Working time

Greece's first woman president who recently assumed office has chosen to make her first statement on the coronavirus crisis through Facebook.

Katerina Sakellaropoulou urged Greek citizens to meticulously abide by the instructions of experts and the state.

She particularly stressed the guideline that everyone who can should stay home and exit and move about only when necessary

Corporations in Greece are increasingly adopting solutions that allow for teleworking, video conferences and digital signatures while strengthening their cloud computing capacity, information technology sector professionals tell Kathimerini.

Acting Interior Minister Marcel Vela said on Monday night that interoffice memoranda will be sent to public and private institutions to have them explore the possibility of allowing employees to work from home.

The Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) fined a private company 15,000 euros Wednesday for illegally installing a closed-circuit camera network with which it monitored the workplace, even the cafeteria, without the knowledge of employees.

Employers are required to pay a minimum double remuneration to employees who work on an official holiday, such as today's December 25, recalled by the Executive agency "General Labor Inspectorate".

The holidays are December 24, 25, and 26, and January 1, 2020 for New Year's Eve.

Greece's Labor Ministry is planning to crack down on employers using old and new tricks in order to dodge inspections and get away with breaking labor regulations.
The ministry will not only target employers who haven't registered their employees but also those under-report the hours they work.

The Russian Ministry of Labor and Social Protection will discuss an experiment to introduce a four-day workweek in enterprises included in the national productivity enhancement project, "Izvestia" newspaper reported.

The publication quotes Peter Zaselsky, Deputy Minister of Economic Development.

Failure by individuals within the competent agencies of the state or local authority officials to send the required documents for the licensing of strategic investments within the given deadline will be punished with a minimum suspension of three months, according to the investment incentives bill that the Development Ministry has put up for consultation until Tuesday.

The leadership of the Labor Ministry is considering introducing an "exemption clause" for the obligatory implementation of a sector-specific collective labor contract for companies on the verge of shutting down. It is possible that such a regulation will be included in the draft law for investment incentives to be tabled in Parliament this week.

In Bulgaria, 41% of workers say working time is not in line with family and social commitments. On average, for the EU this share is about 22%. This is due to the fact that the different forms of employment are not widely spread in Bulgaria.