Some employers violate rules

State support for workers who have or will have their contracts suspended amounts to 26.60 euros per day; however, there have been violations since the start of the lockdown, with unions reporting workers having been been pressured via informal written notices to keep traveling to their workplace despite the restrictions.

In some cases the audacity of certain employers has reached such a level that uninsured workers are receiving such notices, according to complaints.

The measure of the suspension of contracts and support for workers through special-purpose compensation has evolved into the best means for the protection of employees and small enterprises in this second lockdown too. The unions are calling on the government for clearer guidelines.

With the Syn-Ergasia subsidy program also active, Labor Ministry sources say the furlough measure can also apply to workers who benefit from that program too. The same rule, they note, also applies to salary workers who have been hired through this program, which subsidizes their social security contributions, provided that they were hired before November 4.