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Labour/Employment Law Data for Cyprus
1. Is it a legal requirement
that employees mustreceive an employmentcontract ?
Contracts of employment can be concluded
orally between the employer and theemployee. There are no legal
requirementsfor contracts to be evidenced in writingeither by
contract documents or by
statements of terms and conditions.However, it is good practice
to have anagreement prepared and signed stating the
main particulars of one’s employment thatcontains information,
for example, about
job and duties, holidays with pay, earningsand allowances.
For employees at
management level, individual agreements
are in practice expressed in writing.
2. What factors constitute a
fair dismissal i.e. legally justifiable reasons toterminate
employmentwithout the need to paycompensation?
Section 5 of the Termination of Employment
Law 1967 stipulates that an employee is notentitled to
compensation for termination ofemployment payable by the employer
if: (a)the employee fails to carry out his or herwork in a
reasonably efficient manner (b)the employee has become redundant
(c) thetermination of employment is due to forcemajeure (d) an
employee’s fixed-term
contract has expired (e) the employee has
reached the normal age of retirement and(f) the employee’s
conduct is such as torender him or her liable to dismissal
withoutnotice (e.g. cases of gross industrialmisconduct, a criminal
offence, immoralbehaviour, serious or repeated
contravention or disregard or other rules inrelation to
employment).
3. What is good practice withregard to dismissalprocedures to
minimise
the risk of claims forunfair dismissal?
The employer must show that he has acted ‘reasonably’ in
relation to the dismissal ofthe employee (for example, in relation
to
the conduct of the employee writtenwarnings should be made) The
burden ofproof lies upon the employer to show thatthe employee was
dismissed for one of the
reasons that constitute fair dismissal.
4. If an employee is
dismissed unfairly what isthe financial range ofcompensation
that can be
made to employees?
An employee who is dismissed unfairly by
an employer, with whom he has beencontinuously employed for not
less than 26weeks, has a right to compensation payable
by the employer. For the calculation of thecompensation, the
Industrial Disputes Court
takes into consideration, among others, theearnings of the
employee, the period of
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employment, the loss of career prospects,the age of the employee
and the conditionsunder which he was dismissed. The amountof
compensation up to the wages of oneyear are payable by the employer
and anyadditional amount from the Redundancy
Fund. However, such compensation shallnot be less than that
which the employeewould have received had he been declaredredundant
by his employer and in any
event, shall not exceed two years’ wages.
5. Do employees have theright to be members of atrade union?
Yes, as it will be unfair to dismiss anyemployee either because
he is or is not amember of a trade union. Section 6 of
theTermination of Employment Law states thatan employer may never
terminate anemployee from employment simply because
he/she is a member of a trade union.
6. Is there any legal
requirement for anemployer to contribute toa pension for
employees?
An employer is obliged to offer employees
access to a ‘stakeholder’ pension schemebut does not have to
contribute unless thisis provided for in the contract ofemployment.
The employer must contribute
to social security schemes with employee.
7. What are standard
maternity rights?
Every pregnant woman is entitled to ‘ordinary maternity
leave’ up to 18continuous weeks. Nine of the weeks must
be taken within the period beginning on thesecond week before
the week of expectedchildbirth. In addition to maternity leave,for
nine months after childbirth a femaleemployee is entitled each day
to interrupther employment for one hour or start workone hour later
or finish work one hourearlier for the purposes of breastfeeding
orfor the increased needs of child raising. In
accordance with the law such time must beconsidered and paid as
normal workingtime.
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8. What are parental leaverights (including paternity
leave)?
Employees, men or women, who havecompleted a continuous period
of at leastsix months employment with the sameemployer are entitled
to take unpaidparental leave of a duration of up tothirteen weeks
in total, by reason of the
birth or adoption of a child, in order for theparent to take
care of and participate in theraising of the child. Where a parent
hasmore than one child, the parent’s right to
parental leave is independent for each child,provided that at
least one year ofemployment with the same employer has
elapsed since the expiration of parentalleave previously taken
in respect of anotherchild.
9. When are employeeseligible for redundancypayments?
Any employee who has been employed bythe same employer for at
least two years,who has not yet attained the age of 65years and who
is declared redundant withinthe terms of the statutory definition,
isentitled to a redundancy payment out of theGovernment’s
Redundancy Fund. This fundis exclusively financed by employers’
contributions in respect of each employee.
10. What are the statutory
redundancy payment
limits?
The redundancy payments are calculated
according to years of employment as
follows: (a) two weeks’ wages for each yearof service up to four
years (b) two and half
weeks’ wages for each year of service fromfive to ten years (c)
three weeks’ wages foreach year of service from 11 to 15 years
(d)three and a half weeks’ wages for each year
of service from 16 to 20 years and (e) fourweeks’ wages for each
year for servicebeyond 20 years.
11. Can existing employees bedismissed if you buy a
business with employees?
According to this there must be a relevanttransfer of business
and this itself shall not
constitute grounds for the dismissal ofemployees. Such dismissal
is unfair unlessthe employer can show economic, technicalor
organisational reasons which required
changes in the level of employment.
12. Any other generallegislation?
For instance: equal pay, part-timeemployees, minimum wage is
guaranteed,sex discrimination, race discrimination,disability
discrimination, health and safety,
working time regulation and time off to carefor dependents.
