Cyprus - Benefits for employment accidents and occupational diseases

This chapter contains what you need to know about benefits for employment accidents and occupational diseases in Cyprus.

The following are covered here:

physical injury benefit (accident compensation);
disability benefits.

In what situation can I claim?

The physical injury allowance is payable to any employed person, regardless of age. For the allowance to be paid, the worker must be unable to work because of an employment accident or occupational disease and must not be receiving a full wage or salary from the employer during the period of not working.

Disability benefits are paid to employees for permanent injuries caused by an employment accident or occupational disease.

Disability benefits include a disability pension in cases where the medical advisor decides that the level of disability because of the accident is greater than 20% or a disability grant where the medical advisor decides that the level of disability because of the accident is between 10% and 19%. Where the disability is below 10% in the case of an accident, the employee is not entitled to disability benefit. In the case of occupational diseases, a level of disability of 1-19% is deemed equivalent to 20%.

What conditions do I need to meet?

There are no insurance requirements for the payment of the physical injury allowance or benefits because of disability. It is sufficient that the worker was an employee on the day the accident or occupational disease was caused, and that the accident was caused in the course of carrying out the person's duties.

What am I entitled to and how can I claim?

Physical injury allowance

The physical injury allowance is paid to any employed person who is incapable of work as a result of an employment accident or occupational disease for a maximum of 12 months from the date of the accident or manifestation of the disease.

The rate of the personal injury benefit is the same as the rate for sickness benefit. However, the minimum amount of benefit paid to people with incomes below the basic insurable earnings is the same as the basic insurable earnings.

Disability benefits

Disability benefits are payable to any employed person who, as a result of an employment accident, suffers a loss of physical or mental capacity to a degree of not less than 10% with the exception of cases of pneumoconiosis, which are compensated from 1%.

Disability benefits may take the form of either a lump sum or a pension, depending on the degree of disability. The lump sum is paid for a degree of disability from 10 to 19%, and the pension for a disability of greater than 20% (no benefits are paid for a disability of less than 10%).

The disability pension consists of the basic pension and the supplementary pension, and is paid as follows:

the amount of the basic weekly disability allowance paid for 100% disability is equivalent to 60% of the weekly basic insurable earnings, and increases to 80%, 90% or 100% depending on whether there are one, two or three dependants. In the case of an insured person, without a dependent spouse, a 10% increase is paid for each dependant up to a maximum of two;
the amount of the weekly supplementary pension paid for 100% disability is equivalent to 60% of the weekly value of the annual average of the insurance points in the actual and assimilated supplementary insurance coverage during the period from the beginning of the second completed contribution year before the date of the relevant accident until the last week before that in which the accident occurred;
The disability pension for a degree of disability below 100% is proportional to the actual degree. When the beneficiary's disability is below 100% (and is expected to be permanent) but he or she cannot work because of the disability, the disability pension - basic and supplementary - may, if it is more beneficial to the recipient, be calculated based on a degree of disability equal to the percentage on which the invalidity pension would be calculated;
A regular care allowance is available at a rate of 100% to those entitled to a disability pension who are in need of regular care. It is equal to 55% of the basic disability pension for total disability (100%). The monthly allowance amounts to € 256.11 from 1 January 2023.

The disability grant is equal to 7 times the annual amount of the disability pension for total disability (without increases for dependants) multiplied by the percentage degree of disability.

Degree of disability	Benefit (EUR) from 2.1.2023
10%	4,237.42
11%	4,661.16
12%	5,084.90
13%	5,508.64
14%	5,932.38
15%	6,356.12
16%	6,779.86
17%	7,203.61
18%	7,627.35
19%	8,051.09

Free healthcare is provided to all beneficiaries by public hospitals and doctors. Should the employer have a health plan, the cost of private hospitals and doctors is covered up to an amount not exceeding the fees paid to public institutions by the Social Insurance Fund. It should be noted that only healthcare deemed to be necessary as a result of the physical injury sustained by the beneficiary is covered;
To be granted the physical injury benefit an application form must be submitted, accompanied by the required certificates, within 21 days of the date of the accident. In the case of disability benefits the application must be submitted within 3 months.

Jargon busters

Basic insurance: includes the insurable earnings for each year up to the amount of the basic insurable earnings i.e. up to one point.
Supplementary insurance: includes insurable earnings for each year above the amount of the basic insurable earnings.
Insurance points: the result arrived at by converting actual and assimilated insurable earnings to insurance points.
Relevant contribution year: in relation to benefits, this means the last contribution year before the benefit year which includes the date on which the insurance conditions attached to the benefit must be satisfied (i.e. for the first half of 2023 the relevant contribution year is 2021 and for the second half of 2023 the relevant contribution year is 2022).
Benefit year: the period of time which commences on the first Monday of July each year and ends on the last Sunday before the first Monday of July in the following year.

Dependent members:

the spouse with whom he/she lives or whom he/she maintains and is not gainfully occupied;
a child aged under 15 years;
an unmarried daughter aged between 15 and 23 years who receives regular care;
an unmarried son aged between 15 and 25 years who is serving his term in the National Guard or is receiving regular education;
a child, regardless of age, who is permanently incapable of self-support;
a husband who is unable to work and who is supported by his wife;
a parent who is unable to work and is supported by the insured person;
a juvenile younger brother or sister if maintained by the insured person.