Tool II: In the final stretch the application of the digital card

The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs today published the Ministerial Decision and the Implementation Guide for the digital organization of working time and the operation of the Digital Work Card, in the context of the first phase of the new Information System ERGANI II.

With Ergani II begins the final period of application of the Digital Work Card that will start on July 1 in banks and supermarkets with more than 250 employees.

The Ergani II system will be the basis for the extension of the Digital Card to other companies.

The Digital Work Card implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Government, is one of the most emblematic reforms of law 4808/2021 on Labor Protection, which is being implemented.

With its application all the information about working hours, overtime, overtime, shifts, breaks, breaks and vacations will be declared electronically and will be available at the touch of a button to employees, employers and control authorities.

This ensures the interests of the employees, the conditions of equal competition for the companies, the implementation of the legislation and the revenues of the insurance system. This is, after all, a constant request of the GSEE that is being implemented by the current government.

The new system was presented at a press conference by the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakis, the general secretary of Labor Relations Anna Stratinaki and Babis Samios on behalf of the contractor company (Cosmote with subcontractor 01 Solutions Hellas).

“The upgrade of the Instrument we are announcing is the basis for the implementation of the Digital Work Card. It is a promise we gave to employees and companies with the enactment of Law 4808/2021 on Occupational Safety, which we are implementing today. A reform in favor of employees and healthy competition, because the digital card is the best guarantee for the respect of working hours and overtime of the employees. “On July 1. With the Digital Card, and the upgrade of SEPE to an independent authority, we give in practice and not in words Power to the Employee”, the minister stressed during his position in the interview.

Ms. Stratinaki noted: “The digital work card is the main and now effective weapon of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to combat the phenomenon of undeclared and undeclared work.

It is the institutional consequence of the solid political will of the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis for social justice, transparency and consistency in the workplace.

It summarizes all the reforms that have taken place in the labor market since 2013, when the Information System Ergani was instituted, but also its transformation into Ergani II, from which it emerges creating a new reality, a modern one, free from bureaucracy. , digital environment for workers’ safety and protection of their rights.

At the same time, it contributes to the more efficient operation of the audit work of the Ministry through the Labor Inspection Body, since it encapsulates the technology and the important data of the Ergani system for the benefit of the control mechanisms, consequently of the employees of the country.

“The digital work card, based on the new labor law 4808/21, is institutionally the crowning achievement of the brave reforms, opening a window into the future of work normalcy in a modern age.”

Mr. Samios said: “The Digital Work Card fills the gap of capturing real-time work, which will be contrasted with the scheduling of work that will also be recorded in digital form. At the same time, the information that will be available to employees is upgraded and enriched the channels through which it will be diffused “.

The Ministerial Decision and the Implementation Guide include the steps that companies and employees must follow to digitally organize their working time. The evolution of Instrument to Instrument II leads to a radical upgrade of the programming capabilities and the actual working time. Specifically:

1. Job scheduling and information on actual start – end times of work will now be digitally entered into the Instrument II system. With the current regime of PS Ergani, the work schedule is submitted in an unstructured text with attached files.

2. All the information about the programming as well as the data of the Digital Work Card for the real working time will be available to the employees through the application myErgani mobile app, as well as through the myErgani web portal (https://myErgani.gov. gr) and in the form of a diary. Today only the employer’s statements are available a posteriori.

3. For the first time, all types of licenses will be recorded, as well as hourly licenses. Today, an annual statement is submitted only for the regular license.

4. And of course with the Digital Card the real working time will be recorded for the first time. Employees will be able to declare their arrival and departure from work through an app by scanning their Work Card that will be displayed on the mobile phone in QR code format (just like they did with the vaccination certificates), and the information will be automatically transmitted to Instrument system II.

The Digital Card secures the working hours and salaries of the employees as two new safety valves are introduced:

1. The start of work will be automatically notified to the ERGANI II system. The same with the ending.

2. The auditor will know before visiting a workplace which employees should be there.

Thus, the control becomes automatic and objective and phenomena of undeclared work and unpaid overtime are prevented. Cases in which the employer asks the employee not to “knock” the card on arrival, or to resign but to stay at work, will be much easier to detect.

For banks and supermarkets with more than 250 employees the inventory will take place from 1 to 30 June and will follow from 1 July the application of the Card while the other companies will be inventoried from 1.10.2022 to 30.11.2022.

The implementation of the Digital Work Card will be done in two stages: Employee Inventory / Work Scheduling – Recording of real working time.