Minimum wage bill expected to reach House by year-end

Nicosia, Cyprus. A bill to harmonise Cyprus legislation with the EU directive on adequate minimum wages is expected to be forwarded to the House of Representatives by the end of the year, Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas said on Sunday.

The minister also said a bill on equal pay and salary transparency is expected to be submitted to the Council of Ministers in September.

Minimum wage harmonisation

Responding to a question from Limassol MP Dimitris Souglis, Mousiouttas said the bill to harmonise with EU Directive 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages is undergoing a new legislative review by the Legal Service.

He said the delay in harmonisation took account of a case before the Court of Justice of the European Union, following Denmark’s challenge to the directive’s legal basis.

The adoption of the court’s decision was an important development for further progress in the harmonisation process, the minister said.

Mousiouttas added that the provisions of the Minimum Wages Law of 2022 and the relevant decree are already being implemented in Cyprus. He said they constitute an important measure for protecting workers and form part of broader policies promoting adequate minimum wages.

Pay transparency measures

In response to a parliamentary question from Famagusta MP Giorgos Koukoumas, Mousiouttas said the bill harmonising Cyprus law with EU Directive 2023/970 on equal pay and pay transparency is expected to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval in September.

It will subsequently be submitted to the House of Representatives for a vote, he said.

The bill has already been discussed with employers’ organisations and trade unions, while the draft has been sent to the Legal Service for legislative review.

Under the draft legislation, the first deadline for employers to submit gender pay-gap data will be June 6, 2027.

Projects to support reporting

The ministry has also undertaken infrastructure projects to promote salary transparency, Mousiouttas said.

These include the eValueJobs project, worth €52,117, which was completed in June, and the Support Measures for Wage Transparency project, with a budget of €1.1 million.

The latter project is due to be implemented by December 2027 and includes an information system for employers to submit pay-gap data.