How special maternity protection leave is transferred to the father

The Press Office of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs issued the following statement:

A decision by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Costis Hatzidakis regulates the conditions and procedure for the transfer of special maternity protection leave for private sector workers from the mother to the father of the child, in application of the relevant legislative regulation of Law 4997/2022 (article 43).The regulation provides that the mother is entitled to transfer up to 7 months of the special maternity protection leave to the father, if he is employed on a fixed-term or indefinite employment relationship in full-time or part-time enterprises or farms.

According to the Ministerial Decision, the transfer of the special leave and benefit to the father requires be the mother of the child is a beneficiary thereof, without its having to have used part of it previously. The mother chooses how to exercise her right and in particular whether to use all of the special maternity leave (9 months) herself or to transfer part of her right to special leave and maternity protection up to seven (7) months to the child's father.

The mother can also set periods when she will use the special leave as an alternative to the father of the child. The order in which the parents use the licence in addition to each other is of no interest. In other words, the mother can first exercise part of the above right and transfer the remainder to the father, up to the seven-month limit.

Alternatively, the father can first use part of the special leave and benefit transferred to him by the mother, up to 7 months, and then the mother can exercise the remainder of her entitlement herself until the nine months of leave are completed, or vice versa. The division of intervals of leave and benefit, upon transfer, may be made consecutively and additionally between the parents and for more than one rotation.

The mother decides whether or not to transfer her maternity leave. The transfer is made by means of a declaration to the DPOA through the Single Digital Portal (https://www.gov.gr/), where they are listed :

a) the full name, the AMKA and the VAT number of the father,

(b) the period(s) of the licence(s) it has obtained or intends to obtain,

(c) the period(s) of leave he transfers to the father of a total duration of up to seven calendar months.

The solemn declaration may be amended by a later declaration by the mother.

The grant of leave to the father following a transfer to him may be made immediately after the expiry of the mother's maternity leave (childbirth and confinement), or immediately after the expiry of the maternity leave equivalent to the reduced hours of the mother or the father, as the case may be, or even after the expiry of the father's or the mother's normal annual leave, provided that the intervals of the above leave are continuous. The mother's or father's annual leave must be granted before the special maternity protection leave in case the annual leave is in danger of being lost.

Mothers, who already today and from 25/11/2022, the date of entry into force of the law. 4997/2022, make use of the special leave, may transfer the right to the father for the remaining time until the completion of the nine (9) months.

 The leave shall be granted to the worker, at the employer's request, whom it must give one month's written notice. This time limit does not apply if the mother transferring her right to the father has less than two months of special leave remaining.The employee may terminate the special leave with the written agreement of the employer. In this case, the remaining special leave is not transferred to another period of time but may be granted to the mother again.

The employee's absence from work during the special maternity protection leave is counted as time of actual service for the calculation of annual leave, length of service for the determination of pay and compensation in the event of dismissal and any rights arising from the provisions of labour legislation.

A working father who uses special leave is entitled to all the benefits and consequences in terms of insurance coverage as is the mother. It is stressed that all the general and special provisions relating to the special maternity protection benefit shall apply to the father in the same way as they apply to a working mother exercising the same right, in particular as regards the protection and maintenance of his employment and working conditions, his return to the same job or to an equivalent post under no less favourable working conditions and conditions, and to benefit from any improvement in working conditions to which he would have been entitled in his absence.

The Public Employment Service (PES) during the period of special maternity protection leave transferred to the father pays him the special maternity protection benefit if he is in active employment. The amount of the allowance paid to the employee's father is the amount that the employee's mother would have received under the legislation in force, which provides that during the special leave, the DYPA shall pay the employee's mother a monthly amount equal to the minimum wage, as determined from time to time, as well as a proportion of holiday gifts and holiday allowance based on the aforementioned amount.

The regulation provides that the mother is entitled to transfer up to 7 months of the special maternity protection leave to the father if the father works on a dependent employment relationship.