Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2025, Publicación: 114ª reunión CIT (2026)

Convenio sobre las horas de trabajo (industria), 1919 (núm. 1) - Grecia (Ratificación : 1920)

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The Committee notes the observations of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE), received on 29 August 2024.

Legislative developments. The Committee notes the adoption of Law No. 4808/2021 on Labour Protection and Presidential Decree No. 62/2025 giving effect to a new Code of Labour Law, which codifies previously applicable legislation. It further notes that the Code of Labour Law was amended through Law No. 5239/2025, adopted in October 2025.

Articles 2(c), 4 and 5 of the Convention. Variable distribution of normal hours of work over periods longer than a week. Circumstances and limits. The Committee notes that the Code of Labour Law provides that: (i) the weekly working time of employees may not exceed 48 hours on average, including overtime, over a period of no more than four months (section 174); and (ii) a system of annualized hours is authorized (section 202), which provides that for periods lasting between one week and 12 months, employees may work up to ten hours per day, provided that the hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week and up to 48 hours on average are deducted from the working hours in another equivalent period. The Committee also notes that according to section 189(2) of the Code of Labour Law, in the context of the arrangement of working time referred to in section 202, full-time employment shall also mean working four days per week. In this respect, the Committee notes that in its observations, the GSEE indicates that the possibility of a four-day working week has been introduced without reducing the total working hours, allowing 40 hours to be spread over four days.

The Committee observes that none of the above provisions sets any precise circumstances for resorting to averaging of working hours. In this respect, the Committee recalls that: (i) the averaging of hours of work in general is authorized in the Convention only over a reference period of one week, and provided that a daily limit of nine hours is required (Article 2(b)); and (ii) in all the other cases in which the averaging of working hours is allowed over reference periods longer than a week, the circumstances are clearly specified, as follows:

(i) in case of shift work, it shall be permissible to employ persons in excess of 8 hours in any one day and 48 hours in any one week, if the average number of hours over a period of three weeks or less does not exceed 8 per day and 48 per week (Article 2(c));

(ii) in those processes which are required by reason of the nature of the process to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts, the daily and weekly limit of hours of work may be exceeded subject to the condition that the working hours shall not exceed 56 in the week on the average (Article 4); and

(iii) in exceptional cases where it is recognized that the limits of 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week cannot be applied, agreements between workers’ and employers’ organizations may fix a longer daily limit of works, provided that the average number of hours worked per week, over the number of weeks covered by any such agreement, shall not exceed 48 (Article 5).

The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the above provisions into conformity with the requirements of the Convention.

Articles 3 and 6. Exceptions to normal hours of work. Circumstances and limits on the number of additional hours. The Committee notes that under section 194(1) of the Code of Labour Law, the weekly working time may be increased from 40 hours to 45 for those working five days and until 48 for those working six days. The Government indicates that these hours do not count as overtime but fall under the concept of “overwork”. The Committee notes that under section 194(2) and (3) of the Code of Labour Law, work beyond 45 hours per week over a five-day week and beyond 48 over a six-day week is authorized, as long as it follows the procedures and formalities set by law. It also notes that under section 194(4) of the Code of Labour Law, the maximum limit of this overtime is 150 hours per year and four hours per day. In this respect, the Committee observes that: (i) as a result, an employee may work up to 13 hours per day (eight normal working hours, one hour of “overwork” and four hours of overtime); and (ii) with regards to “exceptional overtime” (overtime that is not approved through the formalities and procedures provided for in the law), no maximum limits and circumstances are set. The Committee also notes that in its observations, the GSEE indicates that Law No. 4808/2021 increased overtime limits from 120 to 150 hours per year, with the possibility of further increases through Ministerial Decisions (section 58 of the Code of Labour Law).

In this regard, the Committee recalls the fundamental importance of prescribing clear statutory limits for additional hours of work and of keeping the number of additional hours allowed within reasonable limits that take into account both the health and well-being of workers, and the employers’ productivity needs (2018 General Survey on working-time instruments, paras 151 and 179). It also recalls that temporary exceptions to normal hours of work are authorized in the Convention in very limited and well-circumscribed cases. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to define the exceptional circumstances under which normal hours of work may be increased in industrial establishments and to set clear statutory limits for overtime in accordance with the Convention.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.