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Work Card FAQ (Translated Q&A Appendix)

Translated and lightly edited from the official Digital Work Card manual's "Παράρτημα Χρήσιμες Ερωτήσεις – Απαντήσεις" appendix (Έκδοση 10.02.2023). For general Digital Work Time Organization questions, see the main FAQ.

WRKCardSE submission errors​

WRKCardSE not valid error — what causes it?​

The most likely cause is that the authenticated user/branch doesn't have the rights to submit Work Card declarations for that employer. Check that the credentials used are authorized for Documents/WRKCardSE.

Entries appear as "late" even though the swipe time was within working hours — why?​

The mechanism doesn't evaluate whether the swipe time is within the employee's working hours — it only evaluates whether the submission (transmission to Π.Σ. Εργάνη) happened within 15 minutes of the event timestamp (f_date). A submission delayed (e.g. due to a connectivity gap) becomes "late" once it's finally sent, even if the original event time was within the employee's normal schedule — see On-time vs. late.

Night shifts, flexible arrival, and edge cases​

Employee works a night shift starting 21:00 and ending 05:00 the next day — is this accepted?​

Yes. The arrival/departure declaration carries its own Ημερομηνία Αναφοράς (reference date), independent of the calendar date of the event itself, so a departure recorded after midnight is correctly attributed to the shift that started the previous evening (within the 11:00 next-day limit — see the Work Card API Reference).

Company has a 09:00–17:00 schedule with 60 minutes of flexible arrival (Ευέλικτη Προσέλευση). How is the tolerance measured?​

The flexible-arrival window must be strictly observed as declared by the employer in the Employment Relationship Change declaration (Ευέλικτη Προσέλευση, in minutes, up to 120). Flexible arrival applies only after the declared start time, not before — e.g. with a 09:00 start and 120 minutes of flexible arrival, the employee may clock in any time between 09:00 and 11:00, and the departure time shifts accordingly (e.g. arrival at 10:30 → expected departure 18:30 for a 09:00–17:00 schedule). Arriving before 09:00 is not covered by flexible arrival.

Mixed weekly schedule: 3 days physical presence + 2 days telework — how does this interact with the Work Card?​

The Work Card mechanism applies only to days/periods of physical presence. Telework days are declared via Digital Work Time Organization (Fixed Weekly or Variable/Modified Per-Day) but do not generate Work Card arrival/departure events.

Employee occasionally has external appointments (e.g. arrives at the office at 11:00 after a morning client visit) — how should this be handled?​

If the employee worked outside the employer's premises before arriving, that period is presumed to be worked according to the declared daily schedule (το δηλωθέν στο ΠΣ ΕΡΓΑΝΗ ημερήσιο ωράριο εργασίας) — i.e. no Work Card event is required for that off-site period. The Work Card event is recorded normally for the on-site portion (arrival at 11:00, departure at the scheduled end of day).

Employee whose nature of work means there's never a "swipe" at arrival or departure (e.g. travelling salespeople) — does the lack of swipes trigger an audit risk?​

The Work Card mechanism applies only to employees with physical presence at the employer's premises. For employees whose role doesn't involve such presence, the declared daily schedule in Π.Σ. ΕΡΓΑΝΗ is taken as the worked schedule for that day, and the absence of Work Card swipes for those employees, on those days, is expected and does not by itself indicate an irregularity.

Re-hires and schedule changes​

Same-day re-hire: an employee's contract ends and a new one begins on the same date — any special handling?​

Yes — when submitting the new E3 (Ενιαίο Έντυπο Αναγγελίας Πρόσληψης) with Digital Work Time Organization set to Ναι, the employee will appear in the current status (Τρέχουσα Κατάσταση) as of the hiring date and time. The Digital Work Time Organization (Σταθερό Εβδομαδιαίο or Ωράριο Απασχόλησης – Τροποποιούμενο/Μεταβαλλόμενο) must be submitted immediately, before the start of the new schedule. Important: in the case of a same-day re-hire, the end date of the previous contract and the start date of the new contract must not be identical — they cannot coincide.

Can a schedule be changed retroactively (e.g. an employee's start time already passed and they need a different schedule for the rest of the day)?​

No — under Digital Work Time Organization, any change or modification to the schedule (Σταθερό or Μεταβαλλόμενο) must always be submitted before the start of the schedule it affects, or before the start of the most recent Digital Work Time Organization declaration. Retroactive changes to an already-started day are not supported.

See also​