Maternity leave in Cyprus is 22 consecutive weeks for your first or second child and 26 weeks for your third and each child after that. The first 11 weeks are compulsory and start two weeks before the expected birth. While you are off, the Social Insurance Fund pays a maternity allowance instead of your employer, and you cannot lawfully be dismissed from the moment you tell your employer you are pregnant until five months after your leave ends.
Fathers get two weeks of paid paternity leave, and both parents can take up to 18 weeks of parental leave per child, part of it paid. Here is how each piece works under the rules in force in September 2026.
Which law applies
The core statute is the Protection of Maternity Law of 1997 (Law 100(I)/1997), amended many times since. The two recent changes that matter most are Law 14(I)/2024, which lengthened leave from 1 March 2024, and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Law of 2025, published in the Official Gazette on 20 May 2025, which extended the paid breastfeeding hour.
Leave for fathers and for both parents sits in a separate statute: the Paternity, Parental, Carer's and Force Majeure Leave and Flexible Working Arrangements for Work-Life Balance Law of 2022 (Law 216(I)/2022), which transposed the EU Work-Life Balance Directive. The money side, meaning maternity, paternity and parental leave allowances, comes from the Social Insurance Law, 59(I)/2010.
How much maternity leave you get
Before March 2024 a first-time mother got 18 weeks. Law 14(I)/2024 raised that, and it applied to women who were already on leave when it took effect.
| Situation | Maternity leave |
|---|---|
| First or second birth | 22 consecutive weeks |
| Third and each later birth | 26 consecutive weeks |
| Adoption of a child under 12 (first or second) | 20 consecutive weeks |
| Adoption, third and later | 24 consecutive weeks |
Eleven of those weeks are compulsory, beginning in the second week before the week the baby is due. You cannot waive them, and your employer cannot ask you to come back early. The remaining weeks you can arrange with your employer, and most women simply take them straight after the compulsory block.
If your baby needs a long hospital stay, for instance after a premature birth, you get extra time. Where hospitalisation runs past 63 days, you get one additional week for every further 14 days in hospital, up to a maximum of eight extra weeks.
Adoptive leave starts from the date the child comes into your care. The law treats adoption much like birth for dismissal protection too, as explained below.
Maternity allowance: who pays and how much
Your employer does not have to pay your salary during maternity leave. Instead you claim maternity allowance from the Social Insurance Services for the length of your leave, provided you meet the contribution conditions.
The entry test is the one used for sickness and unemployment benefit. You need at least 26 weeks of actual insurance since you first became insured, plus enough insurance in the relevant contribution year. Our guide to Cyprus social insurance walks through the points system in detail.
The basic allowance is 72% of the weekly value of your basic insurance points, a higher rate than the 60% paid for sickness, with a supplementary amount on top where your earnings were above the basic insurable level. In practice the allowance usually comes to less than your full salary, especially for higher earners. Some employers top it up by contract or collective agreement, so check yours. Our piece on employment contract rules covers which terms have to be in writing.
Separately, every mother of a child born on or after 1 October 2024 can claim a childbirth grant, a one-off lump sum: €1,000 for the first child, €1,500 for the second, €2,000 for the third and €2,500 for the fourth and each later child. You apply online through gov.cy or at a District Social Insurance Office, within 12 months of the birth. For children born before that date, the old formula of 6% of annual basic insurable earnings still applies.
Protection from dismissal
This is where most disputes arise. Under the Protection of Maternity Law, once you have told your employer you are pregnant by handing over a medical certificate, they may not dismiss you or give you notice until five months after your maternity leave ends. That window was three months until an amendment in 2018. The same protection applies from the time you notify an intention to adopt.
Put a date on it. If you notify your employer in month three of pregnancy and take 22 weeks of leave, you are protected for well over a year in total.
There are only three exceptions:
- 1You are found guilty of serious misconduct that would justify dismissal anyway.
- 2The business stops operating.
- 3A fixed-term contract comes to its agreed end.
Get the medical certificate to your employer in writing and keep proof of delivery. The protection runs from notification, so a verbal mention in the corridor gives you a weaker case if things go wrong later.
Dismissal because of pregnancy is also sex discrimination under the Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Employment and Vocational Training Law (Law 205(I)/2002), which lets you claim compensation for loss and non-pecuniary damage. When the Labour Disputes Court assesses compensation it looks at your length of service, your salary and the stage of pregnancy you had reached, including the pay you lost before your leave would have begun. A dismissal in the protected period also counts as unfair under Law 24/1967; see our guide to unfair dismissal in Cyprus for the 12-month deadline to bring a claim.
Coming back: the breastfeeding hour
When you return, you are entitled to one hour a day off for breastfeeding or the extra care a young baby needs. You can take it as a break in the day, or start an hour later, or leave an hour earlier. The hour counts as working time and is paid.
The 2025 amendment extended this right from nine to twelve months after the birth (or, for adoption, after maternity leave began). If your nine months had not run out by 20 May 2025, you get the full twelve.
Paternity leave for fathers
Fathers are entitled to two weeks of paternity leave, which can be taken any time from the week of the birth (or adoption) until two weeks after the mother's maternity leave ends. There is no minimum period of service, and the 2022 law made the right independent of marital status, so unmarried fathers qualify too. If the mother dies during her maternity leave, the father takes over the weeks she had left.
Pay comes from the Social Insurance Fund as paternity allowance at the same 72% basic rate as maternity allowance, again subject to the contribution conditions. You must give your employer two weeks' notice of the dates, and doing it in writing avoids arguments later.
Parental leave for both parents
On top of maternity and paternity leave, each parent can take up to 18 weeks of parental leave for each child. You qualify once you have six months of continuous employment with the same employer, and you give three weeks' notice. The leave does not have to be taken in one go (the minimum is a day, the maximum five weeks a year) and can be used until the child turns 15, or 21 for a child with a disability. Single parents get 23 weeks.
Part of it is paid. Since 31 March 2025 the Social Insurance Fund pays parental leave allowance for:
- 8 weeks for the first child
- 10 weeks for the second
- 12 weeks for the third
- 14 weeks for the fourth and each later child
Any weeks beyond that are unpaid unless your employer chooses to pay. Your employer can postpone parental leave by up to two months for genuine operational reasons, but cannot refuse it. Your job, or an equivalent one, has to be available when you come back, and you are protected against dismissal for having asked for or taken the leave.
The 2022 law also introduced five days a year of unpaid carer's leave, seven days of unpaid force majeure leave for family emergencies, and the right for parents of children up to eight to request flexible working, such as reduced hours or remote work, once they have six months' service. An employer can say no, but has to reply within a month and give reasons.
If your employer gets it wrong
Most problems are fixable before they reach court. Start with a written complaint to your employer, citing the law. If that fails, the Department of Labour Relations at the Ministry of Labour can step in and mediate. Equal treatment complaints can also go to the Ombudsman, who acts as the equality body.
For dismissal or unpaid compensation, the route is the Labour Disputes Court, which sits in Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca. Keep copies of your medical certificate, the date you handed it in, your contract, payslips and any messages about your pregnancy or leave. If you are moving to Cyprus for a job and wondering how this sits alongside work permits and contracts, our guide to working in Cyprus covers the basics.
Pregnant and worried about your job, or already dismissed? Browse the directory for an employment lawyer in Limassol or Nicosia who handles maternity and discrimination claims. Leave periods and allowance rules here reflect the position in September 2026; confirm the current position with a qualified Cyprus advocate before you act.