European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Articles 2 and 3 of the Collective Dismissals Law of 2001 (Law 28(I)/2001); All articles of The Collective Dismissals (Amendment) Law of 2018 (Law 161 (I) / 2018)
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:
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.
Dismissals due to economic or technical reasons, such as declining profits, reorganisation of the company and technological advancement fall within the scope of the Collective Dismissals Law of 2001 and require the initiation by the employer of information and consultation procedures.
Trade unions reported involvement in negotiations over collective dismissals in organised enterprises. However, they do not have any information whether the definition of collective dismissals is sufficient, or if it is properly implemented in collective dismissals cases occurring in non-organised companies.
Although Cyprus’ Collective Redundancies Law largely reproduces Directive 98/59/EC verbatim, the CJEU’s ruling in Ineo Infracom provides interpretative clarifications that may expand the situations falling within the scope of “collective redundancies” under national law. According to the CJEU (judgment C-249/24, Ineo Infracom, 11 July 2024), a termination following an employee’s refusal to accept a substantial modification of an essential contractual term – such as a significant relocation – must be treated as a termination initiated by the employer for reasons not related to the individual employee. Such cases must therefore be included when calculating whether the numerical thresholds for collective redundancies under Law 28(I)/2001 have been met.
Eurofound (2015), Cyprus: Definition of collective dismissal, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/definition-of-collective-dismissal/cyprus
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