Greece Scraps Waiting Period on Parental Leave, Moves to Rein In Workplace Algorithms

Greek parents will be able to take parental leave whenever they choose under a new labor bill that removes a mandatory one-year gap between leave periods for different children, Labor Minister Niki Kerameus said.

Each working parent is entitled to four months of parental leave per child up to age 8. Under current rules,

"There must be complete freedom in exactly how you take it," Mrs. Kerameus told state broadcaster ERT.

Parents who work for the same employer will no longer have to declare the order in which they take leave. Caregiver leave will also be available before a worker completes six months on the job.

The bill also sets limits on artificial intelligence in the workplace.

It requires transparency over the data algorithms use to assign tasks, promote or terminate platform workers, and human oversight of critical decisions.

The measure stems from an EU directive on platform work that member states must adopt by December 2026, and is being negotiated with employers and unions.

Mrs. Kerameus also said Greece's digital work card, an electronic clock-in system, is being extended to 500,000 more workers in two phases, the first this week and the second in November. Sectors include telecommunications, private health care, logistics, advertising and cleaning services.

The system will then cover about 2.5 million employees.

She said recorded overtime has risen by as much as 1,200% in some sectors since the card was introduced, and credited it in part for pushing unemployment down to 7.4%, an 18-year low.

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Greek parents will be able to take parental leave whenever they choose under a new labor bill that removes a mandatory one-year gap between leave periods for different children, Labor Minister Niki Kerameus said.

Each working parent is entitled to four months of parental leave per child up to age 8. Under current rules, a parent with two children must wait a year between the two leave periods.

"There must be complete freedom in exactly how you take it," Mrs. Kerameus told state broadcaster ERT.

Parents who work for the same employer will no longer have to declare the order in which they take leave. Caregiver leave will also be available before a worker completes six months on the job.

The bill also sets limits on artificial intelligence in the workplace.

It requires transparency over the data algorithms use to assign tasks, promote or terminate platform workers, and human oversight of critical decisions.

The measure stems from an EU directive on platform work that member states must adopt by December 2026, and is being negotiated with employers and unions.

Mrs. Kerameus also said Greece's digital work card, an electronic clock-in system, is being extended to 500,000 more workers in two phases, the first this week and the second in November. Sectors include telecommunications, private health care, logistics, advertising and cleaning services.

The system will then cover about 2.5 million employees.

She said recorded overtime has risen by as much as 1,200% in some sectors since the card was introduced, and credited it in part for pushing unemployment down to 7.4%, an 18-year low.

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