The collective agreement of 14.2.1984 reduced the working week to 40 hours. Employees may work up to 48 hours a week, without any need for special permission, and be paid a 25% premium for every extra hour over 40 hours. An employee may only work more than 48 hours a week and up to a total of 35 hours overtime in a six-month period (there are a few exceptions of 50 hours overtime every six months) after receiving permission from the local office of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Such employment is considered as working overtime and is paid, according to Law 435/76, at premium rates as follows:
- every extra hour over 120 hours: 75%.
Any employment over the above-mentioned limits is considered unlawful and is subject to sanctions.
The National Framework Agreement was confirmed by § 50 of Law 2224/94, Art. 5 of which raises leave entitlement for the purpose of taking examinations to 20 days for school-goers and students aged under 25 who attend an educational establishment of any kind and at any level and are employed within the public sector or in an enterprise assigned to the public sector. The leave entitlement can be taken as a block or in single days. § 9 of Law 2224/94 has set the total duration of maternity leave at 16 weeks. The maternity allowances provided by the social insurance institutions will be paid as previously and extended to cover the sixteenth week.
Art. 7 of the 1997 National Framework Agreement raised holiday leave to 30 days for school-goers and students of public or publicly authorised training establishments of every type and level who are under 29 years and who are obliged to take leave from their job in order to sit examinations.
Presidential Decree 88/99 has integrated EEC Directive 93/104 ("Minimum regulations on working-time organisation") into national law. § 3 of Law 2639/98 has substituted § 41 of Law 1892/92 ("Regulations on working time") within the framework laid down by EEC Directive 93/104.
Article 5 of the National Framework Agreement 1998-1999 stipulates that workers who have been employed by the same employer for 15 years or have been employed for 17 years by one or more employers are entitled to five weeks' holiday leave (30 working days) if they work six days a week, or to 25 days' holiday leave if they work a five-day week. The requirements concerning entitlement to standard holiday leave have been reduced as of 1.1.1999 from 15 to 12 years and from 17 to 14 years.
According to Article 6 of the National Framework Agreement (EGSSE) 1998-1999, the leave granted for sitting examinations under the terms of § 2 of Law 1346/83, as amended by Article 7 of the National Framework Agreement 1996, is also granted to workers aged 28 or over, however only for up to two years beyond the recognised duration of the studies in question and regardless of whether they have interrupted their studies or not.
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