Pay transparency rules in Cyprus
Not yet. Cyprus has a draft pay transparency law in progress but has not passed it. The bill was published for consultation in November 2025 and updated in January 2026, but Cyprus missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline and the law is not in force. Plan now, but no Cyprus duties are legally binding yet.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) is a European law designed to close the gender pay gap by forcing employers to be open about pay. It requires employers to publish or share a pay range before hiring, stops them asking candidates about salary history, gives workers the right to ask what others doing equal work are paid on average by gender, and makes larger employers report their gender pay gap. Where an unexplained gap of 5 percent or more appears, the employer must work with staff representatives on a joint pay assessment to fix it. Each EU country had to write these rules into its own national law by 7 June 2026. Cyprus has drafted such a law but has not yet enacted it, so the duties below are proposed, not binding, until the Cypriot bill becomes law.
Where Cyprus stands right now
Cyprus has a draft bill but no law in force, so there are no binding pay transparency duties in Cyprus yet.
The Department of Labour Relations (Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance) published a draft transposing law for public consultation on 5 November 2025. The consultation closed on 4 December 2025 and an updated draft followed in January 2026. The bill still needs to be passed by the House of Representatives and published in the Official Gazette before it takes effect. Cyprus did not complete this by the EU deadline of 7 June 2026, so as things stand the Directive's rules are not yet enforceable against employers in Cyprus. The sensible position for employers is to prepare on the assumption the draft becomes law largely as written, while treating every specific figure below as provisional until the final Act is published.
What will change for employers when the law passes
Pay ranges before interview, a ban on asking salary history, a worker right to pay information, gender pay gap reporting for larger employers, and joint pay assessments where unexplained gaps hit 5 percent.
The draft closely follows the Directive. Before hiring, employers must give candidates the starting pay or pay range and any relevant collective agreement terms at a reasonable time before the interview, and job adverts and titles must be gender neutral. Employers cannot ask candidates about their pay history. Once employed, a worker can ask for their own pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for workers doing the same work or work of equal value; the employer must respond within two months and must remind staff of this right every year. Contract clauses that stop workers discussing their pay are unenforceable for equal pay purposes. Note: a 100-employee threshold appears in some early consultation material, but the Directive's standard reporting thresholds (below) are the more reliable guide until the final Act is published, so treat thresholds as provisional.
Gender pay gap reporting and joint pay assessments
Larger employers must report their gender pay gap; an unexplained gap of 5 percent or more triggers a joint pay assessment with worker representatives.
Reporting cadence in the draft tracks the Directive: employers with 250 or more workers report annually; those with 150 to 249 report every three years; those with 100 to 149 report every three years; under 100 is voluntary. Under the Directive's own timetable, first reports fall due by 7 June 2027 for employers of 150 or more, and by 7 June 2031 for the 100 to 149 band, but Cyprus's late transposition means the exact first-report dates in the Cypriot Act are not yet confirmed. Where a report shows an average gender pay gap of at least 5 percent in any category of worker that the employer cannot justify on objective, gender-neutral grounds and does not fix within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment with worker representatives to identify and remedy the cause. All of these figures are provisional until the final Cypriot law is enacted.
Penalties and director liability in the draft
The draft proposes fines up to 10,000 euro and/or up to six months imprisonment, plus personal liability for directors and officers, but none of this binds until the law is passed.
The Cypriot draft is notably tougher than many member states on enforcement. It proposes criminal sanctions of up to six months imprisonment and fines of up to 10,000 euro, court orders to stop and remedy breaches, and full compensation for affected workers including back pay, interest and damages for non-material harm. It also extends liability to company directors, managers and certain advisers, who can be found personally guilty unless they prove the breach happened without their consent, connivance or negligence. The draft also eases the burden of proof, so in a pay discrimination claim the employer must show no breach occurred. These are draft provisions; the final penalty levels and liability rules may change before enactment.
How this works when Teamed is the Employer of Record
Teamed, as the legal employer in Cyprus, carries these statutory duties once the law is in force; the client manages day-to-day pay decisions, and the two coordinate so obligations are met.
Under an Employer of Record arrangement, Teamed is the legal employer of the worker in Cyprus, so the statutory pay transparency duties land on Teamed once the Cypriot law commences: issuing compliant job-offer pay information, not requesting salary history, responding to worker pay-information requests within the legal window, and any applicable reporting. In practice the client sets the role, the budget and the pay decision, while Teamed ensures the offer, contract and process meet Cypriot requirements. Gender pay gap reporting thresholds count the employer's workforce, so how a worker is counted across the EOR and the client will need to be assessed case by case once the final law defines this. Because the law is not yet enacted, no Cyprus-specific filing is required today; Teamed will operationalise the duties when the Act commences.
At a glance
| Pay shown in job ads | Proposed |
|---|---|
| Salary-history question banned | Proposed |
| Gender pay-gap reporting from | Proposed: 250+ annually; 100-249 every 3 years; under 100 voluntary |
| First report due | Unknown (not yet enacted) |
| Penalties | Proposed (up to 10,000 euro and/or 6 months imprisonment in draft) |
Key figures
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Transposition status (Cyprus) | Draft bill in legislative process; not enacted, deadline missed (source) |
| Draft instrument name | Law on Strengthening the Implementation of the Principle of Equal Remuneration between Men and Women through Wage Transparency and Enforcement Mechanisms of 2026 (source) |
| Consultation dates | Published 5 November 2025; consultation closed 4 December 2025; updated draft January 2026 (source) |
| EU transposition deadline | 7 June 2026 (missed by Cyprus) (source) |
| Pay in job ads / before interview (draft) | Starting pay or pay range plus relevant collective agreement terms to be provided at a reasonable time before interview; gender-neutral adverts (source) |
| Salary history ban (draft) | Employers prohibited from asking candidates about pay history (source) |
| Right to pay information (draft) | Worker may request own pay level and average pay levels by sex for equal work; employer responds within two months; annual reminder (source) |
| Gender pay gap reporting thresholds / cadence (draft, tracks Directive) | 250+ annually; 100-249 every 3 years; under 100 voluntary (the Cyprus draft uses a single 100-249 band, not the Directive split) (source) |
| First report due (per Directive timetable) | 7 June 2027 for 150+ employees; 7 June 2031 for 100-149; exact Cyprus dates unconfirmed pending enactment (source) |
| Joint pay assessment trigger (draft) | Unexplained gender pay gap of 5% or more not remedied within six months (source) |
| Penalties (draft) | Up to 10,000 euro fine and/or up to 6 months imprisonment; court remediation orders; full compensation; director/officer personal liability (source) |
Frequently asked questions
Is the EU Pay Transparency Directive in force in Cyprus?
No. As of 30 June 2026, Cyprus has only a draft bill in progress. It was published for consultation in November 2025 and updated in January 2026, but it has not been passed into law and Cyprus missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline. No pay transparency duties are legally binding in Cyprus yet.
What is the draft law called?
Its working title is the Law on Strengthening the Implementation of the Principle of Equal Remuneration between Men and Women for Equal Work or Work of Equal Value, through Wage Transparency and Enforcement Mechanisms of 2026. It was published by the Department of Labour Relations under the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.
Do I have to put pay in job adverts in Cyprus now?
Not as a legal requirement yet. The draft would require employers to give candidates the starting pay or pay range before the interview and to use gender-neutral adverts, but this only becomes binding once the Cypriot law is enacted. Many employers are choosing to adopt the practice early to be ready.
When will larger employers have to report their gender pay gap?
This is not yet confirmed for Cyprus. The draft follows the Directive's thresholds (annual reporting for 250+ employees, every three years for smaller bands down to 100), and the Directive's own first-report dates are 7 June 2027 for employers of 150 or more and 7 June 2031 for the 100 to 149 band. The exact Cypriot dates depend on when the law is finally enacted.
If Teamed is the Employer of Record, who is responsible for compliance?
Teamed is the legal employer in Cyprus, so once the law commences Teamed carries the statutory duties: compliant offers, no salary-history questions, responding to pay-information requests and any reporting. The client controls the actual pay decision and budget, and both sides coordinate so the obligations are met. Right now there is nothing legally to file in Cyprus because the law is not in force.
Pay transparency is moving at different speeds across the EU. When Teamed is your legal employer in Cyprus, these duties sit with us: compliant pay ranges, the salary-history rule, employee pay-information requests, and reporting where it applies. We track the law as it changes so your hiring stays compliant.
