Paternity and parental leave in Cyprus: who qualifies, who pays

In short

A working father has two weeks of paternity leave whatever his length of service, with a Social Insurance allowance where his insurance qualifies. After six months with the employer, each parent has eighteen weeks of parental leave per child, part of it paid, and is protected from dismissal.

Klitos Platis, advocate

Your first message costs nothing: within one working day we tell you whether we can help and what it would cost.

Email Klitos Platis WhatsApp Enquiry form

klitos@kleanthousplatis.com

Your child is due, or an adoption is about to go through, and you want to know three things: how much time off you can take, who pays for it, and what your employer can say. Employers ask the same questions from the other side.

Two laws answer them. The Leave (Paternity, Parental, Carer’s, Force Majeure) and Flexible Working Arrangements for Work-Life Balance Law of 2022, Law 216(I)/2022, gives the leave and protects the employee who takes it. The Social Insurance Law of 2010, Law 59(I)/2010, pays the allowances. Both are stated here as they stand on 29 October 2026, with the amendments of 2024 and 2025. Carer’s leave, absence for force majeure and flexible working, which the same Law covers, are explained in our article on family leave and flexible working.

Paternity leave: two weeks, whatever your length of service

A working father is entitled to two consecutive weeks of paternity leave when he has a child (section 5(1) of Law 216(I)/2022):

through the natural mother;
through surrogacy; or
by adopting a child up to twelve years old.

No length of service is needed. Section 5(3) provides that the right, and the employer’s obligation to grant it, exist whatever the length of the father’s previous employment or service. The right exists too where the birth ends in a stillborn child, for two weeks (section 5(2)).

The two weeks are taken within a window, not on a fixed date. It opens in the week of the birth or the adoption and closes two weeks after the end of the mother’s maternity leave, as the Protection of Maternity Law fixes that period. How long maternity leave lasts is explained in our article on maternity protection. Where the mother dies before or during childbirth, or during her maternity leave, the father’s entitlement increases by the weeks of maternity leave she would still have had (the proviso to section 5(1)).

A father who started work last month has the same two weeks as one with ten years’ service.

Who pays for the two weeks

The pay for paternity leave comes from Social Insurance, through the paternity allowance. Law 216(I)/2022 does not itself require the employer to keep paying salary during the leave: section 6(1) sends the father to the Social Insurance Law for the allowance. A contract or a collective agreement that gives more still applies (section 31).

Under section 29A of the Social Insurance Law, an insured father who has a child in one of the same three ways is entitled to the allowance if he meets the insurance conditions. It is paid for two consecutive weeks within the same window as the leave, and for this purpose a week runs from Monday to Sunday. The conditions are in paragraph 1 of the Third Schedule: at least twenty-six weeks must have passed since his insurance began, and a minimum of insurance must stand to his credit, including in the relevant contribution year.

Three rules decide what reaches him:

No allowance is paid for any period for which the employer pays full salary. Where the employer pays part, the allowance is reduced so that the two together do not exceed full pay (section 29A(4)).
The allowance is lost for any part of the two weeks in which he works, as an employee or as a self-employed person (section 30A).
Its weekly amount is fixed by Part III of the Fourth Schedule (section 26(2)), on the insurance credited to him in the relevant contribution year.

Where the mother dies before or during childbirth, or during her maternity leave, the allowance is increased by the weeks of maternity allowance she would still have received (section 29A(5)).

Parental leave: eighteen weeks per child, after six months

Each working parent who has completed six months of continuous employment with the same employer is entitled to parental leave (section 8(1)). Successive fixed-term contracts with that employer are added together to make up the six months.

The Law counts as a parent the natural mother, the natural father once he has legally recognised the child, the parents of a child born through surrogacy, and adoptive parents (section 2). The leave lasts:

eighteen weeks for each child (section 8(2));
twenty weeks for a parent of a child with a disability, or of a person with a disability (section 8(3)(a));
twenty-three weeks for a widowed parent, or a single parent where parental responsibility has been removed from the other parent or the other parent has not recognised the child (section 8(3)(b)).

The leave belongs to each parent and cannot be handed over, with one exception: up to nine weeks of one parent’s remaining leave may be transferred to the other’s, and only from the weeks that carry no allowance (section 8(4) and its proviso).

When and how parental leave is taken

Parental leave runs from the end of the maternity or paternity leave taken until the child’s fifteenth year of age (section 9). For a parent of a person with a disability it runs to that person’s twenty-first year. Until the amendment of December 2024, Law 156(I)/2024, the limit was the child’s eighth year, so a guide that still says eight is out of date.

It may be taken in parts, of at least one day and at most five weeks in a calendar year (section 11(1)). On the employee’s request it may instead be granted in a flexible way that suits both employee and employer, in periods of at least one day, and the choice does not affect the allowance (section 11(2)).

Parental leave taken under the earlier law, up to ten weeks, is deducted from the entitlement (section 37(3)).

The parental leave allowance

Part of parental leave is paid, again by Social Insurance. Section 29B of the Social Insurance Law gives an insured parent the parental leave allowance where:

the parent meets the insurance conditions;
the parent has been employed for twelve months within the twenty-four months before the start of the period claimed; and
the parent is absent from work on parental leave.

Time off for incapacity, maternity or paternity leave, parental leave, carer’s leave or force majeure counts as employment for those twelve months. The allowance is then paid for a total of (section 29B(2)):

eight weeks for the first child in order of birth;
ten weeks for the second;
twelve weeks for the third;
fourteen weeks for the fourth and each later child.

The order of birth counts all of the mother’s births, and the adoption of a child up to fifteen, or a child born through surrogacy, counts as a birth. Twins are counted as separate births, and the sum of their weeks is shared equally between them. For a child certified with a disability, the period is extended by four or six weeks, according to the certification.

The allowance runs from the end of the maternity or paternity allowance until the child completes fifteen years, or twenty-one for a person with a disability, and is paid for at least one day and at most five weeks in a calendar year (section 29B(2) and (3)). As with the paternity allowance, nothing is paid for a period of full salary, it is reduced where part of the salary is paid, and it is lost for any time worked (sections 29B(4) and 30B). Its weekly amount is fixed by Part IV(1) of the Fourth Schedule.

The weeks without allowance still count for your insurance. Section 18 of Law 216(I)/2022 grants credited insurance for them, provided the employee applies to the Director of Social Insurance Services within three months of the end of the leave.

The unpaid weeks count towards your social insurance only if you apply within three months of the leave ending.

A self-employed parent may also claim the allowance, giving the Director three weeks’ notice of the leave. It is not paid where contributions for the two preceding quarters are unpaid, or where the leave falls in a period when the business is closed (section 29B(4A) and (4B)).

Notice: in writing, and in good time

The notice is the employee’s part, and it is best given in writing, because a written notice is also what starts the protection from dismissal described below.

Paternity leave. Written notice to the employer two weeks before the leave starts. Where the birth is early or unexpected, the father informs the employer at once, and no later than the end of the birth (section 7).
Parental leave. Notice three weeks before the leave starts, giving its start and end dates (section 12(1)). Where the leave is needed immediately, the notice may be shortened with the employer’s agreement. A request to take it flexibly also states the kind of flexibility and the part of the leave concerned (section 12(2)).

What the employer may do, and what it may not

The leave is a right, not a favour. The Law lets an employer postpone parental leave, and decline to give it in a flexible form, but not refuse it. A postponement of parental leave under section 13:

is allowed only for reasons connected with the proper running of the business, and after consulting the employee;
must be preceded, as far as possible, by an offer of the leave in a flexible form;
where the employee does not want that, must be justified in writing at least two weeks before the date the leave would have started.

Whatever the reason, the employer must grant the leave within two months of the request (the proviso to section 13(3)).

A request to take parental leave flexibly may be refused, but only by a set procedure (section 14). The employer tells the employee in writing that it intends to refuse and invites representations within one week. It then gives a written decision with reasons, at least two weeks before the leave would have started.

The Law gives the employer no power to postpone paternity leave: section 13 is written for parental leave only. During parental leave, the employer must keep the employee informed of promotions and internal vacancies and let them take part (section 15).

Protection from dismissal and from worse treatment

From the day the employee gives written notice of the intention to take paternity or parental leave until the leave ends, the employer may not dismiss. For that period section 23(1) prohibits termination, notice of termination and any other preliminary step towards a possible dismissal. Section 23(2) allows three exceptions:

the employee is guilty of serious misconduct, or of conduct that justifies termination;
the business that employs the employee has ceased to operate;
the term of the employment contract has expired.

An employee dismissed after asking for or taking paternity or parental leave may ask the employer for the reasons in writing, and the employer must give them (section 23(3)). The general rules on dismissal are in our article on termination of employment.

The protection goes beyond dismissal. Asking for or taking the leave may never be a reason for less favourable treatment, and it does not break continuity of employment (section 22). The employee keeps acquired rights, seniority, the chance of promotion and the right to return to an equivalent post on the same pay (section 21).

The time on leave counts as working time for annual leave, without being annual leave, and as employment under the Termination of Employment Law (section 21(5) and (6)). A dismissal or adverse change that follows a complaint about a breach is void, unless the employer proves a reason unrelated to the complaint (section 24).

If the leave is refused, or you are dismissed

There are four routes, and one does not rule out another.

A written request to the employer. Ask for the decision and its reasons in writing. The employer owes written reasons for a postponement, for a refusal of flexible leave and, on request, for a dismissal (sections 13, 14 and 23(3)).
A complaint to an Inspector of the Ministry of Labour’s inspection service (section 25(1)). The Inspector investigates, tries to settle the dispute and draws up a minute that may be used before the Labour Disputes Court. From the complaint until the minute is drawn up, any time limit for applying to that Court, and the limitation period of the claim, are interrupted (section 26).
A complaint of discrimination to the Commissioner for Administration and the Protection of Human Rights, even after the employment has ended. Once facts are shown from which discrimination may be presumed, the employer must prove there was none (section 25(2) and (3)).
An application to the Labour Disputes Court, which hears disputes under the Law (section 28). It may be made even after the employment has ended, and the burden of proof shifts in the same way (section 27). No minimum length of service applies, compensation has no ceiling, and the employer pays it in full (section 29).

An employer that breaches any provision of the Law also commits an offence, punishable by a fine of up to 7,500 euro (section 33). Where the Director of Social Insurance Services rejects an application for an allowance, or approves only part of it, the applicant must receive the decision and its reasons in writing within ten days (section 80(3) of the Social Insurance Law).

What this means in practice

Fathers: give written notice two weeks ahead, and claim the allowance. Keep a copy with its date. If your employer pays your full salary for the two weeks, no allowance is paid; if it pays nothing, the allowance is what replaces your pay, where your insurance qualifies.

Parents: plan parental leave in parts of up to five weeks a year. Give three weeks’ notice in writing with the dates, check that you have six months with your employer, and count your allowance weeks from the child’s place in the order of birth. For the weeks without allowance, apply for credited insurance within three months of the end of the leave.

Employers: the leave cannot be refused. Parental leave may be postponed only with written reasons, at least two weeks ahead, and never beyond two months from the request, and the Law gives no power to postpone paternity leave. From the written notice to the end of the leave, a dismissal exposes the business to a claim with no ceiling on compensation and to a fine. Questions of this kind, for employees and employers alike, fall within our employment practice.

Questions we are asked

How long is paternity leave in Cyprus, and who pays for it?

Two consecutive weeks, under section 5 of Law 216(I)/2022, whatever the father’s length of service. The pay comes from Social Insurance: section 29A of the Social Insurance Law gives an insured father who meets the insurance conditions a paternity allowance for the same two weeks. No allowance is paid for a period for which the employer pays full salary, and it is reduced where the employer pays part.

How much parental leave is there, and how much of it is paid?

Eighteen weeks for each child, once the parent has six months of continuous employment with the same employer; twenty weeks for a parent of a child or person with a disability, and twenty-three for a widowed or single parent. Under section 29B of the Social Insurance Law, a parent who meets its conditions receives an allowance for eight weeks for the first child, ten for the second, twelve for the third and fourteen for the fourth and each later child.

How much notice do I give my employer?

For paternity leave, written notice two weeks before it starts, or, where the birth is early or unexpected, at once and no later than the end of the birth (section 7). For parental leave, three weeks before it starts, with the start and end dates (section 12). Give it in writing in both cases: the written notice is what starts the protection from dismissal in section 23.

Can my employer refuse or postpone the leave?

It cannot refuse leave that is due. It may postpone parental leave for reasons connected with the proper running of the business, after consulting you and first offering a flexible form where possible, but it must give written reasons at least two weeks before the leave would have started and must grant the leave within two months of the request (section 13). The Law gives no power to postpone paternity leave.

Can I be dismissed for asking for leave?

From the written notice until the leave ends, section 23 prohibits dismissal, notice of dismissal and any preliminary step towards it, except for serious misconduct, the closure of the business or the expiry of the contract’s term. You may ask for the reasons for a dismissal in writing, and the employer must give them. A breach can be taken to an Inspector or to the Labour Disputes Court, even after the employment has ended.

What should my first message say?

The date of the birth or adoption, or the expected date, when you started with your employer, the leave you asked for, how and when you asked, and what your employer answered. If your leave was postponed or you were dismissed, say when and attach the letter.

Sources

Klitos Platis

Advocate, Partner

Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Cyprus
Published 29 October 2026

Need advice on your own matter?