According to article 2 of the Collective Dismissals Law, 'collective dismissals' means dismissals effected by an employer, for one or more reasons not related to the individual workers concerned, where the number of dismissals over a period of 30 days is:

• At least 10 for companies employing 21 to 99 employees;
• At least 10% of total workforce for companies employing 100 to 299 employees;
• At least 30 for companies employing 300 or more employees.

The law does not cover collective dismissals of fixed-term employees, unless the dismissals take place before the expiration or the conclusion of the employment contract (article 3 (a)).

The law does not cover civil servants, employees of semi-governmental organisations, local authorities, legal entities covered by public law (article 3 (b)).

The Law on Collective Dismissals (Law 28/I/2001) has been amended in 2018 by Law 161/I/2018. The amendment presents a harmonisation of Cyprus legislation with Directive EU2015/1794 amending Directives 2008/94/EC, 2009/38/EC and 2002/14/EC and the Directives 98/59/EC and 2001/23/EC concerning seafarers. The amendment extends coverage of collective dismissals law to seafarers. The law amends also the definition of 'responsible authority' by adding as an alternative responsible authority, besides the Ministry of Labour Welfare and Social Insurance, the Deputy Ministry of Maritime.