Cyprus Labour Law is a combination of Contract Law, Statute law and Common Law. The Laws conform to the regulations of a number of International Labour Organisation Conventions ratified by Cyprus.

Employment relationships are based on the employment contract. There are specialized labour courts that regulate labour disputes and for some matters they may have exclusive jurisdiction (e.g. for redundancy matters).

Hiring the employee

Referring to the Law stipulates that the agreement should not override or provide fewer rights to the employees than the employment laws provide. Further, Law 100(I)2000 provides that the employer must disclose to the employee either in the employment agreement or in a form of a statement the minimum following information:

1. the identification information of the parties;
2. the place of the employment and the registered address (or residence address) of the employer;
3. the position of the employee, his/her rank, the category and object of his/her employment;
4. the date the agreement comes into force and the duration of the agreement if it is made for a specific period of time;
5. the number of days allowed as annual leave with pay together with the method and time of their provision;
6. the timetable that the employer and the employee must meet in case of the termination of the agreement by a notification;
7. all the remuneration that the employee is allowed and the method of payment of the remuneration;
8. the duration of the normal daily or weekly employment of the employee;
9. reference, if any, to the collective agreements that regulate the terms or the working conditions of the employee.

The above requirements do not apply to employees who have worked less than one month or who do not work for more than eight hours per week and their employment is occasional.

Maximum working hours

These are set at a maximum of 48 hours per week.

Minimum wage

The minimum wage is currently set at CYP 345 (around € 600) monthly earnings.

Minimum holiday entitlement

The Working Time Law, Cap.182 and Law 15/1967 provide for a right to a minimum of four weeks’ paid leave per year in addition to public holidays and a right to one day off each week.

Hiring non – nationals

The specific rule about hiring non-nationals is a written employment agreement which is proved and stamped by the Labour office, the purpose being to ensure that the mandatory requirements are met. For non-EU citizens the employer must obtain permission to employ them from the Labour Office. The employer must show that there is no human resource available in Cyprus or anywhere else in Europe.

Maintaining the employee relationship

The employers are allowed to make changes to the contract if they do not override or they are not inferior to the provisions of the laws and reasonable notice is given to the other party.

As to the obligations of employers there are five contributions which the employers must pay for:

• the social insurance fund
• the annual paid leave fund
• the termination of employment fund
• development of human resources
• social coherence fund

Trade Unions are highly developed in Cyprus. In accordance with the Trade Unions Law, Cap. 117 the employee has the option to have the terms and conditions of the employment agreement determined by collective agreements between trade unions and employers.

The legislation of Cyprus provides equality in rights for nationals and non-nationals on strike, holidays and on safe and healthy working conditions.

Termination of employment

Firing the employee is regulated by the Termination of Employment Law. A contract may be normally terminated by performance, frustration, agreement, breach, notice or dismissal.

The requirement concerning the minimum period of notice depends on the duration of the employment. The longer the period of employment then the longer the notice period required.

An employment agreement can be terminated by reason of the employee’s retirement age or when an employee cannot perform his/her duties because of age.

The retirement age for employees in Cyprus is 65 years.

The Law distinguishes fair and unfair dismissal.

The employee can be lawfully terminated for one of the following reasons:

1. The employee fails to carry out his work in a reasonably efficient manner
2. the employee becomes redundant
3. the termination is due to force majeure
4. the contract has expired
5. the employee renders himself liable to dismissal without notice
6. the contract is such that it is clear that the employer – employee relationship cannot reasonably be expected to continue.

In case of termination of the employee under 65 years who has been continuously employed by the employer for not less than 26 weeks (in certain cases may vary up to 104 weeks) without existence of specified grounds, the employee has the right to qualify for unfair dismissal compensation.

The compensation for unfair dismissal is calculated according to a schedule providing for a redundancy payment of up to two years’ salary.

If termination is because of redundancy the employee has to make a claim within three months and twelve months for any other reason.

Our services

Our firm undertakes the drafting of Employment Agreements, obtaining the relevant permission from Governmental authorities for employing non-Cypriot personnel (for more information read ‘Migration’), litigation on labour disputes and also registration procedures for employers and employees at the Department of Social Insurance.