Law 25(I)/2023 caps probation at six months, requires written terms in seven days, limits on-demand work, and stops a blanket ban on a second job.
The Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Law of 2023, Law 25(I)/2023, changed several things that most Cyprus employment contracts still say the old way. Three of them are hard limits rather than principles: how long a probationary period may run, whether an employer may forbid outside work, and how quickly written terms have to arrive.
Probation stops at six months
Section 15(1) provides that where an employment relationship provides for a probationary period, that period cannot exceed six months, and it says so irrespective of any arrangement that applied before the Law came into force. For a fixed term relationship, the probation must be proportionate to the expected duration of the contract and to the nature of the work.
Section 15(2) closes the obvious workaround. Where a fixed term contract or relationship is renewed for the same post and the same duties, no new probationary period is required.
Section 15(3) takes directors of legal persons outside the maximum.
An employer cannot simply ban a second job
Section 16 states the rule and then the exception, and the exception has conditions that most contracts do not satisfy.
The rule: an employer may not prohibit an employee from taking up work with other employers outside the working hours fixed in the contract, and may not subject the employee to adverse treatment for doing so.
The exception: the employer may, at recruitment, restrict parallel employment, but only by setting out specific objective reasons in writing, and the objective reasons have to relate to health and safety, the protection of business confidentiality, the integrity of the public sector, or the avoidance of conflicts of interest.
A clause that simply forbids other work, with no written reasons and no connection to one of those four subjects, is not what section 16 permits.
Written terms: seven days, then one month
Section 12(1) requires the basic information, covering the terms in the paragraphs of section 11(3) that it lists, to be given individually to the employee in one or more documents within a period beginning on the first working day and ending no later than the seventh calendar day from the start of the employment, where it was not given before the employment began.
Section 12(2) gives the supplementary information a longer deadline: a document within one month of the first day, again where it was not given before the employment began.
Section 12(3) deals with the legal framework rather than the individual terms. Information about the legislative, regulatory and administrative provisions, and the collective agreements of general application, is provided free of charge, in a clear, transparent, comprehensive and easily accessible way, remotely and by electronic means, including through the web portals of the Republic.
On-demand work has an outer limit
Section 18 permits on-demand or on-call contracts and similar arrangements, but only where the part time employee works on a casual basis and one of two limits is respected: either the total duration of employment with the same employer does not exceed eight weeks per calendar year, with a maximum continuous duration of three weeks at a time, or the total continuous employment does not exceed five hours a week.
Those are the boundaries of the arrangement, not targets. An engagement that runs past them is not an on-demand contract as section 18 allows it.
Refusing an assignment, and asking for something steadier
Section 17(1) applies where the organisation of working time is entirely or mostly unpredictable. The employee cannot be required by the employer to work unless two conditions are both met: the work takes place within predetermined reference hours and days, and the employee has been informed of the assignment within a reasonable period before the work is due to start, with the reasonable period fixed by reference to legislation, collective agreements or the information given under section 11(3).
Section 17(2) is the consequence. Where at least one of those conditions is not met, the employee has the right to refuse the assignment without suffering any adverse consequence.
Section 19(1) points the other way. An employee with at least six months of service with the same employer, who has completed any probationary period the contract provides for, may request a transition to a form of employment with more predictable and secure working conditions, where such employment is available, and is entitled to a reasoned written reply. Section 19(2) requires that reply within one month of the request.
The protection, and who has to prove what
Section 24(1) prohibits dismissal, anything equivalent to dismissal, and any preliminary step leading to dismissal, where the reason is that the employee exercised rights under the Law.
Section 24(2) gives the employee two things: the right to ask the employer to state the reasons for the dismissal or its equivalent in writing and duly substantiated, and the right to complain to an Inspector and receive the record provided for by section 8. The proviso is the part that matters in a hearing: once the facts of the dismissal or the equivalent measures are established, the employer has to prove that they were based on reasons other than those in subsection (1).
Section 25 carries the same shift into civil proceedings generally.
What this means in practice
Read the probation clause against a calendar. Anything longer than six months does not survive section 15(1), and a renewal for the same post and duties does not restart the clock.
Read the exclusivity clause against the four subjects. If the restriction on outside work is not in writing at recruitment, and does not rest on health and safety, confidentiality, public sector integrity or conflicts of interest, section 16 does not support it.
Count the days from the first working day. The seven calendar days in section 12(1) and the month in section 12(2) run from the start of the employment, not from whenever the paperwork is convenient, and the burden in section 24(2) and section 25 means the employer is the one who will need the file.
Questions we are asked
How long can a probationary period be?
Six months. Section 15(1) of Law 25(I)/2023 provides that where an employment relationship provides for a probationary period, that period cannot exceed six months, whatever arrangements applied before the Law came into force. For a fixed term relationship the probation has to be proportionate to the expected duration of the contract and the nature of the work. Section 15(2) adds that where a fixed term contract is renewed for the same post and the same duties, no new probationary period is required. Section 15(3) excludes directors of legal persons from the maximum.
Can my employer stop me taking a second job?
Not as a blanket rule. Section 16 provides that an employer may not prohibit an employee from taking work with other employers outside the working hours fixed in the contract, and may not treat the employee adversely for doing so. The employer may restrict parallel employment at recruitment, but only by setting out specific objective reasons in writing, and the objective reasons have to relate to health and safety, protection of business confidentiality, the integrity of the public sector, or the avoidance of conflicts of interest.
When must I be given my terms in writing?
In two instalments. Under section 12(1) the basic information, covering the terms listed in the paragraphs of section 11(3) that it names, is given individually in one or more documents within a period that begins on the first working day and ends no later than the seventh calendar day from the start of the employment. Under section 12(2) the supplementary information is given in a document within one month of the first day. Section 12(3) requires information on the legal framework to be provided free of charge, clearly and accessibly, remotely and by electronic means.
Can I ask for more secure hours?
Section 19(1) gives an employee with at least six months of service with the same employer, who has completed any probationary period the contract provides for, the right to request a transition to a form of employment with more predictable and secure working conditions, where such employment is available, and to receive a reasoned written reply. Section 19(2) requires that reply within one month of the request.
I am on call and the shift was cancelled. Can I refuse work?
Section 17(1) says that where the pattern of work is entirely or mostly unpredictable, the employee cannot be required to work unless two conditions are met: the work falls within predetermined reference hours and days, and the employee has been told of the assignment within a reasonable period before it starts. Section 17(2) provides that if at least one of those is not met, the employee may refuse the assignment without suffering any adverse consequence.
Sources
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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