Salaried employees
Primary insurance
In terms of insurance coverage, optional continuation of insurance and recognition of insurance periods, the category of salaried employees includes the following persons:
a) private sector salaried employees who provide dependent work in return for payment of remuneration in Greece
b) employees who provide dependent work abroad, on behalf of an employer based in Greece, provided that the country they work in has not concluded a bilateral contract with Greece or is not a member of the European Union
c) employees who are employed by employers with whom they are spouses or first or second degree relatives
d) employees who are paid and pay contributions in the form of a labour stamp, other than land workers
e) non-permanent staff who are third-country nationals
f) salaried employees of the private sector subject to the insurance scheme for the Regulation of Heavy & Unhealthy Occupations (KVAE) set out in Ministerial Decision No Φ10221/οικ.26816/929/30-11-2011 (Government Gazette, Series II, No 2778)
g) categories of employees subject to special insurance regulations such as exclusive nurses, unloaders, tour guides, emery miners, resin collectors, slaughtermen, foresters, tobacco brokers, lottery sellers, morticians, street vendors, writers-artists, etc.
It includes employees with a dependent employment relationship who, until the establishment of e-EFKA, were subject to the insurance of the former IKA-ETAM, the former ETAA, the former TANPY, the former NAT, the former ETAP-MME, as well as the unskilled workers and non-permanent third-country nationals covered by the former OGA insurance.
The above persons are insured in e-EFKA by paying contributions in accordance with the current legislation.
- Law 4670/2020 ‘Insurance reform and digital transformation of the National Social Security Agency (e-EFKA) and other provisions’ (Government Gazette, Series I, No 43, of 28.2.2020) and more specifically:
- Article 30 ‘Replacement of Article 34 of Law 4387/2016 – Insurance period’
- Article 33 ‘Replacement of Article 37 of Law 4387/2016 – Optional continued insurance’
- Article 34 ‘Replacement of Article 38 of Law 4387/2016 – Employees’ and Employers’ Contributions’
Supplementary insurance
All employees of the private sector must compulsorily be insured in the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA (Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020) provided that for this paid work they are compulsorily insured with a primary insurance fund and are not subject to the insurance of another supplementary or occupational compulsory or equivalent insurance fund under the current legislation with them, regardless of their legal form.
As of 1 January 2021, those persons who, subject to a special or general provision of law, are excluded from compulsory inclusion in the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA, are subject to the insurance under this Branch on an optional basis (Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020), upon their request. Optional inclusion in insurance is governed from the beginning by the rules of compulsory insurance.
Supplementary insurance is public, compulsory insurance and covers the risks of old age, disability and death.
Supplementary insurance is provided by the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA, which includes all the former Supplementary Insurance Funds and Branches that used to operate as legal persons governed by public law.
The Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA operates on the basis of the distribution system of notional defined contributions (NDC) (Article 39 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 78 of Law 4387/2016) and an individual account is kept for each insured person with their contributions.
Lump-sum benefit
Inclusion in the insurance of the Lump-Sum Benefits Branch of e-EFKA is mandatory for the majority of the insured and optional in certain cases as of 1 January 2021 (Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020).
The bodies that were integrated in the Lump-Sum Benefits Branch of e-EFKA and the funds that operate as legal persons governed by private law pursuant to Law 3029/2002 cover the employees of utility companies (Public Power Corporation, Hellenic Railways Organisation, Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation) and a small percentage of private sector employees (hotel employees, tradespeople, employees in cement, fertilizer companies, etc.) (Article 36 of Law 4052/2012, as supplemented by Article 75 of Law 4387/2016).
Non-salaried employees
Primary insurance
The category of non-salaried employees includes:
a) freelancers, such as professionals, craftsmen, members or shareholders of organisations, joint ventures or any kind of companies, except for public limited companies and private companies, whose object is to carry out professional or craft or commercial activities, members of the Board of Directors of public limited companies whose object is to carry out professional or commercial or craft activity throughout the territory of Greece, provided that they hold a shareholding of at least 3%, managers of private companies appointed by the articles of association or by decision of the partners, the sole partner of a single-person private company, seafarers and tour operators working as freelances, owners of rooms to let, etc.
b) self-employed persons, such as engineers, health care professionals, legal professionals, health care professionals paid per operation and incident, lawyers whose practice of law is in suspension, (paragraphs 7-8 of Law 4387/2016, as replaced by Article 35 of Law 4670/2020), owners of daily newspapers, owners of editors and press officers, foreign press correspondents, news photojournalists and cameramen, newsagents, agents, sub-agents or press distributors, partners or shareholders of legal entities, regardless of legal form, for the purpose of handling, distribution and sale of newspapers and other publications circulating through agencies, sellers of newspapers and magazines without a professional place of business, traders in public markets (Government Gazette, Series II, No 4569/2016), self-employed farmers (Article 36(5) of Law 4670/2020), land workers who are subject to the insurance of e-EFKA (former OGA) and are paid with a labour stamp (Articles 20 and 22 of Law 3863/2010), paid with service invoices (Article 55 of Law 4509/2017).
Supplementary insurance
The insurance under the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA includes, on a mandatory basis, self-employed lawyers and engineers, self-employed bakers and owners of gas stations in the case of a natural person, or in the case of a company, their managers or legal representatives, depending on the form of the company.
It is also possible to include optionally the self-employed persons insured in the primary pension branch of former Social Insurance Organisation of Freelance Professionals (OAEE) [Article 14(1) of Law 3655/2008).
As of 1 January 2021, the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA includes optionally (Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020), upon their request, the self-employed health professionals, the persons practicing a profession insured by the former OGA, as well as the persons who, subject to a special or general provision of law, are exempted from mandatory inclusion in the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA. Optional inclusion in insurance is governed from the beginning by the rules of compulsory insurance.
The Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA operates on the basis of the distribution system of notional defined contributions (NDC) (Article 39 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 78 of Law 4387/2016) and an individual account is kept for each insured person with their contributions.
Lump-sum benefit
Inclusion in the insurance of the Lump-Sum Benefits Branch of e-EFKA is mandatory for those insured in the former Welfare Branch of the Single Fund for Independent Employees (ETAA) (Article 36 of Law 4052/2012, as supplemented by Article 75 of Law 4387/2016, and Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020).
Civil servants and legal persons governed by public law
Primary insurance
The category of Civil Servants and Legal Persons governed by Public Law includes:
the regular and transferrable civil servants and officials of the State, the regular and transferrable civil servants and officials of the Parliament, of legal persons governed by public law and of first and second level local government authorities, priests and employees of the ecclesiastical legal persons governed by public law, as well as the staff of the Armed Forces, the Security Forces and the Fire Brigade [Article 4 paragraph 1a of Law 4387/2016), which until 31 December 2016 were subject to pension protection of the State and continue to be governed by the provisions of the Code of Civil and Military Pensions (PD 169/2007, as in force, Government Gazette, Series I, No 210);
the regular and transferrable civil servants and officials of the State, the regular and transferrable civil servants and officials of the Parliament, of legal persons governed by public law and of first and of second level local government authorities, priests and employees of the ecclesiastical legal persons governed by public law, as well as the military who are recruited/classified for the first time from 1 January 2011 onwards, and are compulsorily and automatically included in the primary pension branch of IKA-ETAM or in the former ETAA, due to their capacity (Article 2(1)(a) of Law 3865/2010, Government Gazette, Series I, No 120, as amended by Article 61(2) of Law 3996/2011, Government Gazette, Series I, No 170 , as in force);
a) the regular employees of legal persons governed by public law, who are governed by the same pension scheme as civil servants (Law 3163/1955, Government Gazette, Series I, No 71, Legislative Decree No4277/1962, Government Gazette, Series I, No 191);
b) non-parliamentary members of the Government and Deputy Ministers, as well as transferrable employees, who maintain the previous insurance-pension scheme, in accordance with the provisions of Article 23 (addition to Article 5A) of Law 4670/2020 (Government Gazette, Series I, No 43);
c) the mayors, first and second level elected bodies, the deputies, the persons appointed to administrative positions of the State or the wider public sector or independent administrative authorities (Article 22 of Law 4488/2017, Government Gazette, Series I, No 137, Article 6 of Law 2703/1999, Government Gazette, Series I, No 72, Article 1 of Law 1759/1988, as in force, Government Gazette, Series I, No 50, circular Φ10042/ οικ.13567/329/8.06.2018).
Supplementary insurance
All employees of the State and legal persons governed by public law must compulsorily be insured (Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020) in the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA, provided that for this paid work they are compulsorily insured with a primary insurance fund and are not subject to the insurance of another supplementary or occupational compulsory or equivalent insurance fund under the current legislation with them, regardless of their legal form.
The Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA operates on the basis of the distribution system of notional defined contributions (NDC) and an individual account is kept for each insured person with their contributions.
As of 1 January 2021, those persons who, subject to a special or general provision of law, are excluded from compulsory inclusion in the Supplementary Insurance Branch of e-EFKA, are subject to the insurance of this Branch on an optional basis (Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020), upon their request. Optional inclusion in insurance is governed from the beginning by the rules of compulsory insurance.
Also, all probationary and permanent civil servants of the Ministries and the Parliament and the like, as well as the regular staff of the Independent Administrative Authorities, except those who are exempted by law, must compulsorily participate in the Civil Servants Share Fund (MTPY) pursuant to Article 14 of Presidential Decree No 422/1981, as currently in force (www.mtpy.gr). Among the employees of the legal person governed by public law, only those who participate in the MTPY pursuant to special provisions (e.g. Article 15 of PD/422/1981) participate. Finally, the personnel (civil and uniformed) of the Fire Brigade as well as the political personnel of the Hellenic Police and police officers who have been included in the insurance funds of the former City Police, also participate.
Lump-sum benefit
Inclusion in the insurance of the Lump-Sum Benefits Branch of e-EFKA is mandatory for the majority of civil servants and legal persons governed by public law (Article 36 of Law 4052/2012, as supplemented by Article 75 of Law 4387/2016, and Article 37 of Law 4052/2012, as replaced by Article 76 of Law 4387/2016 and amended by Article 41 of Law 4670/2020).
