Up to 11,000 euros is the total amount that it is estimated that a new working mother in the private sector can receive as a maternity allowance, according to the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security Panos Tsakloglou. He even announced the extension of the measure to self-employed women and farmers, as long as they are insurance aware.
“This is an insurance and not a preferential allowance. The self-employed pay a monthly contribution of 10 euros which previously only covered the risk of unemployment. We found that there was the fiscal space to cover the maternity allowance, which we did, Mr. Tsakloglou told ERT.
According to the deputy minister, the goal is twofold. “To strengthen the family at a time when it is very useful for the mother or one of the parents to stay with the child and at the same time it facilitates women’s participation in the labor market, it encourages families who want to have children to do so, reconciling the work with family life,” he said characteristically.
The six-day work
Regarding the six-day work, the Deputy Minister of Labor stated that “it has been legislated for some other industries where production is ‘continuous flow’, which we had not previously covered, and it gives the right to the employer to ask the employee to work a sixth day with the wages provided for by law”.
The measure, as he underlined, “covers a relatively small number of employees and, certainly, it is not about generalizing the measure to all employees”.
When can someone get a pension?
For the calculation of the pension, Mr. Tsakloglou mentioned that in order to be able to get a pension, one must have at least 15 years of insurance contributions and be at least 62 years old. If he has 40 years of contributions, the pension is paid without any reduction. If he does not have 40 years of contributions and wants to retire after 62 and before 67, there is a cut equal to 1/240 of the national pension for each month of the difference from the theoretical maximum of 40 years. At 67, someone who meets the 15-year conditions retires without a reduction in the national pension.
Those in the armed forces and the security forces, where the limit is 60 years, as well as workers in heavy and unhealthy professions, can take full pension earlier than the age of 62.
Retirement limits
“In our legislation, the retirement limit is linked to life expectancy at 65 years. The examination of the corresponding limit takes place every three years. It was done last year and it was found that life expectancy at 65 did not increase in Greece due to the pandemic. The next review will take place in 2027 and until then nothing will change at all,” said the responsible deputy minister.
Source: OT
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