Background information

The Department of Labour Relations is the sole governmental authority entrusted with the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes, including the provision of assistance to enterprises for the development and effective functioning of mechanisms for collective bargaining, mutual agreements, and the settlement of personal complaints. The Department covers all economic activities of the private sector, as well as activities of state-owned enterprises and organisations. The services of the department can be requested jointly or separately by employers and employees, independently of the size of the enterprise.

Content of measure

The principal mission of the department of labour relations is to safeguard industrial peace and ensure the preservation of healthy and balanced industrial relations structures. Within its mission, the department undertakes mediation tasks in the event of industrial disputes, including redundancies if the involved parties failed to reach an agreement. In this respect the department may:

• facilitate the conclusion of an agreement leading to reduced redundancies as initially pursued by the employer;

• facilitate the conclusion of additional redundancy compensation to affected employees (over and above the provisions of the Termination of Employment Law for redundancy compensations payable by the redundancy fund).

Use of measure

The Department of Labour Relations is an effective mediating instrument, as it is annually mediating in hundreds of industrial disputes. In 2018, for example, the department was called to mediate 273 disputes affecting 28,669 employees and in 2020 in 341 disputes affecting 32201 employees. However, the department does not produce diversified statistics, as to whether the disputes concerned are redundancies or other industrial relations issues.

The mediation by the Department in redundancy disputes may result in additional payments to be made by the employer to the redundant employee(s), beyond those payable by the Redundancy Fund. The involvement of the department may also lead to a reduction of the number of redundancies.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Trade unions Employers' organisations Company / Companies	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

Social partners had no involvement in the design and do not have any engagement in the monitoring of the measure, but they are involved in the implementation of the measure. The measure is part of the mediation services of the Department of Labour Relations, which is a governmental institution and as such is not subjected to any designing or monitoring processes involving social partners. Social partners may request jointly or separately the mediation of the Department in redundancies related disputes and thereafter participate in a mediation procedure in good faith. Social partners are only involved in the implementation of the measure.

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 02 January 1962: Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance - Department of Labour Relations (www.mlsi.gov.cy)
• 15 November 2022: Labour Disputes and Work Stoppages (2002 – 2021 (www.mlsi.gov.cy)