New regulations on fixed-term contracts in private sector

Download article in original language : GR0410101NEL.DOC

In August 2004, the Greek government issued a new Presidential Decree (PD) on fixed-term contract workers in the private sector. It makes significant changes to the previous legislative framework.

On 23 August 2004, Presidential Decree (PD) No. 180/2004 relating to 'regulations for fixed-term contract workers in the private sector' was signed. It introduces significant amendments to PD No. 81/2003 on 'regulations regarding workers with fixed-term contracts' (GR0306102N), in an effort to lay down regulations that will more fully harmonise national law with the 1999 EU fixed-term contracts Directive(1999/70/EC) (EU9905170F).

PD 81/2003 laid down uniform regulations for workers under fixed-term contracts across both the private and the public sectors, whereas the government's new regulatory framework tackles the issue in a different way, by issuing two separate legislative texts, PD 164/2004 on fixed-term employment relationships in the public sector (GR0405102F), and PD 180/2004 on fixed-term contracts in the private sector.

The basic principles governing PD 180/2004 are as follows:

• workers may be employed on fixed-term contracts to meet standing, permanent needs of the enterprise (Article 3);

• workers on fixed-term contracts must have completed 24 months of actual employment or three successive renewals of their initial fixed-term contract in order to be considered as having an open-ended contract (Article 3);

• for a fixed-term employment contract to be renewed, the time since expiry of the previous contract may not exceed three months in public utilities and services and 45 days in the rest of the private sector (Article 3);

• to be covered by the PD's provisions on conversion into open-ended contracts, the employment relationship of workers under fixed-term employment contracts must have been in effect on the date the PD was issued, or have expired within the three months preceding that date (Article 4).

The new regulations lengthen the interval between two successive employment contracts from 30 working days, as provided for in PD 81/2003, to 45 days. The exemptions that prevented certain categories of workers from converting fixed-term contracts into contracts of indefinite duration have been abolished, except for special conditions relating to air transport companies, which have been retained. The previous precondition of objective reasons for renewal of fixed-term employment contracts has also been restricted substantially. Therefore in order to convert 'wrongful' successive fixed-term employment relationships into open-ended ones, such contracts must meet standing, permanent needs of the enterprise and fulfil the formal preconditions set by the PD, without there being a need for numerous objective reasons.

The Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) has expressed reservations about the new regulations. In its estimation, they are an improvement over the previous legislative framework, but a large number of workers under fixed-term contracts in the private sector remain unaffected by their provisions.