Parental leave by country / Greece
Maternity, paternity and parental leave in Greece
How long each parent can be away, who pays and how much, the notice rules and the job protection — in plain English, whether you run a team in Greece or work on one.
Greek mothers take 17 weeks of maternity leave — eight before the birth and nine after — paid by e-EFKA with an employer top-up. Fathers and partners have 14 working days of paid paternity leave around the birth. Each parent then has four months of parental leave until the child turns eight, of which the first two months are paid by DYPA at the national minimum wage, and mothers in the private sector may additionally take the nine-month special maternity protection leave.
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How it works
Law 4808/2021 brought Greece into line with the EU work-life balance directive and added the paternity entitlement. Maternity leave is 119 days in total, 56 before the expected date and 63 after; e-EFKA pays a maternity benefit and the employer makes up the difference to normal pay for the statutory period. Paternity leave is 14 working days at full pay from the employer, of which up to two may be taken before the birth and the rest within 30 days of it. Parental leave is four months per parent, per child, until the eighth birthday, taken in one block or in parts by agreement; DYPA pays the national minimum wage for the first two months, the rest is unpaid. Private-sector mothers may also claim the special maternity protection leave of up to nine months after maternity leave, paid by DYPA at the minimum wage, which is the entitlement that makes Greek maternity cover among the longest in the EU in practice. Dismissal is prohibited during pregnancy and for eighteen months after the birth.
Worth knowing: The nine-month special maternity protection leave is paid by DYPA at the national minimum wage and can now be transferred in part to the father, an option added after the 2021 reform.
If you run a team in Greece
Pay the top-up over the e-EFKA maternity benefit and the 14 days of paternity leave in full. Register the leaves in Ergani. Remember the dismissal ban: pregnancy and the eighteen months following the birth are protected, and a dismissal in that window is void unless you can show a serious unrelated ground. Annual leave accrues throughout and untaken leave must be granted after the return.
If you work in Greece
Give your employer the expected date and the certificates; e-EFKA pays the maternity benefit and your employer tops it up. Fathers should take the 14 working days within 30 days of the birth. Parental leave needs a month’s notice and can be split; apply to DYPA for the two paid months, and mothers should ask about the special nine-month protection leave before returning.
Parental leave and annual leave
Annual leave accrues during maternity, paternity and parental leave, and leave that could not be taken because of them is granted after the return, including in the following year.
The annual leave entitlement itself is covered on our Greece annual leave page — 20 working days minimum.
Keeping the record straight
Long leaves are where leave records go wrong quietly: holiday that kept accruing for months and was never credited, a return date nobody diarised, a reduced entitlement applied where the law forbids it. In Greece the rules above decide what is owed on return, and the record has to show it. A tracker like Leavo keeps the leave, the accrual and the approvals in one place so the return is a date, not a dispute. We compare the options in our leave management software guide, and the policy side — carryover, payout, accrual — in our guides.
Parental leave in Greece: common questions
How long is maternity leave in Greece?
17 weeks in total — 56 days before the expected date of birth and 63 days after it — paid by e-EFKA with an employer top-up, plus the optional nine-month special maternity protection leave paid by DYPA.
Is paternity leave paid in Greece?
Yes. Fourteen working days at full pay from the employer, up to two of which may be taken before the birth and the rest within 30 days of it.
Is parental leave paid?
Partly. Each parent has four months per child until the child turns eight; DYPA pays the national minimum wage for the first two months and the remainder is unpaid.
Does annual leave accrue during maternity or parental leave in Greece?
Annual leave accrues during maternity, paternity and parental leave, and leave that could not be taken because of them is granted after the return, including in the following year.
Source
Primary source: Law 4808/2021 (transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1158); e-EFKA and DYPA benefit rules. Benefit rates and ceilings change every year and collective agreements frequently improve on the statutory scheme — confirm against the current text before acting. See our methodology.