In brief

Following the relevant legislative amendment voted by Parliament on 27 March 2020, the Minister of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance exercised the powers granted to her by the Law and issued Regulations ΚΔΠ 5229-5233 and ΚΔΠ 5239 governing the provision of Special Leave Benefit for the care of children, the Special Sickness Benefit, the Special Benefit for Self-Employed and the Special Unemployment Benefit under the Special Plans for the Complete or Partial Suspension of Businesses' operations respectively. We outline below a summary of the key features of the above measures.

In detail

1. General Information

  1. The Special Leave Benefit is granted to working parents responsible for the care of children up to 15 years old or/and children with special needs irrespective of age. The Benefit is granted to persons who, given the nature of their work, cannot work from home, or work with flexible arrangements and have no help at home. The presence of grandparents is not considered, for the purposes of the Special Leave, as 'help at home'.
  2. The Special Sickness Benefit is granted to employees of the private sector and self-employed falling under special categories not being able to attend their place of work for health related reasons (see Paragraph 3 below).
  3. The Special Benefit for the Self-Employed is provided to self-employed persons (with the exception of persons engaged in specific professions) who have suspended their operations, (on the basis of the Order issued by the Ministry of Health and relevant decisions of the Council of Ministers), or who have partially suspended their operations i.e. present a reduction of more than 25% in their turnover (as presented in Paragraph 4).
  4. The Special Unemployment Benefit is provided to employees of businesses falling under the Special Plan for the Suspension of Businesses' Operations. Any business required to suspend its operations as per the Order issued by the Ministry of Health and the relevant decisions of the Council of Ministers, can fall within the provisions of the plan, so long as it does not perform any commercial activity (other than the administrative functions required from any entity).
  5. The Special Unemployment Benefit is also provided to employees of businesses falling under the Special Plan for the Partial Suspension of Businesses' Operations. A business can participate in the plan so long it has partially suspended its operations, i.e. present a reduction of more than 25% in their turnover (as presented in Paragraph 6). 
  6. With respect to the Special Unemployment Benefit, the term 'business' includes physical or legal persons who are employers and are responsible for the payment of social contributions for their employees to the Social Insurance Fund.
  7. In addition, for the Special Unemployment Benefit, in the case of Group of companies (i.e. in the context of parent and its subsidiaries or related entities with a common owner) engaged in the same economic activity but maintain separate Employer Social Insurance Numbers, the applications that will be submitted by the above group entities will be considered as a single application.
  8. Similarly, the applications that may be submitted by a company with multiple Employer Social Insurance Numbers, will be treated as a single application under the same terms and conditions that would apply if a single Employer Social Insurance Number was available.
  9. The application is made on-line via the Ministry's special webpage www.coronavirus.mlsi.gov.cy. Applicants need also to submit online a statement for their personal banking details to allow for the direct transfer of the benefit.
  10. For the period which the Special Leave and Special Sickness Benefits are payable, the employer is not required to pay the salary of the (recipient) employee.
  11. For the period which the Special Benefit for Self-Employed will be payable, the Self-Employed person is exempt from the obligation to pay contributions to Social Insurance Services.
  12. For the period which the Special Unemployment Benefit is payable, the employer is not required to pay the salary of the employees who are recipients of the benefit. In the event the employer has made payment of the salary, the part of the salary relating to the period for which the benefit will be payable can be used as set-off by the employer.

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