Greece’s Top Administrative Court Rejects Return of Holiday Bonuses for Public Sector Workers

Greece’s Council of State (StE) has rejected the bid to restore Christmas, Easter and vacation bonuses for public sector employees, ruling that their continued suspension does not violate either the Greek Constitution or European Union law.

In its Decision 1201/2026, the court’s plenary session upheld the legal framework that has been in place since the bonuses were abolished in 2012, effectively closing the judicial route for their reinstatement.

The case has been closely watched by hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, with the return of the so-called 13th and 14th salaries having become a longstanding demand by public sector unions.

Court Finds No Constitutional Violation

At the heart of the case was the question of whether the state’s failure to restore the three payments violated constitutional principles, including equality and proportionality, or provisions of European law.

The Council of State ruled that it did not.

According to the court, public sector employees are governed by a specific constitutional, employment and pay framework and therefore cannot be directly compared with private sector workers, who continue to receive Christmas and Easter bonuses as well as vacation pay.

The judges also took into account the impact that public sector salaries have on government finances and, more broadly, on the country’s fiscal stability.

Why Public and Private Sector Workers Are Treated Differently

One of the central arguments put forward in favor of restoring the bonuses was that excluding public sector workers while private sector employees continue to receive them amounts to unequal treatment.

The court rejected that argument.

It found that the two groups work under different legal and employment conditions and that the state has greater responsibility for controlling public sector payroll costs because of their direct impact on the national budget.

There was, however, disagreement within the court. Six members of the plenary session expressed a minority opinion on whether the continued absence of the bonuses complied with the principle of equality.

The Cost of Bringing Back the 13th and 14th Salaries

The financial implications of restoring the payments also played an important role in the case.

Figures submitted by the state estimated that bringing back the Christmas, Easter and vacation bonuses would create a permanent annual budget cost of around €1.37 billion before employer contributions.

Including those contributions, the total cost was estimated at approximately €1.55 billion a year.

The court considered the potential impact of such a permanent increase in expenditure when assessing the state’s decision not to restore the payments.

Bonuses Were Abolished During Greece’s Debt Crisis

Christmas, Easter and vacation bonuses for public sector employees were abolished under Law 4093/2012, during the height of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis and the implementation of the country’s bailout programs.

Public sector unions have since argued that the economic conditions that led to the cuts have fundamentally changed and that Greece’s improved fiscal position now allows the payments to be restored.

ADEDY, Greece’s civil servants’ union confederation, intervened in the case in support of the claim, arguing that the continued suspension of the bonuses violated constitutional and European protections.

Court Ruling Does Not Prevent a Political Decision

The decision effectively closes the current judicial claim for restoring the bonuses, but it does not prevent a future government from bringing them back through legislation.

That distinction is important.

The Council of State ruled on whether the government is legally required to restore the payments. It did not rule that lawmakers are prohibited from reinstating them if a future political decision and the necessary fiscal resources make that possible.

For now, however, the court’s decision means that the existing public sector pay system — without Christmas, Easter and vacation bonuses — remains legally valid.

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