The dismissal of an employee is possible, either with, or without notice.
The calculation of the severance pay is based on the regular earnings, which the employee (Employee or Worker) received in the last months of his/her employment (Article 5, Paragraph 1, Law 3198/55).
As regular earnings are the Salary and any king of benefits in kind or money considered, which are paid on a regular and permanent basis.
For the calculation of the severance pay, the holiday bonus and the leave allowances do count, which increase the monthly salary or wage by 1/6.
We would like to point out that for the calculation of the severance pay amount, the regular earnings are taken into consideration, however not those of the last month, more specifically, by the amount those exceed eight times the daily wage of an unskilled worker, multiplied with the number 30 (Law 3198/1955, par.1 of article 5).
The severance pay has to be paid immediately, together with the delivery of the document of the employment contract termination of the employee in order for the dismissal to be valid.
If the contract termination takes place with a notice, the employer is obliged to submit a document to the employee, which states that, the employment contract will terminate when the notice period, which is foreseen by the law, is over. The date, the notice period will be over, has to be exactly defined. In this case, that means in the case of the dismissal with notice, the employer has the obligation, on the date which has been defined as the contact termination date (dismissal day), to pay half of the legal severance pay.
SUMMARY TABLE OF SEVERANCE PAY
(LAW 2112/1920, LAW 3198/55, LAW 3899/2010 & LAW 4093/2012)
| Dismissal without notice | Dismissal with notice | |||||||
|
Years of service (at the same employer) |
EligiblegrossSalaries (+ 1 / 6) |
Notice period |
EligiblegrossSalaries (+ 1 / 6) |
|||||
| 0 | to | 1 | year | 0 | Salaries | |||
| 1 | to | 2 | years | 2 | Salaries | 1 month | 1 | Salaries |
| 2 | to | 4 | years | 2 | Salaries | 2 months | 1 | Salaries |
| 4 | to | 5 | years | 3 | Salaries | 2 months | 1,5 | Salaries |
| 5 | to | 6 | years | 3 | Salaries | 3 months | 1,5 | Salaries |
| 6 | to | 8 | years | 4 | Salaries | 3 months | 2 | Salaries |
| 8 | to | 10 | years | 5 | Salaries | 3 months | 2,5 | Salaries |
| 10 | to | 11 | years | 6 | Salaries | 4 months | 3 | Salaries |
| 11 | to | 12 | years | 7 | Salaries | 4 months | 3,5 | Salaries |
| 12 | to | 13 | years | 8 | Salaries | 4 months | 4 | Salaries |
| 13 | to | 14 | years | 9 | Salaries | 4 months | 4,5 | Salaries |
| 14 | to | 15 | years | 10 | Salaries | 4 months | 5 | Salaries |
| 15 | to | 16 | years | 11 | Salaries | 4 months | 5,5 | Salaries |
| 16 | to | 17 | years | 12 | Salaries | 4 months | 6 | Salaries |
| 17 | to | 18 | years | 13 | Salaries | 4 months | 6,5 | Salaries |
| 18 | to | 19 | years | 14 | Salaries | 4 months | 7 | Salaries |
| 19 | to | 20 | years | 15 | Salaries | 4 months | 7,5 | Salaries |
| 20 | to | 21 | years | 16 | Salaries | 4 months | 8 | Salaries |
| 21 | to | 22 | years | 17 | Salaries | 4 months | 8,5 | Salaries |
| 22 | to | 23 | years | 18 | Salaries | 4 months | 9 | Salaries |
| 23 | to | 24 | years | 19 | Salaries | 4 months | 9,5 | Salaries |
| 24 | to | 25 | years | 20 | Salaries | 4 months | 10 | Salaries |
| 25 | to | 26 | years | 21 | Salaries | 4 months | 10,5 | Salaries |
| 26 | to | 27 | years | 22 | Salaries | 4 months | 11 | Salaries |
| 27 | to | 28 | years | 23 | Salaries | 4 months | 11,5 | Salaries |
| 28 | to | above | years | 24 | Salaries | 4 months | 12 | Salaries |
The private employees in a depending working relation of indefinite time, who on the 12.11.2012, the date the Law 4093/2012 has been published, have completed seventeen years (17) of employment and even more at the same employer, as it can been seen on the above table, except the foreseen severance pay, in case of their contract termination, whenever they are going to be dismissed, are entitled to an extra compensation which increases by one monthly salary for each extra year of service (until 12 monthly salaries extra). That means that the service period which is considered for the calculation of the above mentioned severance pay, is that time considered in which the employee worked for the same employer on the 12.11.2012, the date the Law 4093/2012 has been published, independent of when the employee will be dismissed.
We point out, that the calculation of this extra severance pay is made on the base of the regular income of the last month, before the contract has been terminated, in full time employment, without taking into consideration the amount which exceeds the two thousand (2.000,00) euro, as long as the monthly paid earnings exceed this amount.
| WORKERS | |||||
| Years of service (at the same employer) | Eligible gross wages (+ 1 / 6) | ||||
| 0 | To | 1 | Years | 0 | Daily wages |
| 1 | To | 2 | Years | 7 | Daily wages |
| 2 | To | 5 | Years | 15 | Daily wages |
| 5 | To | 10 | Years | 30 | Daily wages |
| 10 | To | 15 | Years | 60 | Daily wages |
| 15 | To | 20 | Years | 100 | Daily wages |
| 20 | To | 25 | Years | 120 | Daily wages |
| 25 | To | 30 | Years | 145 | Daily wages |
| 30 | and | Above | Years | 165 | Daily wages |
In case of workers – technicians a dismissal notice is not allowed
Compensation for retirement
The compensation for retirement reasons is calculated in the same way as the severance pay. That means that the regular earnings of the last month of a full time employment before the employment termination are taken under consideration.
Employees and workers - technicians if they fulfill the retirement conditions they can leave their work by taking 50% of the severance pay. If a supplementary insurance exists, then they take 40% of the eligible compensation.
Compensation of employees receiving a lump sum fee amount
The calculation of the compensation of employees receiving a lump sum fee amount, or on a percentage basis or by working unit, is based on the average of the salary of the last two months before the termination of their employment (Article 5 Par, Law 3198/55).
Severance pay taxation
According to paragraph 3, Article 15, of Law 4172/2013 it is defined that:
“there will be separately taxed with completion of the tax liability, any lump sum severance pay which is given by any institution and for any reason of terminating the employment relationship or any other contract, relating the institution to the severance pay beneficiary.
The tax is calculated according to the following table:
| Scale of severance pay (euro) | Tax rate |
| Up to 60.000,00 | 0% |
| 60.000,01- 100.000,00 | 10% |
| 100.000,01- 150.000,00 | 20% |
| >150.000,00 | 30% |
Payment of severance in installments
According to Law 3863/2010, when the compensation because of working contract termination exceeds the 2 months salaries, in case that the employer wishes to pay in installments, it is an obligation of the employer to pay during the dismissal, a part of the compensation, which corresponds to the remuneration of at least two months. The rest of the amount can be paid in two months installments, of which each one cannot be less than the equal amount of the salary of two months, unless the remaining amount is less. The first installment is paid on the next day of the completion of the two months period from the day of the dismissal.
If the employee refuses to sign the dismissal of the working contract and to receive the severance amount, in order for his dismissal to be valid, the document of the dismissal has to be notified by a bailiff and the amount of severance has to be deposited to the Deposits and Loans Fund.
Finally, it is forbidden, according to the legislation the dismissal of the employee in the following case:
- during the pregnancy of an employee and for 18 months after the birth of the child
- the dismissal of an employee is forbidden, when he performs the military duty
- during the use of his/her annual leave (article 5 & 6, Law 539/45).
NOTE: This article does not cover advisory, but only informational purposes, and cannot serve, as a basis for further actions, on the part of the reader. Reception of specialized advice is required.
Our company does not hold any responsibility for any actions, taken by the readers, based on the present article.