Article 18 of Law 4808/2021 creates a special procedure before the Labour Inspectorate allowing it to examine named complaints for the violation of the provisions prohibiting violence and harassment at work that have been submitted to the Inspectorate. The key points of that procedure are as follows:

1. The affected person can choose to submit an application for a labour dispute concerning violence and harassment (Articles 4, 12, and 13) to either the Head of the competent Labour Relations Inspectorate Regional Directorate or to the Head of the competent Department, and the dispute-resolution procedure is then conducted by the chosen official.Article 14 of the same law also makes it possible, under certain conditions, for legal persons and associations of persons, including trade unions, to have recourse to this procedure.
2. That competent official will then inform the Independent Department for Violence and Harassment at Work without delay about submission of the complaint, the notifications or relevant documents forwarded, forwarding of the file, and invitation for a representative of the Ombudsman to appear (when the complaint falls within its jurisdiction regarding the application of the principle of equal treatment under Article 4(5) of Law 3094/2003), as well as completion of the procedure and drafting of the reasoned opinion of the competent official, so that the Department is able to monitor the progress of the case.
3. The procedure must be implemented as a matter of priority and completed within two (2) months at the latest from the submission of the complaint.
4. During the procedure, the privacy of those involved or third parties and their personal data are protected, and the staff of the Labour Inspectorate are under a duty of confidentiality regarding documents and information acquired in the context of resolving the dispute.
5. During the procedure, standardised inspection forms and documentation tools may be used, any documentary evidence may also be used, and assistance may be requested from any competent authority and from the employer. During the procedure, the burden of proof is reversed in accordance with Article 24(1) of Law 3896/2010 (Article 15, Law 4808/2021). Moreover, specific issues relating to how the procedure is conducted, how the parties can appear and the burden of proof when dispute resolution in cases concerning violence and harassment is requested, including derogations from Article 23B of Law 4144/2013, are regulated by a decision of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs (Article 22(2) of Law 4808/2021).
6. If, during the labour dispute procedure, a violation of Articles 4 to 13 of Law 4808/2021 is established, sanctions are imposed by the Labour Inspector in accordance with Article 19 of the same law. In particular, a provision has been introduced allowing special sanctions to be imposed on the employer and the Labour Inspectorate can toughen its stance where statutory obligations are violated by either the employer or one of its employees, and the employer does not take the measures referred to in Article 12(2); employers who retaliate against an affected party are also subject to stricter sanctions (Article 13).
7. Article 19(3) of Law 4808/2021 also establishes special powers for the Labour Inspectorate to issue an order with immediate effect to the employer to take one or more of the specific four interim measures in the case of imminent risk; these may be imposed at any stage of resolving the labour dispute or carrying out the inspection and may be revoked or retained in effect by the findings report or by a more recent decision of the labour inspector. The interim measures remain in effect until the imminent risk demonstrably ceases. These measures are:

a) removing the complainant from the workplace on full pay;

b) changing staff shifts;

c) transferring the person the complaint concerns to another work department;

d) ordering the accused person to do telework or work remotely, depending on the nature of their duties.

If the employer fails to implement the measures specified in the order, a fine is imposed in accordance with the points made above.

The procedure laid down in Ministerial Decision No 101269/2021 (Government Gazette Series II, Issue 5978/20.12.2021) regulating issues concerning the conduct of the procedure, the appearance of the parties and the burden of proof before the Labour Inspectorate in incidents of violence and harassment in accordance with Article 18 of Law 4808/2021 (Government Gazette 101/A), which was issued in implementation of the authorising provisions in Article 22(2) of Law 4808/2021, applies to applications for labour disputes concerning incidents of violence and harassment at work from 20.12.2021 onwards.