretariat for Labour Relations, the Digital Labour Card measure is compulsorily applied from July 1 in the Industry and Retail sector as well.

The Card is already being successfully applied to workers employed in banks, large supermarkets, insurance companies, security companies and public utilities.

The implementation of the Digital Work Card aims to fully safeguard the rights of employees, while the ERGANI II information system will allow the registration of any modifications to working hours and overtime.

Now Law 5053/2023 gives the opportunity to companies/employers who wish to do so, to make use of the possibility of adopting an accounting system for the registration of changes in working hours, organisation of working time and overtime for their employees.

Terms and conditions for six-day work

Six-day working – under certain conditions – may also be applied by employers of enterprises or farms which are not by nature continuous in operation, but which may operate on Monday to Saturday for 24 hours on a 24-hour shift system and in which employees are employed on a five-day working week. This is in order to cope with unforeseen particularly heavy workloads.

In order to implement the six-day workweek, the following conditions must be met:

– They must have initially and responsibly declared in the ERGANI II system that they belong to this category of enterprises. Declare, each time they wish to make use of the 6th day, in advance and in any case before the employees take up duty, in the ERP II system, that the undertaking or holding has a particularly heavy workload during a given period;

The special condition of unforeseeably particularly increased workload is subject to control by the competent department of the Labour Inspectorate.

– Workers may not work more than eight hours during the additional day. Overtime and overtime work by the employee is not permitted on this day.

In case the employment coincides with a Sunday or a holiday, the employee will receive in addition to 40% and the 75% increment, i.e. a total additional 115%. Employment on the 6th day within the same week does not grant a weekly rest day (day off) unless it coincides with an exception day.

In cases where businesses or farms have five-day night shifts (00.00-06.00), no sixth day of employment during the night shift shall be allowed for any reason.

6-day work: is the 5-day abolished?

Technically it is as the employee cannot refuse it

Of course, this day is additional work with additional pay

6-day work: Is it mandatory? Is it compulsory?

Since the employee cannot refuse it, it is.
Until 30/6 it was illegal, paid with a 30% increase and not compulsory
Since 1/7 it is legal and compulsory and is paid with a 40% surcharge

Note: In food service and tourism there is no surcharge