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Written by Giorgos Kazoleas, Managing Partner Lawyer at Legal Experts Cyprus In the Cypriot labor market, personnel management is often characterized by employer practices that exploit the fear and insecurity of employees. A particularly serious issue is the pretextual threat of collective redundancies within companies and enterprises. When such a threat does not reflect a genuine need for restructuring or financial distress, but is instead used deceptively as leverage to intensify labor and suppress claims (e.g., salary increases, bonus claims, other benefits, promotions, etc.), it transforms into a form of workplace harassment (mobbing) with specific legal implications. The Specialized Legal Framework: Law 42(I)/2025 The legal handling of this phenomenon—which has reached concerning proportions in Cyprus—was decisively strengthened by the enactment of the Prevention and Combating of Violence and Harassment at the Workplace Law of 2025 (Law 42(I)/2025). This law incorporates the...

Editor: Giorgos Kazoleas, Lawyer in Cyprus The development of the law on the issue of harassment in the workplace in recent years aims to better protect the previously completely unprotected employee. Unfortunately, the impression has prevailed that harassing behavior by the employer or a colleague is normal, tolerated and in any case unpunished.  Thus, many employees are subjected to systematic psychological violence in their work environment due to this erroneous culture of "tolerance" that has legitimized behaviors that are rooted in the serious psychopathologies of the abusers. This article explores the legal definition of mobbing, the specific forms of workplace harassment and the relevant case law, on the occasion of the issuance of new legislation on mobbing in the Cyprus jurisdiction. What is mobbing? Mobbing occurs when an individual is systematically harassed, intimidated, or isolated by colleagues, superiors, or subordinates in a professional environment. Unl...