Your Employment Contract and Minimum Terms
Under the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Law of 2023, every employer in Cyprus must provide a written statement of employment terms within seven days of your start date. For EU nationals this is a straightforward administrative step; if you are arriving from outside the EU, it sits alongside your immigration documentation — see the yellow-slip-meu1-guide for details on the registration certificate you will need. Your written contract must specify at minimum: the names of both parties, your start date, place of work, job title or description, pay and pay frequency, working hours, and applicable notice periods. It should also identify any relevant collective agreement, because certain sectors — banking, retail, the semi-government sector — operate under collective agreements that grant benefits beyond the statutory floor. Cyprus law draws a clear line between what parties can and cannot negotiate away. Any contractual term that gives you fewer rights than the statutory minimum is void; the statutory minimum applies automatically in its place. This covers annual leave, notice periods, and minimum pay — all addressed in the sections below. If anything in your contract is unclear or appears to conflict with what you were told verbally, the Department of Labour Relations (part of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance) offers free guidance and handles formal complaints. Keep signed copies of every version of your contract and any written variation. Before you sign, ask whether a collective agreement applies in your sector — it may improve significantly on the statutory floor for pay, hours, or leave.
Pay, Minimum Wage and the 13th Salary
From 1 January 2026, Cyprus operates a two-tier national minimum wage. Employees in their first six months with an employer are entitled to at least €979 gross per month for full-time work. After completing six months of continuous service with the same employer, the minimum rises to €1,088 gross per month. These rates were set by a Council of Ministers decree in December 2025. Important exclusions apply: workers in hotels and catering, domestic employment, agriculture, and maritime work fall outside this regime and are governed instead by sector-specific legislation or collective agreements. If your role falls into one of these categories, verify the applicable minimum with the Department of Labour Relations or your sector union. The 13th salary is not mandated by statute for the private sector as a whole — but in practice a large majority of full-time employees in Cyprus receive one. It becomes legally obligatory in three situations: your employment contract explicitly provides for it; your sector collective agreement requires it; or your employer has paid it consistently enough to create an implied contractual right under the Protection of Wages Law. Cyprus labour courts have repeatedly upheld this implied-right principle. When paid, the 13th salary typically amounts to one month of base pay, split in two halves — roughly half before the summer holidays (often June) and half before Christmas (typically mid-to-late December). A small minority of employers, chiefly in banking and the unionised semi-government sector, also pay a 14th salary. Clarify the position in writing before you accept any job offer.
Working Hours, Overtime and Annual Leave
The Organisation of Working Time Law implements the EU Working Time Directive in Cyprus and sets a hard ceiling of 48 hours per week — including overtime — averaged over a four-month reference period. This means that while busier weeks are permissible, your average over any four-month window must not exceed 48 hours. Most full-time contracts specify 38 to 40 hours; 40 hours per week is the de facto standard across private-sector employment. Overtime — work beyond your contracted hours — is generally compensated at a premium on your normal hourly rate, and work on Sundays and public holidays typically attracts a higher rate again; exact terms depend on your contract or the applicable collective agreement. You are also entitled to a minimum of 11 consecutive hours of rest in every 24-hour period and at least one uninterrupted 24-hour rest period each week. On annual leave, the Annual Holidays with Pay Law entitles every employee to at least 20 working days of paid leave per year on a five-day-week pattern, or 24 working days on a six-day-week pattern. Leave begins to accrue after a qualifying period of continuous employment with the same employer. By mutual agreement, unused leave may be carried over — it cannot simply be forfeited or paid out in lieu while employment continues. Cyprus also observes roughly 14 public holidays per year (the precise count can vary slightly with government proclamations); these are paid days off that sit outside your annual leave entitlement. For a net-pay breakdown on your salary, use the social-insurance-calculator at /tools/social-insurance-calculator alongside the taxes-for-expats guide.
Notice Periods, Probation and Termination
The Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Law of 2023 introduced a general rule that probationary periods should not exceed six months. During a valid probationary period, an employer may dismiss you without giving a reason and without serving a notice period — but dismissal remains unlawful if it is discriminatory, retaliatory, or in breach of other mandatory protections such as those covering pregnancy. Once you have completed 26 weeks of continuous employment, you gain statutory protection against unfair dismissal. After that threshold, minimum statutory notice scales with your length of service under the Termination of Employment Law: 26–51 weeks of service: 1 week 52–103 weeks (1–2 years): 2 weeks 104–155 weeks (2–3 years): 4 weeks 156–207 weeks (3–4 years): 5 weeks 208–259 weeks (4–5 years): 6 weeks 260–311 weeks (5–6 years): 7 weeks 312 weeks or more (6+ years): 8 weeks Your contract may specify longer notice periods, which take precedence; no contract may reduce the statutory minimums. Employers may offer payment in lieu of notice rather than requiring you to work the full period. Unfair dismissal claims must be filed with the Industrial Disputes Tribunal within a limited window (commonly cited as 12 months) of the termination date. If you are made redundant after at least 104 weeks (two years) of continuous employment, you may be entitled to a redundancy payment from the state Redundancy Fund rather than directly from your employer. Compensation scales with tenure and is subject to statutory weekly wage limits. Consult the Department of Labour Relations or a qualified employment lawyer to confirm your eligibility and the applicable amount.
Maternity, Paternity and Other Leave
Cyprus provides statutory leave well beyond annual holidays. Maternity leave lasts 18 weeks in total, with a compulsory portion around the birth. Part of the leave may be taken before your expected due date. Maternity benefit is funded by the Social Insurance Fund rather than your employer, and is subject to your contributions history and statutory rate limits. Pregnant employees and those on maternity leave are strongly protected from dismissal; redundancy during this period is unlawful except in very limited circumstances. In the case of multiple births, premature delivery, or medical complications, additional leave may be granted on production of a medical certificate. Paternity leave entitles fathers to two consecutive weeks of paid leave, to be taken around the child's birth. Eligibility generally requires a period of continuous employment with the current employer. Paternity benefit is also paid through the Social Insurance Fund. Parental leave allows each parent a block of unpaid leave per child for children under eight years of age (or older where the child has a disability), with a cap on how much may be taken in any single year. This leave is unpaid at the statutory level, though some collective agreements or individual contracts provide for partial pay — check your contract and any applicable collective agreement. On sick leave, your employer is typically responsible for the first days of any absence, after which the Social Insurance Fund pays sickness benefit (subject to medical certification and contribution requirements) up to a statutory maximum per illness. For day-to-day healthcare access under the General Health System, ensure your GHS registration is in order — the yellow-slip-meu1-guide covers the registration process for EU and non-EU arrivals alike.
Social Insurance and GHS Deductions
Every employed person in Cyprus must contribute to two statutory schemes, and both appear on your payslip as deductions. First, the Social Insurance Fund: employees pay 8.8% of gross salary, matched by an equal 8.8% from the employer. Second, the General Health System (GHS/GeSY): employees pay 2.65% of gross salary, with employers paying 2.9%. Your combined statutory employee deduction is therefore approximately 11.45% of gross pay. Both schemes apply to capped earnings. For Social Insurance, the maximum insurable earnings cap for 2026 is in the region of €68,900 per year (around €5,740 per month) — confirm the current-year figure with the Social Insurance Services, as it is revised annually. Once your earnings exceed this cap in a calendar year, no further Social Insurance is deducted for the remainder of that year. The GHS cap is €180,000 per year, which the vast majority of employees will not reach. Your employer also pays additional contributions that do not appear as deductions on your payslip but form part of your total employment cost: a Social Cohesion Fund levy, a Redundancy Fund contribution, and a Human Resource Development levy. These are the employer's cost, not yours, but they explain why your total cost to the company is higher than your gross salary. Income tax is calculated separately; non-domiciled residents may qualify for significant exemptions — see the taxes-for-expats guide. If you are considering self-employment rather than employment, contribution rates and rules differ substantially — see the self-employed-tax-cyprus guide. For a live take-home pay calculation on any gross salary, use the social-insurance-calculator at /tools/social-insurance-calculator.