Collective Dismissals Law

The Minister of Labour and Social Insurance must immediately be notified in writing about any intended collective dismissals (at least 10 dismissals in companies with 21-99 employees, 10% of workforce in companies with 100-299 employees or at least 30 dismissals in larger firms) by the employer. The notice must be given on a standard form and include all information disclosed to the employee representatives. There must be a minimum of 30 days from the date that the employer gives notice to the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance before the redundancy can take effect. Within the 30-days timeframe the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance may seek solutions for the problems that may arise from the intended collective dismissals.

As part of this obligation, the employer is also obliged to inform the Minister of the reasons for the proposed redundancies, the number of the employees that will be dismissed and total number of employees, their employment positions, their names, family status and obligations, the period during which redundancies should take effect, whether consultations between the employer and the employee representatives took place and their context and outcome.

In many cases, when companies have informed the Minister of Labour and Social Security regarding their intention to proceed with collective redundancies, the Ministry has informed the Human Resources Development Authority along with the Cypriot Productivity Centre so they can work with the company concerned to try to overcome its difficulties and avoid dismissals.

Termination of Employment Law

According to Termination of Employment Law  (Law 24/1967 as amended), an employer has the obligation to provide notice to the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance for any intended redundancy, even if the redundancy does not qualify as collective dismissals. The notification to the Minister has to be submitted at least 30 days before the redundancy takes effect and should include information on the number of employees and department of the enterprise concerned, profession and family situation of the employees concerned and the reason for redundancy.