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The additional leave for working on a computer has been cancelled

13 September 2013 / 20:09:27  GRReporter
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After three years of Memorandum and budget cuts the government has decided to cancel the special leave for working on a computer to which Greek civil servants have been entitled over the past 24 years.

Minister of Administrative Reform Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself announced the news in a television interview. It sounds like a joke but the specific leave was six days per year for which the employees had received their full payment.

The leave was introduced by ministerial decision in June 1989 and approved by law in 1990. The legal text states, "An employee working on a computer and spending more than five hours per day in front of a computer screen is entitled to a paid day off every two months."

Strong reactions have immediately filled the social media:

"What exactly is the leave for working on a computer in the public sector? Do they want permission to enter Facebook? Do they take a day off to enter it? Moreover, what are those six days? Please, tell me that this does not mean that if you are working on a computer you are entitled to six days off. This is impossible."

"To the competent persons: the leave for working on a computer is nothing. There are lots of similar leaves that need to be cancelled."

A little later the Minister posted a message on Twitter: "The leave for working on a computer has been cancelled after 24 years. The resulting man hours will be equal to 5,000 new appointments in the public sector" and immediately received the reply, "We hope that you are not going to make them."

At the same time, an amendment which again turns into a crime "the ordinary material present in gratitude" to any member of the public administration has been submitted to parliament. The change in the law a few months ago scandalized the public opinion and provoked strong reactions from the anti-corruption bodies.

Even then Chief Inspector of Public Administration Leandros Rakintzis told GRReporter, "The definition of a "material present" is quite general and it could lead to the legalization of bribery. Any civil servant, who renders a service to a citizen, will be able to obtain something in return, whether we are talking about money or other presents. The problem is that this act will not be considered a bribe."

According to reports in the Greek press, the amendment is necessary precisely because of such cases of "misinterpretation" of the law.

Tags: Civil servantsLeave for working on a computerKyriakos MitsotakisCorruption
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