The “serial” goes from twist to twist with the informal “Easter Gift” for 2024. Although it had been denied, the frustration in the vulnerable groups of the population, led the financial staff to be asked to look for those funds, which will give budgetary margins for an additional allowance. This information was leaked to “NEA”, but Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis again denied the information in an interview with SKAI.
He specifically said:
“No, no Easter allowance will be given. We have a difficult budget ahead of us. We need to know that it will materialize. If we have to do something, we will do something at the end of time. I could think that there is an election coming up and so “give something”, but I won’t. We will not give an Easter allowance.”
Thus, the latest information that indicated that we will know who will be given the emergency financial aid for Easter, puts the brakes on again. The funds for such a thing will exceed 250 million euros. However, with an increased target for a primary surplus and an increased birth allowance, support measures for farmers, and the return of the special tax on agricultural oil, the Ministry of Finance has a difficult task, since the margins for additional benefits are suffocating.
Last year Easter was given only to pensioners who had not received an increase in their pension due to a personal difference. Instead, Christmas 2023 saw a ‘punctuation check’ – called a social solidarity allowance – given to more groups, namely:
- From 175 euros to 1,400 euros, the 800,000 beneficiaries of OPECA’s child benefit received.
- 1,055,000 pensioners without a personal difference and a main pension of up to 700 euros received an emergency aid of 150 euros.
- 33,000 beneficiaries of the uninsured elderly benefit received an emergency aid of 150 euros.
- 210,000 beneficiaries of the guaranteed minimum benefit received an additional 50% of the monthly allowance.
- 225,000 beneficiaries of other e-EFKA benefits received an emergency aid of 200 euros.
It remains to be seen what will be announced for this year’s Easter.
When does the 2024 Easter Gift come into the private sector?
The Easter gift to private sector workers must always be paid by Holy Wednesday. This year, Easter falls on Sunday, May 5, and Holy Wednesday falls on May Day. Although May Day will be moved and the holiday will be on Tuesday, May 7, there is a strong possibility the Easter 2024 gift to be paid on Holy Tuesday 30 April.
Easter Gift 2024 – Calculation
First, you can enter the website of KEPEA (HERE) and easily and quickly calculate the Easter Gift 2024. All you will need is to create an account with your email and know your gross salary.
For the calculation of the amount of the Easter gift, the method of remuneration of the employees is taken into account, i.e. whether they are paid a daily wage or a salary. The time period for which the gift is calculated starts from January 1st to April 30th of each year.
Therefore, if the employment relationship lasted the entire period of time, the employee is entitled to receive half a month’s salary if he is paid a salary and 15 days’ wages if he is paid a daily wage. In the event that the employment relationship of an employee with his employer did not last the entire aforementioned period, he is entitled to receive a proportion of the gift, which is calculated as follows:
For paid with salaryan amount equal to 1/15 of half the monthly salary or one day’s salary, for those paid with wage for every 8 (eight) calendar days of the employment relationship.
Except in the case that the work was provided without interruption throughout the period from January 1 to April 30, this period also includes all the days that the employees are legally absent from their work (e.g. with annual leave, with maternity leave , with a study permit).
The Easter gift is calculated on the basis of the regular wages actually paid on the 15th day before Easter, as long as they are equal to or higher than the legal ones. In case the employment relationship has been terminated before the above date, the Easter Gift is calculated based on the wages paid on the day the employment relationship was terminated.
Regular wages include, among other things, the pay for regular legal overtime work, overtime, work on Sundays, holidays, night hours, productivity bonuses, housing allowance, etc. when granted repeatedly at regular intervals, etc.
Vacation allowance is also included in regular wages. Therefore, the employee will receive the Easter Gift increased by the leave factor which amounts to 0.04166.