Cap. 183 reverses the burden of proof, deems the worker employed for the whole time on the premises, and lets the criminal court order two years of back pay on conviction.
The Minimum Wage Law, Cap. 183, is thirteen sections long and does not contain a single figure of pay. What it contains is the enforcement machinery, and that machinery is arranged in a way most employers do not expect: the burden of proof sits on the employer, hours are presumed from presence rather than from the rota, and the criminal court can order two years of back pay on top of the fine.
The rate is not in the Law
Section 3(1) gives the Council of Ministers power, by Order published in the Official Gazette, to fix minimum wages for any work in the Republic, either generally or in any particular area, place or district, in any case where it is satisfied that the wages paid to persons employed in that work are unreasonably low.
Section 3(2) lets the Council vary or abolish a minimum wage by the same instrument, and section 3(3) provides that the fixing, variation or abolition takes effect from the date named in the Order.
Two consequences follow. The applicable figure is always a question about the Order in force at the material time, not about Cap. 183, and it can be set for a class of work or a district rather than nationally. Section 4 lets the Council appoint Advisory Committees to examine the wages paid for any work, and make Regulations about their constitution, appointment, powers and duties.
Section 2 ties the definition to the work rather than to the person: minimum wage means the minimum wage fixed as provided, in relation to the particular work done by the person concerned, and applicable to that person.
Section 11 puts the burden on the employer
Section 11 is the section that decides most cases before the evidence is weighed. In any prosecution of a person for failing to pay wages not below the minimum wage, that person has the burden of proving that it has not paid wages below the minimum wage.
The prosecution does not have to establish the shortfall. The employer has to establish that there was none.
Section 12 is what makes that possible or impossible. It is the duty of every employer, for work to which a minimum wage applies, to keep such wage records as are necessary to show that the Law is being complied with in respect of the persons in its employment. An employer that has not kept them has nothing with which to discharge a burden that is already on it.
Section 9 presumes the hours from presence
Wage disputes are usually about hours rather than about rates, and section 9 decides how hours are counted. For the purpose of calculating the wages payable, the worker is deemed to have been employed for the whole of the time during which he was present on the employer's premises, unless the employer proves either that he was present without its consent, express or implied, or that he was present for some purpose unconnected with his work other than waiting for work to be given to him.
Two provisos qualify it. A worker who resides on the employer's premises is not deemed to be employed during any time he is present there merely because he resides there. And a worker present during normal meal times in a room or place where no work is carried on is treated as present for purposes unconnected with his work.
Read together with section 11, the practical position is that presence is proved easily and everything that cuts it down has to be proved by the employer.
The court can order two years of back pay
Section 5(1) makes the offence: where a minimum wage has been fixed, the employer must pay not less than it, and if it fails to do so it is liable on conviction, in respect of each offence, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 and a further fine not exceeding €50 for each day on which the offence continues after conviction.
Section 5(2) lets the Court, on conviction, order the employer to pay, in addition to any fine, such sum as appears to the Court to be due to the employee on account of wages calculated by reference to the minimum wage. The proviso preserves the employee's own right to recover wages by any other proceedings.
Section 6(1) widens that considerably. Where an employer has been convicted under section 5, and notice of the intention to do so was served within the three days before the hearing, evidence may be given of any failure by the employer to pay the minimum wage to that worker at any time after the minimum wage came into force and within the two years immediately preceding the date the information or complaint was laid. On proof of the failure, the Court may order the employer to pay such sum as in its opinion represents the difference between what should properly have been paid as wages during those years and what actually was.
That is a back pay order in criminal proceedings, over a two year window, for which the trigger is a three day notice.
Section 6(2) adds the Attorney General. Where it appears to the Attorney General that a sum is due from an employer because wages were paid below the minimum, and it cannot be recovered under section 5, the Attorney General may, if it seems expedient because of the worker's refusal or neglect to bring the proceedings, bring civil proceedings on behalf and in the name of the worker before a court of competent jurisdiction. The court has the same power to order costs as if the Attorney General were a party.
Who counts as the employer
Section 7(1) makes an agent or other person who actually commits the offence liable to prosecution as if it were the employer, whether at the same time as, before or after the employer's conviction, and to the same penalty. Section 7(2) gives the employer a due diligence defence: an employer that proves to the Court's satisfaction that it exercised due diligence to enforce the Law, and that the offence was committed by its agent or another person without its knowledge, consent or connivance, is exempted from any penalty on that person's conviction, though the Court keeps its power to order the employer to pay the sum due as wages.
Section 7(3) is the one that reaches beyond the payroll. Where the immediate employer of a worker to whom a minimum wage applies is himself employed by some other person, and the worker works on that other person's premises, that other person is deemed, for the purposes of the Law and so far as the penalty for underpayment is concerned, to be the employer jointly with the immediate employer. A business that takes labour through a supplier and puts it to work on its own site is not outside the Law.
Section 10 catches a different arrangement altogether. A shopkeeper, supplier or trader who for trade purposes makes any arrangement, express or implied, with a worker under which the worker does work for which a minimum wage has been fixed is deemed to be the employer, and the net remuneration received by the worker for the work, after deducting the necessary expenses in connection with it, is deemed to be wages.
Apprentices, inspection and the 2023 penalties
Section 8(1) makes it unlawful for an employer to receive, directly or indirectly, any payment as a premium for apprenticeship from or on behalf of an apprentice or learner to whom a minimum wage applies, save for a payment duly made under a document of apprenticeship executed not later than four weeks after the employment began. Section 8(2) carries a fine not exceeding €5,000, and the Court may order repayment of the premium.
Section 13 lets the Council of Ministers appoint officers to investigate complaints and otherwise secure compliance. Under section 13(2) an officer may enter an employer's premises at any time during working hours where work to which a minimum wage applies is carried on, require production of pay sheets or other wage records, inspect and copy any material part of them, and examine any person found there, or reasonably believed to work or to have worked in such work, and require that person to sign a declaration of the truth of the matters examined.
Obstructing an officer, or failing or refusing to produce records, carries a fine not exceeding €5,000 under section 13(3). Making, causing to be made or knowingly allowing a false pay sheet, wage record or payment record, producing one knowing it to be false, or giving an officer information known to be false, carries a fine not exceeding €5,000 or imprisonment for up to three months.
Those euro figures are recent. Law 47(I)/2023, the Minimum Wage (Amending) Law of 2023, published in Official Gazette No. 4950 on 23 June 2023, replaced the pound amounts in sections 5, 8, 12 and 13 with euro ones: the £100 maximum fine in section 5(1) became €5,000 and the £25 daily addition became €50; the £100 in section 8(2) became €5,000; the £25 amounts in section 12 became €50; and in section 13(3) the £25 became €5,000 and the £150 became €5,000.
What an employer should have in place
- The Order in force for the work in question, and the date it took effect
- Wage records sufficient to discharge the section 11 burden, kept as section 12 requires rather than reconstructed after a complaint
- A record of when workers are on site and why, because section 9 counts presence unless the employer can prove otherwise
- Terms with any labour supplier that deal with section 7(3), since the site occupier is deemed a joint employer for the penalty
- No premium taken from an apprentice outside a document of apprenticeship executed within four weeks of the start of employment
We advise employers and employees on Cyprus employment law, including pay disputes and inspections. Write to us at office@kleanthousplatis.com with the names of everyone involved and a short description, and we will reply within one business day.
Questions we are asked
Where is the minimum wage figure actually set?
Not in the Law. Section 3(1) of Cap. 183 gives the Council of Ministers power to fix minimum wages by Order published in the Official Gazette, for any work in the Republic, either generally or in any particular area, place or district, where it is satisfied that the wages paid are unreasonably low. Section 3(2) lets it vary or abolish a minimum wage the same way, and section 3(3) provides that the fixing, variation or abolition takes effect from the date named in the Order. So the rate is a moving figure in subsidiary legislation and the Law is the machinery around it.
Who has to prove what in a prosecution?
The employer. Section 11 provides that in any prosecution of a person for failing to pay wages not below the minimum wage, that person bears the burden of proving that it has not paid wages below the minimum. The prosecution does not have to prove the shortfall; the employer has to disprove it. Section 12 is what makes that workable or fatal: every employer must keep such wage records as are necessary to show that the Law is being complied with.
How far back can the court order payment?
Two years. Under section 6(1), where an employer has been convicted under section 5, and notice of intention to do so was served within the three days before the hearing, evidence may be given of any failure to pay the minimum wage at any time after it came into force and within the two years immediately preceding the date the information or complaint was laid. On proof, the Court may order the employer to pay the difference between what should have been paid as wages during those years and what actually was.
What are the penalties?
Section 5(1) makes an employer who pays below the minimum liable on conviction, for each offence, to a fine not exceeding €5,000 and a further fine not exceeding €50 for each day the offence continues after conviction. Section 12 carries a fine not exceeding €50 for failing to keep wage records, and a further €50 for each day. Section 13(3) carries a fine not exceeding €5,000 for obstructing an officer or refusing to produce records, and for knowingly false records a fine not exceeding €5,000 or three months in prison. Those euro figures were substituted for the old pound figures by Law 47(I)/2023, published on 23 June 2023.
Does time spent waiting for work count?
Yes, and the burden is again on the employer. Section 9 deems the worker to have been employed for the whole of the time he was present on the employer's premises, unless the employer proves that he was there without its consent, express or implied, or for a purpose unconnected with his work other than waiting for work to be given to him. Two provisos: a worker who lives on the premises is not employed merely by being there, and a worker present during normal meal times in a room where no work is done is treated as present for purposes unconnected with the work.
Can the end client be liable as well as the labour supplier?
Yes. Section 7(3) provides that where the immediate employer of a worker to whom a minimum wage applies is himself employed by another person, and the worker works on that other person's premises, that other person is deemed for the purposes of the Law, so far as the penalty for underpayment is concerned, to be the employer jointly with the immediate employer. Section 10 reaches a different arrangement: a shopkeeper, supplier or trader who makes any arrangement, express or implied, with a worker for work to which a minimum wage applies is deemed to be the employer, and the net remuneration after necessary expenses is deemed to be wages.
Sources
- Minimum Wage Law, Cap. 183, consolidated text
- Minimum Wage (Amending) Law of 2023, 47(I)/2023, Official Gazette No. 4950, 23 June 2023
This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Klitos Platis
Advocate, Partner
Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 23 August 2026
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