Ministry of Labour: The pilot application of the digital work card in the catering and tourism sectors has begun

Started yesterday, Wednesday, September 11, 2024, the pilot application of the digital job card measure in the sectors of tourism and focus, as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security states in a relevant announcement.

It is recalled that the measure is already applied to approximately 750,000 workers employed in banks, large supermarkets, insurance companies, security companies, DEKO, with the total number of companies 73,000.

The employees covered by the digital work card measure, after its extension to food and tourism, are estimated to total around 1,500,000.

The measure is to be fully operational on 1 March 2025, in order to give sufficient time to businesses operating in the specific sectors (e.g. hotels, accommodation, rooms for rent, camping, catering facilities) to adapt to the new data and to resolve any practical issues.

The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Niki Kerameos, has announced that during the period until the full implementation of the measure, webinars will be held as well as informative activities in many parts of Greece, in collaboration with the representatives of employees and employers. The purpose of the above actions is to provide information on the correct application of the digital job card.

It is recalled that last week, the minister met with representatives of workers and employers and they discussed the expansion of the measure of the digital work card and its application to food and catering.

Goal of the digital work measure

The aim of the digital labor card is to fully guarantee the rights of workers, as ensuring the monitoring of real working time and the remuneration of workers for it, combating abusive policies of undeclared overtime and illegal changes and excesses of working time.

The effectiveness of the implementation of the measure to date is confirmed by significant increases in declared overtime in the integrated sectors. A typical example is the increase in declared overtime in supermarkets, where from the start of the implementation of the measure until the end of 2023, a cumulative increase of +61.2% was observed.

The Minister of Labor and Social Security, Niki Kerameos, stated:

«Primary objective of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security is to ensure the rights of workers. As of today, we are extending the application of the digital work card to the tourism and food industry, protecting even more workers. With this measure, on the one hand the real working hours of the employees are recorded and they are paid for them, on the other hand it is an important tool to combat undeclared and implied work“.