Labour Law No. 4857

The purpose of this Law is to regulate the rights and responsibilities of employers and of employees employed on the basis of an employment contract with respect to working conditions and the working environment.

This Law shall apply, irrespective of their fields of activity, to all workplaces other than those covered by the exceptions in Article 4, to the employers and employer's representatives of such workplaces and to their employees.

Workplaces, employers, employer's representatives and employees shall be bound by the provisions of this Law irrespective of the date of notification under Article 3.

A natural person who works on the basis of an employment contract is called an employee; a natural or legal person, or an institution or organisation without legal personality, that employs an employee is called an employer; and the relationship established between the employee and the employer is called an employment relationship. The unit in which the tangible and intangible elements and the employee are organised together by the employer for the purpose of producing goods or services is called a workplace.

Places which are linked in nature to the goods or services produced by the employer at the workplace and which are organised under the same management (places attached to the workplace), as well as other annexes and means such as rest areas, nursing rooms, dining halls, sleeping quarters, washing facilities, medical examination and care facilities, physical and vocational training facilities and courtyards, shall also be deemed part of the workplace.

The workplace is a whole within the scope of the work organisation formed by the workplace, the places attached to the workplace, the annexes and the means.

Added paragraph: 23/7/2010, Law No. 6009, Art. 48; Repealed paragraph 4: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Persons who act on behalf of the employer and take part in the management of the work, the workplace and the undertaking are called employer's representatives. The employer shall be directly responsible for the acts and obligations of the employer's representative towards the employees in that capacity.

All kinds of responsibilities and obligations provided for the employer in this Law shall also apply to employer's representatives. The capacity of employer's representative shall not eliminate the rights and obligations granted to employees.

The relationship established between an employer and another employer who undertakes work from that employer in auxiliary work relating to the production of goods or services carried out at the workplace, or in a part of the main work in jobs that require expertise due to the requirements of the undertaking and the work or for technological reasons, and who employs the employees assigned by him for this work solely in the work undertaken at that workplace, is called a principal employer and subcontractor relationship. In this relationship, the principal employer shall be jointly responsible with the subcontractor for the obligations of the subcontractor towards the subcontractor's employees in relation to that workplace arising from this Law, from the employment contract or from the collective labour agreement to which the subcontractor is a party.

The rights of the principal employer's employees may not be restricted by having them recruited and continued in employment by the subcontractor, and no subcontracting relationship may be established with a person who was previously employed at that workplace. Otherwise, and in general, the principal employer and subcontractor relationship shall be deemed to be based on a sham transaction, and the subcontractor's employees shall be treated as employees of the principal employer from the outset. Except for jobs that require expertise due to the requirements of the undertaking and the work or for technological reasons, the main work may not be divided and given to subcontractors.

Added paragraph: 1/7/2006, Law No. 5538, Art. 18 In public institutions and organisations established on the basis of a law or a Presidential decree, and in companies in which they directly or indirectly own at least fifty percent of the capital, persons employed through a contractor pursuant to contracts concluded for the procurement of services within the framework of Public Procurement Law No. 4734 or the provisions of other laws shall not, on the basis of having worked in this manner, acquire the following rights;

a) The right to be appointed to permanent staff positions or posts belonging to these institutions, organisations and companies,

b) The right to benefit from all kinds of financial rights and social benefits determined under collective labour agreements, personnel laws or other relevant legislation for those working in permanent staff positions or posts in the workplaces belonging to these institutions, organisations and companies,

shall not be acquired by them.

Added paragraph: 1/7/2006, Law No. 5538, Art. 18 Persons employed in the workplaces specified in the eighth paragraph by employers other than contractors, and persons who themselves directly work in the procured work which they have undertaken by concluding a contract in their own name and on their own account within the framework of the procurement legislation to which these workplaces are subject, shall also be subject to the same provisions. The provisions of the eighth paragraph shall also apply to requests of employees working in permanent staff positions or posts of companies in whose capital the institutions, organisations or companies specified in the eighth paragraph participate, to be appointed to permanent staff positions or posts of the public institutions, organisations or companies that are shareholders, or to benefit from the financial rights and social benefits applicable in these institutions, organisations or companies. In the contracts and specifications forming the basis of the procurement of services, provisions to the effect that:

a) The authority to determine the persons to be recruited and to dismiss them is left to the public institutions, organisations and companies,

b) Persons who previously worked at the same workplace under service procurement contracts or as temporary employees shall continue to be employed,

may not be included.

An employer who establishes a workplace of a nature falling within the scope of this Law, takes over such a workplace in any manner whatsoever, changes its field of activity partially or completely, or terminates its activity for any reason and closes the workplace, shall be obliged to notify the regional directorate within one month of the title and address of the workplace, the number of employees employed, the field of activity, the date on which the work starts or ends, his own name and surname or trade name, his address and, if any, the names, surnames and addresses of the employer's representative or representatives.

Amended second paragraph: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 1 A subcontractor undertaking work pursuant to the sixth paragraph of Article 2 of this Law shall be obliged to make a notification in accordance with the first paragraph, together with the written subcontracting agreement obtained from the principal employer and the necessary documents, for the registration of its own workplace. The documents relating to this workplace registered by the regional directorate shall, when necessary, be examined by labour inspectors. If a sham transaction is established as a result of the examination, the reasoned inspector's report concerning this finding shall be served on the employers. The employers may object to this report before the competent labour court within thirty working days from the date of service. Amended fifth sentence: 16/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 1 The action to be heard upon the objection shall be concluded within four months in accordance with the simple trial procedure. If the court's decision is appealed, the Court of Cassation shall render a final decision within six months. Public administrations shall be obliged to object to these reports before the competent labour courts and to pursue other legal remedies against court decisions. If no objection is made to the report within thirty working days, or if the court upholds the finding of a sham transaction, the registration shall be cancelled and the subcontractor's employees shall be deemed employees of the principal employer from the outset.

Added paragraph: 11/6/2003, Law No. 4884, Art. 10 However, the registration records of companies shall be made on the basis of the documents sent by the trade registry offices, and these documents shall be sent by the relevant trade registry office within one month to the relevant regional directorates of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Added paragraph: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 1 The procedures and principles relating to the establishment and notification of the principal employer and subcontractor relationship, the registration of the workplace and other matters that must be included in the contract to be concluded shall be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

The provisions of this Law shall not apply to the following work and employment relationships;

a) Sea and air transport work,

b) Workplaces or undertakings in which agricultural and forestry work is carried out and in which fewer than 50 employees (50 included) are employed,

c) All kinds of construction work related to agriculture that remain within the limits of the family economy,

d) Work carried out in homes and in handicrafts among members of a family and their relatives up to the 3rd degree (3rd degree included) without the participation of any outsider,

e) Domestic services,

f) (…) apprentices,

g) Athletes,

h) Persons undergoing rehabilitation,

ı) Workplaces employing three persons that conform to the definition in Article 2 of Tradesmen and Craftsmen Law No. 507.

However;

a) Loading and unloading work from ships to land and from land to ships carried out on coasts or in ports and piers,

b) Work carried out in all ground facilities of aviation,

c) Work performed in workshops and factories where agricultural arts are practised and agricultural tools, machinery and their parts are manufactured,

d) Construction work carried out in agricultural undertakings,

e) Park and garden work open to public use or constituting an annex of the workplace,

f) Work relating to producers of aquatic products working at sea that does not fall within the scope of the Maritime Labour Law and is not considered agricultural work,

shall be subject to the provisions of this Law.

Added: 6/2/2014, Law No. 6518, Art. 57 No discrimination based on language, race, colour, sex, disability, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion and sect or similar grounds may be made in the employment relationship.

Unless there are essential reasons, the employer may not treat a part-time employee differently from a full-time employee, or an employee with a fixed-term contract differently from an employee with an indefinite-term contract.

Unless biological reasons or reasons relating to the nature of the work make it necessary, the employer may not directly or indirectly treat an employee differently on grounds of sex or pregnancy in the conclusion of the employment contract, the establishment of its terms, its implementation or its termination.

A lower wage may not be agreed on grounds of sex for the same work or for work of equal value.

The application of special protective provisions on account of the employee's sex shall not justify the application of a lower wage.

Where the provisions of the above paragraphs are violated in the employment relationship or its termination, the employee may claim, in addition to appropriate compensation of up to four months' wages, the rights of which he has been deprived. The provisions of Article 31 of Trade Unions Law No. 2821 are reserved.

Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 20, the burden of proving that the employer has acted contrary to the provisions of the above paragraphs lies with the employee. However, where the employee presents a situation that strongly indicates the probability of the existence of a violation, the employer shall bear the burden of proving that no such violation exists.

Where a workplace or a part of a workplace is transferred to another person on the basis of a legal transaction, the employment contracts existing at the workplace or that part of it on the date of transfer shall pass to the transferee together with all rights and obligations.

The transferee employer shall be obliged, with respect to rights based on the employee's length of service, to act according to the date on which the employee started work with the transferor employer.

In the event of a transfer under the above provisions, the transferor and transferee employers shall be jointly responsible for debts that arose before the transfer and are due for payment on the date of transfer. However, the responsibility of the transferor employer for these obligations shall be limited to two years from the date of transfer.

The provisions on joint responsibility shall not apply where a legal person ceases to exist through merger, acquisition or change of type.

The transferor or transferee employer may not terminate the employment contract solely because of the transfer of the workplace or a part of the workplace, and the transfer shall not constitute just cause for termination on the part of the employee. The rights of the transferor or transferee employer to terminate as required by economic and technological reasons or changes in the work organisation, and the rights of employees and employers to terminate immediately for just cause, are reserved.

The above provisions shall not apply where the workplace or a part of it is transferred to another person as a result of the liquidation of assets due to bankruptcy.

Amended: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 1

A temporary employment relationship may be established through a private employment agency, or by assignment to another workplace within a holding structure or belonging to the same group of companies.

A temporary employment relationship through a private employment agency, consisting of a private employment agency authorised by the Turkish Employment Agency (Türkiye İş Kurumu) concluding a temporary employee supply contract with an employer and temporarily transferring one of its employees to that employer;

a) In the cases specified in the fifth paragraph of Article 13 and in Article 74 of this Law, in the case of the employee's military service and in other cases where the employment contract is suspended,

b) In seasonal agricultural work,

c) In domestic services,

d) In work that is not considered part of the daily work of the undertaking and is performed intermittently,

e) In work that is urgent in terms of occupational health and safety, or in the event of compelling reasons that significantly affect production,

f) In the event that the average goods and services production capacity of the undertaking increases unforeseeably to an extent requiring the establishment of a temporary employment relationship,

g) In the event of periodic increases in work, excluding seasonal work,

may be established in the above cases.

A temporary employee supply contract may be concluded for the duration of the cases listed in subparagraph (a) of the second paragraph, without time limit in the cases listed in subparagraphs (b) and (c), and for a maximum of four months in the cases listed in the other subparagraphs. Such a contract may be renewed at most twice, provided that, except for subparagraph (g) of the second paragraph, the total period does not exceed eight months. An employer employing temporary employees may not again employ temporary employees for the same work at the end of the specified period until six months have elapsed.

A temporary employment relationship under the second paragraph of this Article may not be established in workplaces where collective dismissals have been made within the scope of Article 29 of this Law for a period of eight months, in public institutions and organisations, or in workplaces where underground mining is carried out.

An employer employing temporary employees may not employ employees through a temporary employment relationship during a strike or lockout, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 65 of Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreements Law No. 6356 dated 18/10/2012.

The number of employees employed through a temporary employment relationship within the scope of subparagraph (f) of the second paragraph may not exceed one quarter of the number of employees employed at the workplace. However, in workplaces employing ten or fewer employees, a temporary employment relationship may be established for up to five employees. In determining the number of employees, those working under a part-time employment contract shall be converted into full-time equivalents by taking their working hours into account. An employee working under a temporary employee supply contract shall not be included in the number of employees of the private employment agency and of the employer employing temporary employees for the application of Article 30.

An employer employing temporary employees may not employ, within the scope of a temporary employment relationship, an employee of its own whose employment contract has been terminated before six months have elapsed from the date of termination.

A temporary employee may not receive an advance or loan from the employer employing temporary employees to be set off against the service fee of the private employment agency.

The employer employing temporary employees;

a) Has the authority to give instructions to the temporary employee in accordance with the requirements of the work and the temporary employee supply contract.

b) Is obliged to notify the temporary employee of vacant positions at the workplace and to keep the documents requested by the Turkish Employment Agency for the specified periods.

c) Is obliged to notify cases of occupational accident and occupational disease of the temporary employee to the private employment agency immediately, and to the relevant authorities in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 dated 31/5/2006.

d) Shall allow temporary employees, during the periods in which they work, to benefit from the social services at the workplace in accordance with the principle of equal treatment. During the periods in which they do not work, temporary employees shall be allowed to benefit from the training and childcare services of the private employment agency.

e) Is obliged to notify the workplace trade union representative, if any, of information on the employment status of temporary employees at the workplace.

f) Is obliged to provide the training provided for in the sixth paragraph of Article 17 of Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 dated 20/6/2012 and to take the necessary measures in terms of occupational health and safety, and the temporary employee is obliged to attend such training.

The basic working conditions of a temporary employee during the period of work at the workplace of the employer employing temporary employees may not be below the conditions that would be provided if such employees were directly employed by the same employer for the same work.

In a temporary employment relationship, the employer is the private employment agency. A temporary employment relationship through a private employment agency shall be established in writing by concluding an employment contract with the temporary employee and a temporary employee supply contract with the employer employing temporary employees. The temporary employee supply contract to be concluded between the private employment agency and the employer employing temporary employees shall include the start and end dates of the contract, the nature of the work, the service fee of the private employment agency and, if any, the special obligations of the employer employing temporary employees and of the private employment agency. No provisions may be included that prevent the temporary employee from receiving services from the Turkish Employment Agency or another private employment agency, or from working, after performing the work, at the workplace of the employer for which he worked as a temporary employee or of a different employer. The employment contract to be concluded with the temporary employee shall specify the period within which, if the employee is not called to work, he may terminate the employment contract for just cause. This period may not exceed three months.

In a temporary employment relationship established within the scope of subparagraph (f) of the second paragraph, the employer employing temporary employees shall be obliged to check every month, throughout the period of their work, whether the wages of temporary employees working at the workplace for more than one month have been paid, and the private employment agency shall be obliged to submit monthly to the employer employing temporary employees the documents showing that the wages have been paid. If there are unpaid wages, the employer employing temporary employees shall withhold payment of the private employment agency's receivable until they are paid and shall deposit the wages of the temporary employees for up to a maximum of three months directly into the employees' bank accounts, to be set off against the private employment agency's receivable. The employees whose wages have not been paid and the amounts of unpaid wages shall be notified by the employer employing temporary employees to the provincial directorate of labour and employment agency.

Where the temporary employment relationship continues despite the expiry of the period specified in the contract, an employment contract of indefinite duration shall be deemed to have been established between the employer employing temporary employees and the employee as from the expiry date of the contract. In this case, the private employment agency shall be responsible, limited to the contract period, for the employee's wages arising from the temporary employment relationship, the duty of care towards the employee and social insurance premiums.

The temporary employee shall be liable towards the employer employing temporary employees for damage caused by his fault, provided that it relates to the workplace and the work.

A temporary employment relationship shall also be established where the employer, by obtaining the employee's written consent at the time of transfer, temporarily transfers one of its employees to another workplace within a holding structure or belonging to the same group of companies in order to perform work. A temporary employment relationship under this paragraph may be established in writing for a period not exceeding six months and may be renewed at most twice. The obligation of the employer temporarily transferring its employee to pay wages shall continue. The employer with which the temporary employment relationship is established shall be jointly responsible with the transferor employer for the employee's unpaid wages for the period during which the employee worked for it, the duty of care towards the employee and social insurance premiums. The rights and obligations regulated in the fourth, fifth, tenth and fourteenth paragraphs, in subparagraphs (a) and (f) of the ninth paragraph and in the first sentence of subparagraph (d) thereof shall also apply to a temporary employment relationship established under this paragraph.

An employment contract is a contract whereby one party (the employee) undertakes to perform work in a dependent capacity and the other party (the employer) undertakes to pay wages. Unless otherwise provided by law, an employment contract shall not be subject to any special form.

Employment contracts with a duration of one year or more must be concluded in writing. Such documents shall be exempt from stamp duty and all kinds of charges and fees.

In cases where no written contract is concluded, the employer shall be obliged to give the employee, within two months at the latest, a written document showing the general and special working conditions, the daily or weekly working time, the basic wage and wage supplements, if any, the wage payment period, the duration of the contract if it is for a fixed term, and the provisions that the parties must comply with in the event of termination. The provision of this paragraph shall not apply to fixed-term employment contracts with a duration not exceeding one month. If the employment contract ends before the expiry of the two-month period, this information must be given to the employee in writing at the latest on the date of termination.

The parties may arrange the employment contract in a type suited to their needs, subject to the limitations introduced by the provisions of the Law.

Employment contracts shall be concluded for a definite or an indefinite term. In terms of working patterns, these contracts may be established as full-time or part-time, or with a probationary period, or in another type.

Work which, by its nature, lasts at most thirty working days is called non-continuous work, and work lasting longer than that is called continuous work.

Articles 3, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 75, 80 and provisional Article 6 of this Law shall not apply to employment contracts concluded for non-continuous work. In non-continuous work, the provisions of the Code of Obligations shall apply to the matters regulated in these articles.

Where the employment relationship is not made subject to a term, the contract shall be deemed to be of indefinite term. An employment contract concluded in writing between the employer and the employee for work of a definite duration, or on the basis of objective conditions such as the completion of a specific work or the occurrence of a specific event, is a fixed-term employment contract.

A fixed-term employment contract may not be concluded more than once in succession (in a chain) unless there is an essential reason. Otherwise, the employment contract shall be deemed to be of indefinite term from the beginning.

Chained employment contracts based on an essential reason shall retain their fixed-term character.

An employee employed under a fixed-term employment contract may not, solely because the employment contract is of fixed term, be treated differently from a comparable employee employed under an indefinite-term employment contract, unless there is a reason justifying the differentiation.

Wages and divisible monetary benefits payable on the basis of a specific period of time shall be granted to an employee working under a fixed-term employment contract in proportion to the period during which the employee has worked. Where seniority in the same workplace or undertaking is required in order to benefit from any working condition, the seniority applied to a comparable employee working under an indefinite-term employment contract shall apply to the employee working under a fixed-term employment contract, unless there is a reason justifying the application of a different seniority.

A comparable employee is an employee employed in the workplace in the same or similar work under an indefinite-term employment contract. Where there is no such employee in the workplace, an employee employed under an indefinite-term employment contract who undertakes the same or similar work in a workplace in that branch of activity meeting the conditions shall be taken into consideration.

Where the normal weekly working time of the employee is determined to be considerably less than that of a comparable employee working under a full-time employment contract, the contract is a part-time employment contract.

An employee employed under a part-time employment contract may not, solely because the employment contract is part-time, be treated differently from a comparable full-time employee, unless there is a reason justifying the differentiation. Wages and divisible monetary benefits of an employee working part-time shall be paid in proportion to the period worked, as compared with a comparable full-time employee.

A comparable employee is an employee employed full-time in the workplace in the same or similar work. Where there is no such employee in the workplace, an employee employed under a full-time employment contract who undertakes the same or similar work in a workplace in that branch of activity meeting the conditions shall be taken as the basis.

Where a vacancy suited to their qualifications exists, requests of employees working in the workplace to be transferred from part-time to full-time or from full-time to part-time work shall be taken into consideration by the employer, and vacancies shall be announced in due time.

Added paragraph: 29/1/2016, Law No. 6663, Art. 21 After the end of the leaves provided for in Article 74 of this Law, one of the parents may request to work part-time under this article until the beginning of the month following the date on which the child reaches compulsory primary education age. This request shall be met by the employer and shall not constitute a valid reason for termination. An employee who has started working part-time within the scope of this paragraph may return to full-time work, on condition that he or she does not benefit from this right again for the same child. Where an employee who has switched to part-time work starts working full-time, the employment contract of the employee recruited in his or her place shall terminate automatically. An employee who wishes to benefit from this right or to return to full-time work shall notify the employer thereof in writing at least one month in advance. Where one of the parents does not work, the working spouse may not request to work part-time. Persons who adopt, jointly with their spouse or individually, a child who has not completed the age of three shall also benefit from this right as of the date on which the child is actually handed over.

Added paragraph: 29/1/2016, Law No. 6663, Art. 21 The sectors or types of work in which part-time work may be performed within the scope of the fifth paragraph, and the procedures and principles relating to implementation, shall be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

An employment relationship in which it is agreed by written contract that the obligation to perform work shall be fulfilled whenever the employee is needed in connection with the work the employee has undertaken to perform is a part-time employment contract based on on-call work.

Where the parties do not determine how long the employee shall work within a time period such as a week, a month or a year, the weekly working time shall be deemed to have been agreed as twenty hours. The employee shall be entitled to wages for the period determined for on-call work, whether or not the employee is actually made to work.

An employer having the right to request, by way of call, that the employee perform the obligation to work shall, unless otherwise agreed, make this call at least four days before the time at which the employee is to work. Upon a call made in compliance with the time limit, the employee shall be obliged to perform the work. Where the daily working time has not been agreed in the contract, the employer shall, at each call, employ the employee for at least four consecutive hours per day.

Added paragraph: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 2 Remote work is an employment relationship established in writing based on the principle that the employee performs the obligation to work, within the scope of the work organisation created by the employer, at home or outside the workplace by means of technological communication tools.

Added paragraph: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 2 The employment contract to be concluded under the fourth paragraph shall contain provisions on the definition of the work, the manner in which it is to be performed, the duration and place of the work, matters relating to wages and payment of wages, the equipment provided by the employer and the obligations relating to its protection, the employer's communication with the employee, and the general and special working conditions.

Added paragraph: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 2 In remote work, employees may not be treated differently from a comparable employee solely because of the nature of the employment contract, unless there is an essential reason. Taking into account the nature of the work performed by the employee to whom work is given through a remote work relationship, the employer shall be obliged to inform the employee about occupational health and safety measures, to provide the necessary training, to ensure health surveillance and to take the necessary occupational safety measures relating to the equipment provided.

Added paragraph: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 2 The procedures and principles of remote work, the types of work in which remote work may not be performed taking into account the nature of the work, the application of the undertaking's rules on the protection and sharing of data, and other matters shall be determined by a regulation issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Where a probation clause is included in the employment contract by the parties, its duration may be at most two months. However, the probationary period may be extended up to four months by collective labour agreements.

During the probationary period, the parties may terminate the employment contract without the need for a notice period and without compensation. The employee's wages and other rights for the days worked are reserved.

A contract concluded with the employer by one of the employees, in the capacity of team leader, on behalf of a team formed by more than one employee is called a team contract.

The team contract must be made in writing, whatever the term agreed for the employment contracts to be established. The identity of each employee and the wage he or she will receive shall be shown separately in the contract.

Upon each of the employees whose names are written in the team contract starting work, an employment contract shall be deemed to have been concluded between that employee and the employer on the terms determined in the team contract. However, the provision of Article 110 of the Code of Obligations shall also apply to the team contract.

The employer or the employer's representative shall pay the wages of the employees with whom an employment contract is established upon starting work to each of them separately. No deduction may be made from the wages of the employees included in the team for the team leader on account of intermediation in employment or any similar reason.

Before the termination of indefinite-term employment contracts, the other party must be notified of the situation.

Employment contracts shall,

a) for an employee whose employment has lasted less than six months, two weeks after notice is given to the other party,

b) for an employee whose employment has lasted from six months to one and a half years, four weeks after notice is given to the other party,

c) for an employee whose employment has lasted from one and a half years to three years, six weeks after notice is given to the other party,

d) for an employee whose employment has lasted more than three years, eight weeks after notice is given,

be deemed terminated.

These periods are minimums and may be increased by contracts.

The party failing to comply with the notice requirement shall pay compensation in the amount of the wages corresponding to the notice period.

The employer may terminate the employment contract by paying in advance the wages corresponding to the notice period.

The employer's failure to comply with the notice requirement, or its termination of the contract by paying in advance the wages corresponding to the notice period, shall not prevent the application of the provisions of Articles 18, 19, 20 and 21 of this Law. In cases where the employment contract of employees falling outside the scope of application of Articles 18, 19, 20 and 21 of this Law pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 18 is terminated through abuse of the right of termination, compensation in the amount of three times the notice period shall be paid to the employee. Failure also to comply with the notice requirement for termination shall additionally require the payment of compensation pursuant to the fourth paragraph.

In calculating the compensation payable under this article and the wages for notice periods to be paid in advance, in addition to the wage referred to in the first paragraph of Article 32, money provided to the employee or benefits capable of being measured in money arising from the contract and the Law shall also be taken into account.

An employer terminating the indefinite-term employment contract of an employee with at least six months' seniority in workplaces employing thirty or more employees must rely on a valid reason arising from the employee's capacity or conduct or from the operational requirements of the undertaking, the workplace or the work. Added sentence: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 2 For employees working in underground work, the seniority requirement shall not apply.

In calculating the six months' seniority, the periods in Article 66 of this Law shall be taken into account.

In particular, the following matters shall not constitute a valid reason for termination:

a) Trade union membership or participation in trade union activities outside working hours or, with the consent of the employer, within working hours.

b) Acting as workplace trade union representative.

c) Applying to administrative or judicial authorities against the employer in order to pursue rights or fulfil obligations arising from legislation or contract, or participating in proceedings initiated in this regard.

d) Race, colour, sex, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, childbirth, religion, political opinion and similar reasons.

e) Absence from work during the periods provided for in Article 74 in which the employment of female employees is prohibited.

f) Temporary absence from work due to illness or accident during the waiting period provided for in sub-subparagraph (b) of subparagraph (I) of Article 25.

The employee's six months' seniority shall be calculated by combining the periods spent in one or different workplaces of the same employer. Where the employer has more than one workplace in the same branch of activity, the number of employees working in the workplace shall be determined according to the total number of employees working in these workplaces.

This article, Articles 19 and 21 and the last paragraph of Article 25 shall not apply to the employer's representative and his or her assistants who manage and direct the undertaking as a whole, or to employer's representatives who manage and direct the workplace as a whole and who have the authority to hire and dismiss employees.

The employer shall give notice of termination in writing and shall state the reason for termination clearly and precisely.

The indefinite-term employment contract of an employee may not be terminated for reasons relating to that employee's conduct or performance without obtaining the employee's defence against the allegations made against him or her. However, the employer's right of termination in compliance with the conditions of subparagraph (II) of Article 25 is reserved.

Amended paragraph 1: 12/10/2017, Law No. 7036, Art. 11 An employee whose employment contract has been terminated, claiming that no reason was stated in the notice of termination or that the reason stated is not a valid reason, shall apply to a mediator with a request for reinstatement, in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Courts Law, within one month from the date of service of the notice of termination. Where no agreement is reached at the end of the mediation process, an action may be brought before the labour court within two weeks from the date on which the final report is drawn up. If the parties agree, the dispute may also be referred, within the same time limit, to a private arbitrator instead of the labour court. Where an action is dismissed on procedural grounds because it was brought directly without applying to a mediator, the decision of dismissal shall be served on the parties ex officio. An application to a mediator may be made within two weeks from the ex officio service of the finalised decision of dismissal.

The burden of proving that the termination is based on a valid reason lies with the employer. Where the employee claims that the termination is based on another reason, the employee shall be obliged to prove this claim.

Amended paragraph 3: 12/10/2017, Law No. 7036, Art. 11 The action shall be concluded expeditiously. Where an appeal (istinaf) is lodged against the decision rendered by the court, the regional court of appeal shall decide expeditiously and with final effect.

Paragraph 4 annulled by Constitutional Court decision of 19/10/2005, E. 2003/66, K. 2005/72.

Where the court or the private arbitrator, having established that the employer did not state a valid reason or that the reason stated is not valid, decides that the termination is invalid, the employer shall reinstate the employee within one month. If the employer does not reinstate the employee within one month upon the employee's application, the employer shall be liable to pay the employee compensation in the amount of at least four months' and at most eight months' wages.

When the court or the private arbitrator decides that the termination is invalid, it shall also determine the amount of compensation payable if the employee is not reinstated.

For the period during which the employee was not employed until the decision becomes final, the employee shall be paid the wages and other entitlements accrued for up to a maximum of four months.

Added paragraph: 12/10/2017, Law No. 7036, Art. 12 The court or the private arbitrator shall determine in monetary terms the compensation regulated in the second paragraph and the wages and other entitlements regulated in the third paragraph, on the basis of the wage at the date of the action.

If the employee is reinstated, the wages for the notice period paid in advance and the severance pay shall be set off against the payment to be made under the provisions of the paragraphs above. If the employee who is not reinstated was not given a notice period or the wages for the notice period were not paid in advance, the amount of wages corresponding to these periods shall be paid separately.

The employee shall apply to the employer to start work within ten working days from the service of the finalised court or private arbitrator decision. If the employee does not apply within this period, the termination made by the employer shall be deemed a valid termination and the employer shall be liable only for its legal consequences.

Added paragraph: 12/10/2017, Law No. 7036, Art. 12 Where, at the end of the mediation process, the parties agree on the reinstatement of the employee, they shall be obliged to determine:

a) The date of reinstatement,

b) The monetary amount of the wages and other entitlements regulated in the third paragraph,

c) The monetary amount of the compensation regulated in the second paragraph in case the employee is not reinstated,

Otherwise, no agreement shall be deemed to have been reached and the final report shall be drawn up accordingly. Where the employee does not start work on the agreed date, the termination shall become valid and the employer shall be liable only for its legal consequences.

The provisions of the first, second and third paragraphs of this article may not be amended by contracts in any manner whatsoever; contractual provisions to the contrary are invalid.

The employer may make a substantial change in working conditions formed by the employment contract or by personnel regulations and similar sources constituting an annex to the employment contract, or by workplace practice, only by notifying the employee of the situation in writing. Changes not made in compliance with this form and not accepted by the employee in writing within six working days shall not bind the employee. If the employee does not accept the proposed change within this period, the employer may terminate the employment contract by explaining in writing that the change is based on a valid reason or that there is another valid reason for termination, and by complying with the notice period. In this case, the employee may bring an action pursuant to the provisions of Articles 17 to 21.

The parties may at any time change the working conditions by mutual agreement. A change in working conditions may not be put into effect retroactively.

If an employee who has entered the service of an employer under a continuous employment contract, whether of definite or indefinite term, leaves the job before the expiry of the contract term or without complying with the notice period and enters the service of another employer, the new employer shall also be jointly liable, in addition to the liability of the employee, for the termination of the contract in this manner, in the following cases:

a) If the employer whose service the employee newly entered caused this conduct of the employee.

b) If the new employer hired the employee knowing of this conduct of the employee.

c) If the new employer continues to employ the employee even after learning of this conduct of the employee.

Whether the employment contract is of definite term or not, the employee may terminate it before the expiry of the term or without waiting for the notice period in the following cases:

I. Health reasons:

a) If the performance of the work that is the subject of the employment contract becomes dangerous to the employee's health or life for a reason arising from the nature of the work.

b) If the employer, or another employee with whom the employee is continuously in close and direct contact, contracts a disease that is contagious or incompatible with the employee's work.

II. Cases not in conformity with the rules of morality and good faith, and similar cases:

a) If, at the time the employment contract was concluded, the employer misled the employee by presenting false qualities or conditions regarding one of the essential points of the contract, or by giving information or making statements that do not correspond to the truth.

b) If the employer uses words or engages in conduct offending the honour and dignity of the employee or of a member of the employee's family, or sexually harasses the employee.

c) If the employer assaults or threatens the employee or a member of the employee's family, or encourages, incites or drives the employee or a member of the employee's family to unlawful conduct, or commits an offence punishable by imprisonment against the employee or a member of the employee's family, or makes groundless serious imputations or accusations against the employee offending his or her honour and dignity.

d) If the employee is subjected to sexual harassment at the workplace by another employee or by third persons and, despite notifying the employer of this situation, the necessary measures are not taken.

e) If the employee's wages are not calculated or paid by the employer in accordance with the provisions of the law or the terms of the contract,

f) Where it has been agreed that wages are to be paid by the piece or by the amount of work, and the employer gives the employee less work than the number and amount the employee could perform, if the shortfall in the employee's wages is not compensated by paying the difference on a time basis, or if the working conditions are not applied.

III. Force majeure reasons:

If force majeure reasons arise in the workplace where the employee works which would require the stoppage of work for more than one week.

Whether the employment contract is for a definite or an indefinite period, the employer may terminate it before the expiry of its term or without waiting for the notice period in the following cases:

I- Health reasons:

a) Where the employee contracts an illness or becomes disabled as a result of his or her own intent, disorderly way of life or addiction to drink, and the resulting absence lasts for more than three consecutive working days or more than five working days in one month.

b) Where the Health Board establishes that the illness from which the employee suffers is incurable and that it is inadvisable for the employee to work at the workplace.

Apart from the causes listed in subparagraph (a), in cases such as illness, accident, childbirth and pregnancy of the employee, the employer's right to terminate the employment contract without notice arises after such circumstances have exceeded by six weeks the notice periods laid down in Article 17 according to the employee's length of service at the workplace. In cases of childbirth and pregnancy, this period begins upon the expiry of the period laid down in Article 74. However, no wage shall accrue for the periods during which the employee is unable to attend work owing to the suspension of the employment contract.

II- Cases of conduct contrary to the rules of morality and good faith, and similar cases:

a) Where, at the time the employment contract is concluded, the employee misleads the employer by claiming to possess the qualifications or conditions required for one of the essential points of the contract when he or she does not possess them, or by giving untrue information or making untrue statements.

b) Where the employee utters words or engages in conduct offending the honour and dignity of the employer or of a member of the employer's family, or makes groundless denunciations and accusations against the employer that are damaging to the employer's honour and dignity.

c) Where the employee sexually harasses another employee of the employer.

d) Where the employee assaults the employer, a member of the employer's family or another employee of the employer, comes to the workplace drunk or under the influence of narcotic substances, or uses such substances at the workplace.

e) Where the employee engages in conduct incompatible with honesty and loyalty, such as abusing the employer's trust, committing theft or disclosing the employer's trade secrets.

f) Where the employee commits at the workplace an offence punishable by imprisonment of more than seven days, the sentence for which is not suspended.

g) Where the employee, without the employer's permission or without a justified reason, fails to attend work for two consecutive working days, or on the working day following any holiday twice in one month, or for three working days in one month.

h) Where the employee persistently refuses to perform the duties he or she is obliged to perform despite being reminded of them.

ı) Where the employee, by his or her own will or negligence, endangers the safety of work, or causes damage to or loss of machinery, installations or other goods and materials that are the property of the workplace, or that are not its property but are under the employee's control, to an extent that cannot be compensated by the amount of thirty days' wages.

III- Compelling reasons:

The occurrence of a compelling reason preventing the employee from working at the workplace for more than one week.

IV- Where the employee is taken into custody or placed in pre-trial detention and the absence exceeds the notice period laid down in Article 17.

The employee may apply to the courts, within the framework of the provisions of Articles 18, 20 and 21, alleging that the termination does not comply with the reasons provided for in the subparagraphs above.

The right to terminate the contract granted to the employee or the employer on the basis of conduct contrary to the rules of morality and good faith as set out in Articles 24 and 25 may not be exercised after six working days have elapsed from the day on which the other party learned that one of the parties engaged in such conduct, and in any case after one year from the commission of the act. However, the one-year period shall not apply where the employee has obtained a material benefit from the incident.

The rights to compensation from the other party of the employee or employer who terminates the employment contract on account of such cases within the period provided for in the preceding paragraph are reserved.

During the notice periods, the employer shall be obliged to grant the employee the job-seeking leave necessary to find a new job, during working hours and without any deduction from wages. The job-seeking leave may not be less than two hours per day, and the employee may, if he or she so wishes, combine the job-seeking leave hours and use them collectively. However, an employee who wishes to use the job-seeking leave collectively shall be obliged to schedule it on the days immediately preceding the day of leaving the job and to notify the employer of this.

If the employer does not grant the new job-seeking leave or allows it to be used only partially, the wages for that period shall be paid to the employee.

If the employer makes the employee work during the job-seeking leave, the employer shall pay, in addition to the wage the employee would receive while on leave without performing any work, the wage for the period worked increased by one hundred per cent.

An employee leaving employment shall be given by the employer a certificate showing the type of work performed and its duration.

An employee who suffers damage because the certificate is not issued in due time or because it contains untrue information, or the new employer who hires the employee, may claim compensation from the former employer.

Such certificates are exempt from all kinds of duties and fees.

Where the employer wishes to carry out a collective dismissal as a result of economic, technological, structural or similar requirements of the enterprise, the workplace or the work, the employer shall notify this in writing at least thirty days in advance to the workplace trade union representatives, the relevant regional directorate and the Turkish Employment Agency.

Where the number of employees working at the workplace is:

a) between 20 and 100 employees, the termination of the employment of at least 10 employees,

b) between 101 and 300 employees, the termination of the employment of at least ten per cent of the employees,

c) 301 or more, the termination of the employment of at least 30 employees,

in accordance with Article 17, on the same date or on different dates within a period of one month, shall be deemed a collective dismissal.

The notification to be made pursuant to the first paragraph must contain information on the reasons for the dismissal, the number and groups of employees to be affected, and the period of time within which the terminations will be carried out.

In the consultations to be held between the workplace trade union representatives and the employer following the notification, the matters of preventing the collective dismissal, reducing the number of employees to be dismissed, or minimising the adverse effects of the dismissal on the employees shall be addressed. At the end of the consultations, a document showing that the meeting has been held shall be drawn up.

Notices of termination shall take effect thirty days after the employer notifies the regional directorate of its intention to carry out a collective dismissal.

Where the workplace is closed down entirely and its activities are terminated definitively and permanently, the employer shall only be obliged to notify the situation at least thirty days in advance to the relevant regional directorate and the Turkish Employment Agency and to announce it at the workplace. If the employer wishes to hire employees again for work of the same nature within six months from the date on which the collective dismissal becomes final, it shall give preference in recalling those with suitable qualifications.

The provisions on collective dismissal shall not apply to the dismissal of employees working in seasonal and campaign work where the dismissal is made due to the nature of such work.

The employer may not use the provisions on collective dismissal for the purpose of preventing the application of the provisions of Articles 18, 19, 20 and 21; otherwise, the employee may bring an action under those Articles.

Amended: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 2

In private sector workplaces in which they employ fifty or more employees, employers shall be obliged to employ three per cent disabled employees, and in public workplaces four per cent disabled employees and two per cent ex-convict employees, or persons who fall within the scope of Military Law No. 1111 of 21/6/1927 or the Law No. 1076 of 16/6/1927 on Reserve Officers and Reserve Military Officials and who, while performing military service, have been wounded, without being deemed invalid, as a result of the causes and effects of terrorist incidents listed in Article 21 of the Anti-Terror Law No. 3713 of 12/4/1991, in jobs appropriate to their vocational, physical and mental condition. The number of employees that an employer having more than one workplace within the boundaries of the same province is obliged to employ within this scope shall be calculated on the basis of the total number of employees.

In determining the number of employees to be employed within this scope, employees working under definite-term and indefinite-term employment contracts shall be taken as the basis. Persons working under part-time employment contracts shall be converted into full-time employment taking into account their working hours. In calculating the ratio, fractions of less than one half shall be disregarded, and fractions of one half or more shall be rounded up to a whole number. Priority shall be given to persons who became disabled while employees of the workplace.

Employers shall procure the employees they are obliged to employ through the Turkish Employment Agency. The qualifications of the employees to be employed within this scope, the jobs in which they may be employed, the special work to which they will be subject at the workplaces apart from the general provisions and their vocational orientation, and how they will be recruited by the employer from a vocational standpoint shall be governed by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security upon obtaining the opinion of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies.

Disabled employees may not be employed in underground and underwater work, and persons working in underground and underwater work shall not be taken into account in determining the number of employees at workplaces pursuant to the above provisions.

Where employees who were compelled to leave a workplace due to invalidity and whose invalidity has subsequently ceased request to be re-employed at their former workplace, the employer shall be obliged to re-employ them under the conditions prevailing at that time, immediately in their former jobs or similar jobs if there is a vacancy, or otherwise in the first job that becomes vacant, giving them preference over other applicants. If the employer fails to fulfil the obligation to conclude an employment contract although the required conditions are met, it shall pay the former employee who requested re-employment compensation equal to six months' wages.

The entire employer's share of the insurance premiums, calculated on the lower limit of earnings subject to premiums as listed in Articles 72 and 73 and determined by Article 78 of Social Insurance Law No. 506 of 17/7/1964, of disabled insured persons subject to that Law who are employed by private sector employers within the scope of this Article and of disabled insured persons employed in the sheltered workplaces specified in Article 14 of Law No. 5378 of 1/7/2005, and the entire employer's share of the insurance premiums, calculated on the lower limit of earnings subject to premiums, for each disabled person employed by employers who employ disabled persons in excess of the quota or who employ disabled persons although not obliged to do so, shall be borne by the Treasury. In order for the employer's share of the premiums to be borne by the Treasury, the employers must submit to the Social Security Institution the monthly premium and service documents relating to the insured persons they employ pursuant to Law No. 506 within the statutory period, and must have paid the amount corresponding to the insured person's share of the insurance premiums of all insured persons and the amount of the employer's share not borne by the Treasury. Where the premiums to be paid by the employer under this paragraph are paid late, the late payment surcharge arising from the delay in the payment to be made by the Treasury to the Social Security Institution shall be collected from the employer. Premium amounts borne by the Treasury shall not be taken into account as an expense or cost item in the application of income tax and corporate tax. Added sentence: 31/7/2008, Law No. 5797, Art. 10 The incentive regulated in this paragraph shall also apply, on the basis of the assessment bases and rates relating to insured persons within the scope of Law No. 506, excluding public administrations, to the personnel subject to the statutes of the funds within the scope of provisional Article 20 of Law No. 506. The procedures and principles concerning the application of this paragraph shall be jointly determined by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Undersecretariat of the Treasury.

Amended seventh paragraph: 11/10/2011, Decree-Law No. 665, Art. 28 The fines to be collected pursuant to Article 101 in cases of violation of this Article shall be used for projects such as disabled persons and ex-convicts setting up their own businesses, assistive technologies enabling disabled persons to find jobs, the job placement of disabled persons and ensuring their adaptation to the job and the workplace. Matters relating to the use of the collected fines shall be decided, under the coordination of the Turkish Employment Agency, by a commission composed of one representative each from the General Directorate of Labour and the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the General Directorate of Services for Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Houses of the Ministry of Justice, the confederations representing the largest number of employees and employers, and the confederation representing the largest number of disabled persons. The working procedures and principles of the commission shall be governed by a regulation issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

In the employment of ex-convicts, the special provisions in the laws relating to services concerning public security are reserved.

The employment contract of an employee who leaves work because of being called to arms for manoeuvres or for any other reason, other than compulsory military service, or because of a work obligation arising from any law, shall be deemed terminated by the employer two months after the day on which the employee left work.

In order for the employee to benefit from this right, the employee must have worked in that job for at least one year. For service exceeding one year, an additional two days shall be added for each additional year. However, the total of this period may not exceed ninety days.

The employee's wage shall not accrue during the period that must elapse for the employment contract to be deemed terminated. However, the provisions of special laws on this matter are reserved. Even if, within this period, the employer or the employee has notified the other party that the employment contract is terminated on the basis of another reason arising from the Law, the period prescribed by the Law for termination shall begin to run after the expiry of this period. However, the provisions of this Article shall not apply if the employment contract was concluded for a definite period and the contract expires automatically within the period stated above.

Where employees who left their work due to any military or statutory obligation wish to resume work within two months from the end of that obligation, the employer shall be obliged to re-employ them under the conditions prevailing at that time, immediately in their former jobs or similar jobs if there is a vacancy, or otherwise in the first job that becomes vacant, giving them preference over other applicants. If the employer fails to fulfil the obligation to conclude an employment contract although the required conditions are met, it shall pay the former employee who requested re-employment compensation equal to three months' wages.

Wage, in its general sense, is the amount provided to a person by the employer or by third parties in return for work and paid in money.

Amended second paragraph: 17/4/2008, Law No. 5754, Art. 85 Wages, premiums, bonuses and all kinds of entitlements of this nature shall, as a rule, be paid in Turkish currency at the workplace or into a specially opened bank account. Where wages, premiums, bonuses and all kinds of entitlements of this nature have been agreed in foreign currency, payment may be made in Turkish currency at the exchange rate on the date of payment. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of State responsible for the Undersecretariat of the Treasury shall be jointly authorised to require employers or third parties, taking into account factors such as the type of tax liability to which they are subject, the size of the enterprise, the number of employees employed, the province in which the workplace is located and similar factors, to pay the wages, premiums, bonuses and all kinds of entitlements of this nature of the employees by depositing them into specially opened bank accounts, and to determine whether the wages, premiums, bonuses and all kinds of entitlements of this nature to be deposited into the bank account shall be based on the gross amount or on the net amount remaining after statutory deductions. Employers or third parties who are subject to the obligation to pay the wages, premiums, bonuses and all kinds of entitlements of this nature of their employees through specially opened bank accounts may not pay the wages, premiums, bonuses and all kinds of entitlements of this nature of their employees otherwise than through specially opened bank accounts.

Added paragraph: 17/4/2008, Law No. 5754, Art. 85 Other procedures and principles concerning the payment of the employee's wages, premiums, bonuses and all kinds of entitlements of this nature by depositing them into specially opened bank accounts shall be governed by a regulation to be issued jointly by the said ministries.

Wages may not be paid by promissory note (bono), by coupon, by an instrument purporting to represent currency valid in the country, or in any other form.

Wages shall be paid at least once a month. The payment period may be reduced to as little as one week by employment contracts or collective agreements.

Upon the termination of employment contracts, the employee's wage and the benefits measurable in money arising from the contract and the Law must be paid in full.

Wages may not be paid in taverns and similar places of entertainment or in shops and stores selling goods at retail, except to persons working there.

The limitation period for wage claims is five years.

Repealed: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 37

An employee whose wage is not paid within twenty days from the payment date, other than due to force majeure, may refrain from performing the obligation to work. Their non-performance of the obligation to work on the basis of their personal decisions for this reason may not be characterised as a strike even if it acquires a collective character in numerical terms. The highest interest rate applied to deposits shall be applied to wages not paid on time.

The employment contracts of such employees may not be terminated on the ground that they are not working for this reason, new employees may not be hired in their place, and such work may not be assigned to others.

More than one quarter of the monthly wages of employees may not be attached, assigned or transferred to another person. However, the amount to be determined by the judge for the family members whom the employee is obliged to maintain is not included in this sum. The rights of maintenance creditors are reserved.

Departments with general and annexed budgets, local administrations, state economic enterprises, or banks and institutions established on the basis of a special law or a Presidential decree, as principal employers, shall, in construction and repair works such as all kinds of building, bridge, line and road construction awarded to contractors, upon checking whether there are any employees working in such works whose wages have not been paid by the contractor or subcontractors, or upon the application of an employee whose wage has not been paid, pay such unpaid wages, if any, out of the progress payments due to the contractor or subcontractors according to the payrolls to be requested from them.

For this purpose, the relevant administration shall announce when the progress payment will be made by posting a written notice at places where the employees can see it, such as the site management notice board at the workplace or places where the employees are gathered together. The said administrations shall bear no liability for the portion of the wage claims of employees, for each progress payment period, exceeding the amount of three months' wages.

All kinds of transfer and assignment transactions, attachments and enforcement proceedings on all kinds of securities and progress payments of the said contractors with these employers shall have effect on the remaining portion after the portion sufficient to cover the wage claims of the employees working in that work has been set aside.

Attachments and enforcement proceedings to be carried out, on account of an employer's debts to a third party, on installations, materials, raw, semi-finished and finished goods and other assets located at the workplace shall have effect on the remaining portion after the portion sufficient to cover the wage claims of the employees working at that workplace for the three-month period preceding the date on which the enforcement decision was obtained has been set aside.

Amended fifth paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 3 Where employers assign work to subcontractors, they shall be obliged to check, upon the application of an employee or ex officio on a monthly basis, whether the wages of the subcontractors' employees have been paid, and, if there are any unpaid wages, to deduct them from the progress payments and deposit them into the employees' bank accounts.

In payments made at the workplace or through a bank, the employer shall be obliged to give the employee a signed slip, or one bearing the special mark of the workplace, showing the calculation of the wage.

This slip must show separately the date of payment and the period to which it relates, the amounts of all kinds of additions made to the basic wage, such as wages for overtime work, weekly rest days, religious holidays and public holidays, and all kinds of deductions, such as tax, insurance premiums, set-off of advances, maintenance and enforcement.

These transactions are exempt from stamp duty and from all kinds of duties and fees.

The employer may not impose a wage deduction penalty on the employee for reasons other than those set out in the collective agreement or employment contracts.

Deductions to be made from employees' wages as a penalty must be notified to the employee immediately together with the reasons therefor. Deductions made from employees' wages in this manner may not exceed two days' wages in one month or, in the case of wages paid by the piece or according to the amount of work performed, the employee's earnings for two days.

These sums shall be deposited, within one month from the date of deduction, into an account of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security at one of the banks established in Türkiye and authorised to accept deposits, to be designated by the Ministry, in order to be used and spent for the training of and social services for employees. Every employer is obliged to keep a separate account of these sums at the workplace. The purposes to which, and the amounts in which, the accumulated penalty sums are to be allocated shall be decided by a board chaired by the Minister of Labour and Social Security and in which employee representatives also participate. The composition of this board and how and according to which principles it shall operate shall be set out in a regulation to be issued.

In order to regulate the economic and social conditions of all kinds of employees working under an employment contract, whether or not they fall within the scope of this Law, the minimum limits of wages shall be determined by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, through the Minimum Wage Determination Commission, at least once every two years.

Second paragraph repealed: 2/7/2018, Decree-Law No. 700, Art. 145

The decisions of the Commission are final. The decisions shall enter into force upon publication in the Official Gazette.

The procedure for the meetings and work of the Commission, the principles to be applied in determining minimum wages and the attendance fees to be paid to the chair, members and rapporteurs shall be set out in a regulation to be prepared jointly by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

The secretariat services of the Minimum Wage Determination Commission shall be performed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

An employee who is unable to work or is not made to work due to the compelling reasons set out in subparagraphs (III) of Articles 24 and 25 shall be paid half wages for each day of this waiting period, up to one week.

Overtime work may be performed for reasons such as the general interests of the country, the nature of the work or an increase in production. Overtime work is work exceeding forty-five hours per week, within the framework of the conditions laid down in the Law. In cases where the averaging principle is applied pursuant to Article 63, such work shall not be deemed overtime work even if the total exceeds forty-five hours in some weeks, provided that the employee's average weekly working time does not exceed the normal weekly working time.

The wage to be paid for each hour of overtime work shall be paid by increasing the hourly amount of the normal working wage by fifty percent.

Where the weekly working time is set below forty-five hours by contract, work exceeding the average weekly working time applied in accordance with the principles set out above and performed up to forty-five hours constitutes work for extra hours. In work for extra hours, the wage to be paid for each extra hour shall be paid by increasing the hourly amount of the normal working wage by twenty-five percent.

An employee who performs overtime work or work for extra hours may, if he or she so wishes, instead of the increased wage for such work, use as free time one hour and thirty minutes for each hour of overtime work and one hour and fifteen minutes for each extra hour worked.

The employee shall use the free time to which he or she is entitled within six months, during working hours and without any deduction from his or her wage.

Overtime work may not be performed in short-term or limited-duration work based on the health reasons referred to in the last paragraph of Article 63 or in the night work specified in Article 69.

The employee's consent must be obtained for working overtime hours.

The total overtime work may not exceed two hundred and seventy hours in one year.

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 4 Employees working in underground mining work may not be made to perform overtime work except in the cases listed in Articles 42 and 43 of this Law.

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 4 For employees working in underground mining work, the wage to be paid, in the cases listed in Articles 42 and 43 of this Law, for each hour of overtime work exceeding thirty-seven and a half hours per week shall be paid by increasing the hourly amount of the normal working wage by not less than one hundred percent.

The manner in which overtime work and work for extra hours are to be applied shall be set out in a regulation to be issued.

Overtime work may be imposed on all or some of the employees, provided that it does not exceed the extent necessary to ensure the normal operation of the workplace, either during a breakdown or where a breakdown is considered likely, or in urgent work that must be carried out immediately on machinery or tools and equipment, or upon the occurrence of compelling reasons. In this case, employees who perform overtime work must be granted an appropriate rest period.

However, the provisions of the first, second and third paragraphs of Article 41 shall apply to overtime work performed for compelling reasons.

During mobilisation, and in workplaces meeting the requirements of national defence provided that this period is not exceeded, if overtime work is deemed necessary, the President of the Republic may increase the daily working time up to the employee's maximum working capacity, according to the type of work and the degree of need.

The provisions of the first, second and third paragraphs of Article 41 shall apply to the wages to be paid to employees made to work overtime in this manner.

Whether work is to be performed at workplaces on national holidays and public holidays shall be agreed by collective labour agreement or employment contracts. In the absence of a provision in the contracts, the employee's consent is required for working on such days.

Wages for these days shall be paid in accordance with Article 47.

No provisions contrary to the rights granted to employees regarding the weekly rest day, national holidays and public holidays, to paid leave, or to the rights granted by this Law to employees working under the percentage system may be included in collective labour agreements or employment contracts.

Acquired rights arising from law, collective labour agreement, employment contract or custom that provide employees with more favourable rights and benefits in these matters are reserved.

At workplaces falling within the scope of this Law, employees shall be granted an uninterrupted rest of at least twenty-four hours (weekly rest) within a seven-day period, provided that they have worked on the working days determined in accordance with Article 63 preceding the rest day. Added sentences: 10/7/2025, Law No. 7553, Art. 9 However, the weekly rest to which employees working in accommodation facilities granted a tourism establishment certificate by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism are entitled under this paragraph may, upon the employee's written request or with his or her consent, be granted within the four days following the day on which it was earned. In this case, the portion of the work performed by the employee on the weekly rest to which he or she is entitled that corresponds to the daily normal working time shall not be taken into account in calculating overtime work. The employee may withdraw the consent given, provided that he or she notifies the employer in writing thirty days in advance.

For a weekly rest day on which no work is performed, the employer shall pay the full wage for that day without any work in return.

However;

a) Periods deemed by law to be working time although no work is performed, and holidays arising from law or contract, whether or not a daily wage is paid for them,

b) Amended: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 35 The leave periods listed in Additional Article 2,

c) Other leave granted by the employer within a period of one week, and sick leave and rest leave granted on the basis of a medical report,

Shall be counted as days worked.

Where work at the workplace is suspended by the employer on one or more days of the week without a compelling or economic reason, the days of the week on which no work is performed shall be deemed worked for the purpose of entitlement to the paid weekly rest.

Where compelling reasons arise at a workplace requiring the suspension of work for more than one week, the half wages paid to employees for days not worked due to the compelling reasons set out in subparagraphs (III) of Articles 24 and 25 shall also be paid for the weekly rest day.

At workplaces where the percentage system is applied, the weekly rest wage shall be paid to the employee by the employer.

Employees working at workplaces within the scope of this Law shall, if they do not work on days recognised by law as national holidays and public holidays, be paid the full wage for that day without any work in return, and, if they work instead of taking the holiday, they shall additionally be paid one day's wage for each day worked.

At workplaces where the percentage system is applied, employees' wages for national holidays and public holidays shall be paid to the employee by the employer.

Where temporary incapacity allowance must be paid to employees, national holidays, public holidays and weekly rest days falling within the period of temporary incapacity shall be paid by the paying institution or funds at the rate of the temporary incapacity allowance.

The temporary incapacity allowance paid by the Social Insurance Institution for days not worked due to illness shall be set off against the wages of monthly paid employees.

The employee's holiday wage is his or her wage per day, based on the days worked.

The holiday wage of employees working on a piece-rate, job-rate (akort), lump-sum or percentage basis shall be calculated by dividing the wage earned in the payment period by the days worked within the same period.

The holiday wage of employees working for an hourly wage is seven and a half times the hourly wage.

The provisions of the first paragraph of Articles 46, 47 and 48 shall not apply to monthly paid employees whose monthly salary is paid in full even when they are absent with an excuse due to illness, leave or other reasons. However, those among them who work on national holidays and public holidays shall additionally be paid one day's wage for each day worked.

Wages received for overtime work, bonuses, the wages received for such work by employees who, as permanent employees of the workplace, work in preparatory, completion and cleaning work outside normal working hours, and social benefits shall not be taken into account in determining the wages paid for national holidays, weekly rest days and public holidays.

In hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and similar places, as well as in establishments serving alcoholic beverages and selling various foods to be eaten and drunk on the spot, where the "percentage" system is applied, the employer is obliged to pay in full to all employees working at the workplace the sums collected by the employer by adding a "percentage" to customers' bills as a service charge or under other names, or in other forms, as well as the sums left voluntarily by customers to the employer or pooled under the employer's control.

The employer or the employer's representative is obliged to document that the sums referred to in the paragraph above, when received by him or her, have been distributed in full to the employees.

The principles and ratios according to which the sums collected from percentages shall be distributed among the employees working at that workplace, according to the nature of the work performed, shall be set out in a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

At workplaces where the percentage system is applied, the employer is obliged to give a document showing the grand total of each bill to a representative to be elected by the employees from among themselves. The form of these documents and the procedures for their application shall be set out in employment contracts or collective labour agreements.

Employees who have worked at least one year from the day they started work at the workplace, including the probationary period, shall be granted annual paid leave.

The right to annual paid leave cannot be waived.

The provisions of this Law on annual paid leave shall not apply to those working in seasonal or campaign work lasting less than one year by its nature.

The annual paid leave period to be granted to employees, for those whose length of service is;

a) From one year up to five years (five years included), fourteen days,

b) More than five years and less than fifteen years, twenty days,

c) Fifteen years (included) or more, twenty-six days,

May not be less than the above. Added sentence: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 5 The annual paid leave periods of employees working in underground work shall be applied increased by four days each.

However, the annual paid leave period to be granted to employees aged eighteen or under and to employees aged fifty or over may not be less than twenty days.

Annual leave periods may be increased by employment contracts and collective labour agreements.

In calculating the period required for entitlement to annual paid leave, the periods during which employees have worked at one or various workplaces of the same employer shall be aggregated and taken into account. However, for employees working at a workplace of an employer falling within the scope of this Law, the periods they spent at workplaces of the same employer without falling within the scope of this Law shall also be taken into account.

Where the employee's attendance is interrupted within a one-year period for reasons other than the cases listed in Article 55, a period of service sufficient to cover these gaps shall be added, and the end date of the one-year period of service required for the employee to obtain the leave entitlement shall thereby be carried over to the following year of service.

The one-year period of service that must elapse for the employee's future leave entitlements shall be calculated starting from the day on which the previous leave entitlement arose, towards the following year of service, and in accordance with the provisions of the paragraph above and Article 55.

For each year of service calculated in accordance with the paragraphs above and the provisions of Article 55, the employee shall use his or her annual leave during the following year of service.

Periods spent at workplaces attached to the same ministry and at workplaces of legal persons attached to the same ministry, and periods spent at state economic enterprises or at banks and institutions established under a special law or a Presidential decree, or at workplaces attached to them, shall be taken into account in calculating the employee's entitlement to annual paid leave.

The following periods shall be deemed worked in calculating the entitlement to annual paid leave:

a) Days on which the employee was unable to go to work due to an accident suffered or an illness contracted (However, any period exceeding the period provided for in sub-subparagraph (b) of subparagraph (I) of Article 25 shall not be counted.).

b) Days on which female employees are not made to work before and after childbirth pursuant to Article 74.

c) Days on which the employee was unable to go to work while assigned to manoeuvres or to duties under any law, other than active military service (Any part of this period exceeding 90 days per year shall not be counted.).

d) Fifteen days of the time the employee spent without working as a result of the work at the workplace where he or she is employed being suspended for more than one week without interruption due to compelling reasons (provided that the employee resumes work).

e) The periods referred to in Article 66.

f) Weekly rest days, national holidays and public holidays.

g) The half-day leave that must be granted, in addition to Sunday, to those working in X-ray examination rooms in accordance with the regulation issued on the basis of Law No. 3153.

h) Days on which employees were unable to attend work because they attended mediation meetings, sat on arbitration boards, performed the duties of employee representative on such boards, or attended, as employee or trade union representatives, councils, boards, commissions and meetings established under legislation relating to working life, or conferences, congresses or boards of international organisations concerned with labour matters.

ı) Amended: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 35 The leave periods listed in Additional Article 2,

j) Other leave granted by the employer and the short-time working periods under Article 65.

k) The annual paid leave periods granted to the employee as a result of the application of this Law.

Annual paid leave may not be divided by the employer.

The employer is obliged to grant this leave continuously within the periods specified in Article 53.

Amended third paragraph: 14/4/2016, Law No. 6704, Art. 16 However, the leave periods provided for in Article 53 may be used in parts by agreement of the parties, provided that one part is not less than ten days.

Other paid and unpaid leave, or rest and sick leave, granted by the employer during the year may not be set off against annual leave.

In calculating annual paid leave days, national holidays, weekly rest days and public holidays falling within the leave period shall not be counted as part of the leave period.

The employer is obliged to grant up to a total of four days of unpaid leave to cover the time spent travelling on the outward and return journeys to those who will spend their annual paid leave in a place other than where the workplace is located, provided that they so request and document this matter. The employer is obliged to keep a leave record document showing the annual paid leave of the employees working at the workplace.

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 6 For subcontractor employees who continue to work at the same workplace despite a change of subcontractor, the annual paid leave period shall be calculated taking into account the periods they have worked at the same workplace. The principal employer is obliged to check whether the annual paid leave periods earned by the employees employed by the subcontractor have been used and to ensure that they are used within the relevant year, and the subcontractor is obliged to provide the principal employer with a copy of the leave record document it is required to keep under the sixth paragraph.

The employer is obliged to pay in advance, or give as an advance, to every employee using annual paid leave the wage for the annual leave period before the employee concerned begins the leave.

The provision of Article 50 shall apply in calculating this wage.

The wage to be paid for the leave period of an employee who is not paid a fixed daily, weekly or monthly wage but receives a wage on the basis of an indeterminate time and amount, such as job-rate (akort), commission, profit-sharing and percentage-based wages, shall be calculated on the basis of the average obtained by dividing the wage earned in the last one-year period by the days actually worked.

However, if the employee's wage has been increased within the last year, the leave wage shall be calculated by dividing the wage received between the beginning of the month in which the employee goes on leave and the date of the increase by the days worked within the same period.

In places where the percentage system is applied, this wage shall be paid by the employer separately from the money collected from percentages.

Wages for weekly rest days, national holidays and public holidays falling within the annual paid leave period shall be paid separately.

If it is established that an employee using annual paid leave has worked in a paid job during the leave period, the wage paid to him or her for this leave period may be reclaimed by the employer.

Where the employment contract terminates for any reason, the wage for the annual leave periods that the employee has earned but not used shall be paid to the employee or to his or her successors in title on the basis of the wage at the date of termination of the contract. The limitation period relating to this wage starts from the date of termination of the employment contract.

Where the employment contract is terminated by the employer, the notice period specified in Article 17 and the job-search leave that must be granted to the employee pursuant to Article 27 may not overlap with annual paid leave periods.

The periods of the year in which annual paid leave is to be used according to the nature of the work carried out, how and by whom leave is to be granted or scheduled in rotation, the measures to be taken by the employer so that annual leave is beneficial, the procedures relating to the use of leave and the form of the records that the employer is obliged to keep shall be set out in a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

On the wages to be paid to insured persons for the annual paid leave period, the other insurance premiums, excluding occupational accident and occupational disease premiums, shall continue to be paid in respect of employees and employers within the framework of the principles of Social Insurance Law No. 506.

No deduction whatsoever may be made from employees' wages on the grounds that the working hours applied in any kind of work have been lawfully reduced to lower limits, or that a statutory obligation incumbent upon the employer has been fulfilled, or on the basis of the application of any of the provisions of this Law.

As a general rule, working time shall be a maximum of forty-five hours per week. Unless otherwise agreed, this time shall be applied in workplaces by dividing it equally among the working days of the week. Added sentence: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 7; Amended sentence: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 36 The working time of employees working in underground mining work shall be a maximum of seven and a half hours per day and a maximum of thirty-seven and a half hours per week.

By agreement of the parties, the weekly normal working time may be distributed differently among the working days of the week in workplaces, provided that it does not exceed eleven hours per day. In this case, the employee's average weekly working time within a period of two months may not exceed the normal weekly working time. The balancing period may be increased up to four months by collective labour agreements. Added sentence: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 3 In the tourism sector, the employee's average weekly working time within a period of four months may not exceed the normal weekly working time; the balancing period may be increased up to six months by collective labour agreements.

The manner of application of working times within the framework of the above principles shall be governed by a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Repealed paragraph 4: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

In cases where work stops for compelling reasons, where the workplace is closed before or after national holidays and general holidays, or where, for similar reasons, work at the workplace is performed considerably below normal working times or the workplace is entirely closed, or where leave is granted to the employee upon his or her request, the employer may have compensatory work performed within four months for the time not worked. Added sentence: 25/3/2020, Law No. 7226, Art. 43 The President of the Republic is authorised to increase this period up to two times. Such work shall not be deemed overtime work or work for extra hours.

Compensatory work may not exceed three hours per day, provided that the maximum daily working time is not exceeded. Compensatory work may not be performed on holidays.

Repealed: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 37

The following periods shall be counted as part of the employee's daily working time:

a) In mines, quarries or work to be performed underground or underwater in any manner whatsoever, the time required for employees to descend into or enter shafts, galleries or the actual places of work and to exit from such places.

b) Time spent travelling where employees are sent by the employer to work at a place other than the workplace.

c) Time during which the employee, while being at work and ready to perform work at any moment, spends idle without being made to work and while waiting for work to arise.

d) Time spent by the employee without performing his or her actual work as a result of being sent by the employer to another place or being occupied at the employer's home or office or at any place related to the employer.

e) Time to be specified for nursing female employees to breastfeed their children.

f) In any kind of work, such as the construction, maintenance, repair and alteration of railways, roads and bridges, in which employees must be collectively transported to and from workplaces located at a distance from their places of residence, the time spent during their collective and regular transport to and from such workplaces.

Time spent in vehicles during transport to and from the workplace provided by the employer purely for social assistance purposes, not arising from the nature of the work, shall not be counted as working time.

The starting and finishing times of daily work and the rest times shall be announced to employees at workplaces.

Depending on the nature of the work, the starting and finishing times of work may be arranged differently for employees.

At an appropriate time around the middle of the daily working time, arranged according to the customs of the locality and the requirements of the work, employees shall be granted:

a) Fifteen minutes for work of four hours or less,

b) Half an hour for work of more than four hours and up to seven and a half hours (including seven and a half hours),

c) One hour for work of more than seven and a half hours,

as a rest break.

These rest periods are minimums and shall be granted without interruption.

However, taking into account climate, season, local customs and the nature of the work, these periods may be used in instalments by contracts.

Rest breaks may be granted to employees in a workplace at the same or different times.

Rest breaks shall not be counted as working time.

In working life, "night" is the period beginning at 20.00 at the latest and lasting until 06.00 at the earliest, and in any case not exceeding eleven hours.

Regulations may be issued, according to the nature and requirements of certain types of work or with regard to the characteristics of certain regions of the country, to determine the manner of application of the provision in paragraph 1 by moving the start of "night" in working life back, by adjusting summer and winter hours, or by specifying the starting and finishing times of the day period; or to introduce a procedure for the payment of additional wages at any rate for certain night work; or to prohibit night work by employees at workplaces where there is no economic necessity for night operation.

Night work by employees may not exceed seven and a half hours. Added sentence: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 37 However, in work carried out in tourism, private security, health services, and within the scope of petroleum research, exploration and drilling activities under Turkish Petroleum Law No. 6491 dated 30/5/2013, night work exceeding seven and a half hours may be performed, provided that the written consent of the employee is obtained.

Repealed paragraph 4: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed paragraph 5: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed paragraph 6: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

In work operated by night and day and using rotating shifts of employees, the shifts shall be rotated so that employees who have worked at night for one working week work during the day in the second working week following it. A two-week rotation principle may also be applied in night and day shifts.

An employee whose shift is to be changed may not be made to work in the other shift without being given an uninterrupted rest of at least eleven hours.

Which of the provisions relating to the organisation of work shall not apply, or under what different conditions and procedures they shall apply, to employees generally working in a workplace on preparatory, finishing or cleaning work required before or after the specified working hours shall be set out in a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Amended paragraph 1: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 38 The employment of children who have not completed the age of fifteen is prohibited. However, children who have completed the age of fourteen and have completed the age of compulsory primary education may be employed in light work that will not hinder their physical, mental, social and moral development and, for those continuing their education, their attendance at school. Children who have not completed the age of fourteen, on the other hand, may be employed in art, culture and advertising activities that will not hinder their physical, mental, social and moral development and, for those continuing their education, their attendance at school, provided that a written contract is made and separate permission is obtained for each activity.

In the placement of child and young employees in employment and in the work in which they may be employed, their safety, health, physical, mental and psychological development, personal inclinations and abilities shall be taken into account. The work performed by the child may not prevent him or her from attending school or continuing vocational training, nor may it harm his or her regular attendance at lessons.

The work prohibited for child and young employees who have not completed the age of eighteen, the work in which young employees who have completed the age of fifteen but have not completed the age of eighteen will be permitted to work, the light work in which children who have completed the age of fourteen and have completed the age of compulsory primary education may be employed, and the types of work in which young employees who have completed the age of sixteen but have not completed the age of eighteen may be employed and their working conditions shall be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security within six months.

Amended paragraph 4: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 38 The working hours of children who have completed the age of compulsory primary education and who are not continuing formal education may not exceed seven hours per day and thirty-five hours per week; and those of children working in art, culture and advertising activities may not exceed five hours per day and thirty hours per week. For children who have completed the age of fifteen, this time may be increased up to eight hours per day and forty hours per week.

The working time of pre-school children and of children attending school during the school term may be at most two hours per day and ten hours per week, outside school hours. During periods when the school is closed, working times may not exceed the times provided for in paragraph 4 above.

Added paragraph: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 38 The scope of art, culture and advertising activities, the granting of work permits to children who will work in such activities, working and rest times according to age groups and types of activity, the working environment and conditions, the procedures and principles relating to the payment of wages and other matters shall be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security after obtaining the opinions of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of National Education and the Radio and Television Supreme Council.

The employment of males who have not completed the age of eighteen and of women of any age in work to be performed underground or underwater, such as mines, cable laying, sewerage and tunnel construction, is prohibited.

Night work by child and young employees who have not completed the age of eighteen in industrial work is prohibited.

The procedures and principles relating to the employment of female employees who have completed the age of eighteen on night shifts shall be set out in a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security after obtaining the opinion of the Ministry of Health.

As a rule, female employees shall not be made to work for a total period of twenty-four weeks, being eight weeks before and sixteen weeks after childbirth. In the case of multiple pregnancy, two weeks shall be added to the eight-week period before childbirth during which she shall not be made to work. However, if her state of health is suitable, the female employee may, with the approval of a doctor and if she so wishes, work at the workplace until two weeks before childbirth. In this case, the periods during which the female employee has worked shall be added to the post-natal periods. Added sentence: 13/2/2011, Law No. 6111, Art. 76 In the event that the female employee gives birth prematurely, the periods of non-work that she could not use before childbirth shall be granted by adding them to the post-natal periods. Added sentences: 29/1/2016, Law No. 6663, Art. 22 In the event of the mother's death at or after childbirth, the post-natal periods that could not be used shall be granted to the father. Eight weeks of maternity leave shall be granted to one of the spouses adopting a child who has not completed the age of three, or to the person adopting, from the date on which the child is actually delivered to the family. Added sentence: 22/4/2026, Law No. 7578, Art. 15 An employee who, together with his or her spouse or individually, is a foster family for one or more children shall, upon request, be granted ten days of unpaid leave after the date on which the child is delivered.

Added paragraph: 29/1/2016, Law No. 6663, Art. 22 From the end of the post-natal maternity leave used pursuant to paragraph 1, for the purpose of the care and upbringing of the child and provided that the child is alive, the female employee and female or male employees who adopt a child who has not completed the age of three shall, upon request, be granted unpaid leave equal to half of the weekly working time for a period of sixty days for the first birth, one hundred and twenty days for the second birth, and one hundred and eighty days for subsequent births. In the case of multiple birth, thirty days shall be added to each of these periods. If the child is born disabled, this period shall be applied as three hundred and sixty days. During the period in which the provisions of this paragraph are benefited from, the provisions relating to nursing leave shall not apply.

The periods provided for above may, if necessary, be increased before and after childbirth according to the employee's state of health and the nature of the work. These periods shall be specified by a physician's report.

During pregnancy, the female employee shall be granted paid leave for periodic check-ups.

Where deemed necessary by a physician's report, a pregnant female employee shall be employed in lighter work suitable to her health. In this case, no reduction shall be made in the employee's wage.

Upon her request, the female employee shall be granted unpaid leave of up to six months after the completion of the twenty-four-week period or, in the case of multiple pregnancy, after the twenty-six-week period. Added sentence: 29/1/2016, Law No. 6663, Art. 22 In the case of adoption of a child who has not completed the age of three, this leave shall be granted to one of the spouses or to the person adopting. This period shall not be taken into account in calculating the entitlement to annual paid leave.

Female employees shall be granted nursing leave of a total of one and a half hours per day to breastfeed their children under one year of age. The employee shall herself determine between which hours and in how many parts this time is to be used. This time shall be counted as part of the daily working time.

Added paragraph: 29/1/2016, Law No. 6663, Art. 22 The provisions of this article shall apply to all kinds of employees working under an employment contract, whether or not they fall within the scope of this Law.

The employer shall prepare a personnel file for each employee it employs. In this file, the employer is obliged to keep, in addition to the employee's identity information, all kinds of documents and records that it is obliged to prepare pursuant to this Law and other laws, and to show them to the competent officials and authorities whenever requested.

The employer is obliged to use the information it obtains about the employee in accordance with the rules of good faith and the law, and not to disclose information in whose confidentiality the employee has a legitimate interest.

The procedures ensuring that, in work and workplaces where, by their nature, it is not possible to apply daily and weekly working times in the manner provided for in Article 63, working times are applied without exceeding the statutory daily working time and with a balancing period of up to a maximum of six months, shall be governed by regulations to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

In work which, owing to its nature, is operated continuously by employing shifts of employees one after another without stopping, or which is carried out with rotating shifts of employees, the special procedures and principles relating to working times, weekly rest days, night work and compulsory rest breaks during work shall be governed by regulations to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Article 87 Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

The task of acting as intermediary in placing job seekers in jobs suitable for them and in finding suitable employees for various jobs shall be performed by the Turkish Employment Agency (Türkiye İş Kurumu) and by private employment agencies authorised in this respect.

The State shall monitor, supervise and inspect the implementation of legislation relating to working life. This duty shall be performed by labour inspectors attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security who are authorised to inspect and supervise, in a number and with qualifications sufficient to meet the need.

Added paragraph: 13/2/2011, Law No. 6111, Art. 77; Amended paragraph: 12/10/2017, Law No. 7036, Art. 13 Upon applications of employees concerning their individual receivables arising from the law, the employment contract and the collective labour agreement, action may be taken pursuant to the provision of paragraph 1, provided that the employment contract is continuing.

Proceedings relating to the subject matter and results of the supervision and inspection of military workplaces and of workplaces producing materials necessary for national security shall be carried out in accordance with a regulation to be prepared jointly by the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

For the application of the provision of Article 91, labour inspectors charged with monitoring, supervising and inspecting working life have the authority to see, investigate and examine workplaces and their annexes, the manner in which work is carried out and the related documents, tools and equipment, devices and machinery, raw and processed materials and the materials necessary for the work, in compliance with the principles set out in Article 93, whenever necessary; to see, investigate and examine at any time the facilities and arrangements relating to the life, health, safety, training, rest or accommodation of employees; and, when they encounter acts deemed offences under this Law, to prevent such situations in the manner set out in the regulation issued by the President of the Republic in this respect.

Amended paragraph 2: 13/2/2011, Law No. 6111, Art. 78 During inspections, supervision and examinations, employers, employees and other persons deemed to be concerned with the matter are obliged, when summoned by the labour inspectors (…) charged with monitoring, supervision and inspection, to come, to give statements and information, to bring, show and hand over the necessary documents and evidence; to provide every kind of facility to labour inspectors for the performance of their duties set out in paragraph 1, and to comply without delay with their requests in this respect.

Amended paragraph 3: 13/2/2011, Law No. 6111, Art. 78 Reports of findings drawn up by labour inspectors (…) authorised to monitor, supervise and inspect working life shall be valid until proven otherwise. The parties may object before the competent labour court within thirty days to the parts of the reports prepared and the reports of findings drawn up by labour inspectors relating to employee receivables. The parties may apply for legal remedies against the decision of the labour court in accordance with Article 8 of Law No. 5521. Applying for legal remedies shall not prevent the collection of the employee receivable adjudicated by the labour court.

Labour inspectors having the authority to monitor, supervise and inspect working life are obliged, while performing their duties, not to disrupt, stop or impede the normal course of work and the operation of the workplace as far as possible according to the nature of the matter they are examining; to keep entirely confidential, unless disclosure is required for the conduct and conclusion of official proceedings, the matters they have seen and learned concerning the professional secrets and conditions and the economic and commercial situation and circumstances of the employer and the workplace; and not to disclose the names and identities of employees and other persons from whom they have taken information and statements or who have applied to them or made a complaint to them.

Where employees and employers and their professional organisations apply in writing to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in matters concerning them and relating to working life, such petitions and the related reports, papers, books and proceedings shall be exempt from stamp duty and from all kinds of charges and fees.

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

It is prohibited for employers, whether directly or indirectly, to make suggestions to employees whose statements and information are sought by labour inspectors authorised to carry out labour supervision and inspection, to induce or in any manner compel employees to conceal or alter the truth, or to treat employees badly because they have applied to the competent authorities or given information or statements.

It is prohibited for employees to engage in acts of bad faith such as causing the workplaces in which they work or which they have left, and their employers, to be occupied with unnecessary proceedings by giving untrue reports about them, attempting to put employers unjustly in a bad position, or making supervision and inspection more difficult or leading it to a wrong conclusion by giving untrue answers to matters asked of them by labour inspectors.

Where labour inspectors authorised to inspect and supervise workplaces deem it necessary and so request in order to ensure that the provisions of this Law are applied fully and properly, the law enforcement forces shall be obliged to provide every kind of assistance to enable such labour inspectors to perform their duties properly.

Amended paragraph 1: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 8 An employer or employer's representative who acts contrary to the obligation to notify the workplace under paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 3 of this Law shall be subject to an administrative fine of one hundred New Turkish Liras for each employee employed, and (…) the principal employer and the subcontractor, or their representatives, who notify the workplace collusively (by sham arrangement) under paragraph 2 of Article 3 shall each separately be subject to an administrative fine of ten thousand New Turkish Liras.

If the breach of the notification obligation continues after this fine has become final, a fine of the same amount shall be applied for each following month.

Amended: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 4

Under this Law;

a) on an employer or employer's representative who acts contrary to the principles and obligations set out in Article 5, one hundred and fifty Turkish liras for each employee so affected,

b) on an employer or employer's representative who employs a temporary employee contrary to the principles and obligations set out in Article 7, two hundred and fifty Turkish liras for each employee so affected,

c) on an employer or employer's representative who fails to give the employee the document referred to in the last paragraph of Article 8 or who acts contrary to the provisions of Article 14, one hundred and fifty Turkish liras for each employee so affected,

d) on an employer or employer's representative who, contrary to Article 28, acts in breach of the obligation to issue a certificate of employment or enters untrue information in such certificate, one hundred and fifty Turkish liras for each employee so affected,

shall be imposed as an administrative fine.

On an employer or employer's representative who acts contrary to subparagraph (f) of paragraph 2 of Article 7, the fine specified in subparagraph (b) of paragraph 1 shall be applied increased fourfold.

An employer or employer's representative who dismisses employees contrary to the provisions of Article 29 of this Law shall be subject to an administrative fine of four hundred and fifty Turkish Liras for each employee dismissed.

An employer or employer's representative who fails to employ disabled persons and former convicts contrary to the provisions of Article 30 of this Law shall be subject to an administrative fine of one thousand seven hundred Turkish Liras for each disabled person and former convict not employed and for each month of non-employment. Public institutions may not be exempted from this fine in any manner whatsoever.

Under this Law;

a) Amended: 17/4/2008, Law No. 5754, Art. 85 on an employer, employer's representative or third party who intentionally fails to pay within the due time, or underpays, the wage specified in Article 32 and the wage payments of the employee arising from this Law, a collective labour agreement or an employment contract, who fails to pay or underpays the employee the minimum wage determined by the commission specified in Article 39, or who, despite being obliged to do so, fails to pay wages, premiums, bonuses and all entitlements of this nature into a specially opened bank account, an administrative fine of one hundred and twenty-five Turkish Liras for each employee so affected and for each month,

b) on an employer or employer's representative who fails to issue a wage statement contrary to Article 37, imposes a wage deduction penalty on employees' wages contrary to Article 38, fails to notify the reason and calculation of a wage deduction made, or fails to give the document referred to in Article 52, an administrative fine of four hundred and fifty Turkish Liras,

c) on an employer or employer's representative who fails to pay the wage for overtime work specified in Article 41, fails to allow the employee to use the free time to which the employee is entitled within six months, or fails to obtain the employee's consent for work to be performed in overtime hours, an administrative fine of two hundred and twenty Turkish Liras for each employee so affected,

shall be imposed.

An employer or employer's representative who divides annual paid leave contrary to Article 56 of this Law, or pays the leave pay contrary to the procedure specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 57 or underpays it, or, where the employment contract ends before the earned leave referred to in Article 59 has been used, fails to pay the wage for such leave, or fails to allow leave to be used, or allows it to be used only in part, contrary to the principles and procedures of the regulation specified in Article 60, shall be subject to an administrative fine of two hundred and twenty Turkish Liras for each employee so affected.

An employer or employer's representative who employs employees contrary to the working hours determined in Article 63 of this Law and in the regulation referred to in that Article, or fails to apply the rest breaks under Article 68 in accordance with that Article, or employs employees at night for more than seven and a half hours contrary to Article 69; who fails to rotate night and day shifts, or acts contrary to the provision of Article 71 and the provisions of the regulation referred to in the last paragraph of that Article; who, contrary to the provisions of Article 72, employs male children and young persons who have not completed eighteen years of age and women of any age in the places specified in that Article; who, contrary to Article 73, employs child and young employees at night or acts contrary to the provisions of the regulation referred to in the same Article; who, contrary to the provision of Article 74, employs pregnant women or women who have given birth during the periods before and after childbirth or fails to grant unpaid leave; who fails to keep the employee personnel files under Article 75; or who fails to comply with the provisions of the regulation specified in Article 76, shall be subject to an administrative fine of one thousand two hundred Turkish Liras.

An employer or employer's representative who acts contrary to the provisions laid down in Article 64 (…) shall be subject to an administrative fine of two hundred and twenty Turkish Liras for each employee so affected.

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

An employer who operates without obtaining the permission provided for in Article 90 of this Law shall be subject to a fine of one billion liras.

Amended: 23/1/2008, Law No. 5728, Art. 500

Under this Law;

a) failing to fulfil the obligations under paragraph 2 of Article 92,

b) failing to comply with the prohibitions under Article 96,

an employer or employer's representative shall be subject to an administrative fine of eight thousand Turkish Liras.

Persons who, during the performance by labour inspectors of their duties pursuant to any kind of inspection and supervision powers and duties arising from this Law or other laws, obstruct the performance and completion of their duties shall, provided that the act does not constitute an offence, be subject to an administrative fine of eight thousand Turkish Liras.

Amended: 10/7/2025, Law No. 7553, Art. 10

The administrative fines provided for in this Law shall be imposed, with the reasons stated, by the provincial director of the Labour and Employment Agency (Çalışma ve İş Kurumu). Administrative fines to be applied pursuant to Articles 101 and 106 to employers having workplaces in more than one province shall be imposed by the provincial director of the Labour and Employment Agency in the place where the headquarters of the workplaces is located. Administrative fines imposed under Articles 101 and 106 shall be collected in accordance with the general provisions. For the administrative fine to be imposed under Article 106, the amounts in Article 20 of Law No. 4904 of 25/6/2003 on Certain Regulations Concerning the Turkish Employment Agency shall be taken as the basis.

Amended together with its heading: 20/7/2025, Law No. 7555, Art. 23

The notifications provided for in this Law must be made to the person concerned in writing against signature or, subject to the written consent of the employee, by being sent through a registered electronic mail (KEP) account, which is a qualified form of electronic mail providing legal evidence concerning the use of electronic messages, including their sending and delivery. Notifications that will result in the termination of the employment contract shall in all cases be made in writing. If the person to whom a written notification is made does not sign it, this shall be recorded on the spot in a report. However, service falling within the scope of Notification Law No. 7201 of 11/2/1959 shall be made in accordance with the provisions of that Law.

The costs relating to the use of the KEP system shall be borne by the employer. The electronic notifications specified in this Article shall be made within the framework of the provisions of the legislation relating to the KEP system.

The various forms and principles to be applied in regulating the scope and nature of the services of residential building caretakers (konut kapıcıları), as well as their working hours, weekly rest day, national holidays and general holidays, annual paid leave entitlements and matters relating to caretakers' lodgings, shall be regulated by a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Amended: 15/5/2008, Law No. 5763, Art. 11

For the purposes of the application of this Law, the principles governing which work shall be deemed industrial, commercial, or agricultural and forestry work are set out below.

The principles governing work to be deemed industrial are as follows:

a) Exploration for and extraction from the ground of all kinds of minerals; stone, sand and lime quarries.

b) Processing, cleaning, changing the form of, decorating and preparing for sale raw, semi-finished and finished materials.

c) All kinds of installation, repair, dismantling, disassembly and demolition.

d) Construction and repair, alteration, dismantling and demolition of buildings and all kinds of industrial construction auxiliary thereto.

e) Construction and repair of roads, railways, tramways, ports, canals, dams, airports, breakwaters, tunnels, bridges, sewers and wells, salvage of wrecks and drainage of marshes.

f) Generation, conversion, transmission, installation and distribution of electricity and all kinds of motive power.

g) Installation and operation of water and gas systems.

h) Installation of telephone, telegraph, wireless, radio and television.

i) Construction, repair, alteration and breaking up of ships and steamships.

j) Loading and unloading of goods at stations, bonded warehouses, piers, ports and airports.

k) Printing houses.

The principles governing work to be deemed commercial are as follows:

a) Purchase and sale of all kinds of raw, semi-finished and finished plant, animal or industrial products and goods.

b) Work relating to the banking and finance sector, insurance, commission agency, storage, warehousing and bonded warehousing.

c) Purchase and sale of aquatic products.

d) Carriage of persons or goods and animals on land, lakes and rivers.

The principles governing work to be deemed agricultural and forestry work are as follows:

a) Growing, production, improvement and research of all kinds of fruit-bearing and non-fruit-bearing plants; tea, cotton, tobacco, fibre plants; citrus fruits; rice, legumes; trees, shrubs, vines, seeds, seedlings, saplings; vegetables and field crops; fodder and dairy plants, and all kinds of soil work relating thereto, sowing, planting, grafting, pruning, irrigation, fertilising, harvesting, threshing, gathering, cleaning, preparation and sorting work, combating diseases and pests, soil improvement, and protection of meadows, pastures, soil and water.

b) Work on the protection, planning (forest management), cultivation, operation and delimitation of forests, infrastructure work relating thereto, and seed collection, nurseries, afforestation, erosion control, studies, projects and rehabilitation, forestry research, and the establishment, maintenance and development of national parks, forest recreation areas and urban forests.

c) Raising, production and improvement of all kinds of working and productive animals (including bees, silkworms and the like), and the care, herding, training, shearing and milking relating thereto, the obtaining, collection and storage of their products, and combating the diseases and parasites of such animals.

d) Without prejudice to the provisions of Maritime Labour Law No. 854, hunting, fishing and breeding on land and in water, and the storage and transport of products obtained thereby.

Which of industrial, commercial, or agricultural and forestry work a given type of work shall be deemed to fall under for the purposes of the application of this Law, in line with the principles listed above, shall be regulated by a regulation to be issued within six months by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security after obtaining the opinions of the Ministries of Industry and Trade, of Environment and Forestry, and of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Payments made as severance pay under legislation or contracts to the personnel of institutions and organisations established by law or on the basis of authority granted by law, to whom the provisions of this Law and of Laws No. 854, 5953 and 5434 do not apply, and to persons employed under contract in public organisations, shall be deemed severance pay.

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 8 The severance pay of employees employed by subcontractors within the scope of subparagraph (e) of paragraph 1 of Article 62 of Public Procurement Law No. 4734 of 4/1/2002 shall be paid as follows;

a) For those who have worked continuously in workplaces belonging to the same public institution or organisation, regardless of whether their subcontractors have changed, the service periods forming the basis for severance pay for the periods so worked shall be determined on the basis of the total working periods spent in workplaces belonging to the same public institution or organisation. The severance pay of those among them whose employment contracts with their last subcontractors have ended in a manner requiring the payment of severance pay under Article 14 of Labour Law No. 1475 shall be paid by the relevant public institution or organisation,

b) To employees employed by the same subcontractor under the same employment contract in different public institutions or organisations whose employment contracts have ended in a manner requiring the payment of severance pay under Article 14 of Labour Law No. 1475, severance pay shall be paid by the last public institution or organisation in which they were employed, on the basis of the total service periods spent in workplaces belonging to different public institutions and organisations within the scope of subparagraph (e) of paragraph 1 of Article 62 of Law No. 4734,

by being deposited into the employee's bank account.

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 8 In the case of an employee whose employment contract with the subcontractor has not ended, who continues to be employed by the subcontractor in a workplace other than the workplaces belonging to administrations within the scope of Law No. 4734, and whose employment contract ends during such employment in a manner requiring the payment of severance pay, upon the written request of the employee, the part of the severance pay relating to the period spent in workplaces belonging to the said public institutions or organisations shall be calculated on the basis of the employee's wage at the last workplace belonging to a public institution or organisation in which the employee worked, updated by taking into account the minimum wage increase rates by year, and shall be paid by the last public institution or organisation by being deposited into the employee's bank account. If the amount of severance pay so calculated and paid is lower than the amount of severance pay to be calculated on the basis of the wage at the date of termination of the employment contract for the same periods, the employee's right to claim the difference from the subcontractor is reserved.

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 8 Where severance pay is paid on the basis of the total service periods spent in workplaces belonging to different public institutions or organisations under subparagraph (b) of paragraph 2 or under paragraph 3, the last public institution or organisation making the severance payment shall collect from the relevant public institution or organisation the part of the amount of severance pay paid that relates to the service period spent in the other public institutions or organisations. However, no collection shall be made under the provisions of this paragraph between public administrations within the scope of the central government.

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 8 The amount of severance pay shall be paid, regardless of whether the appropriation is sufficient, from the budget item to be opened for severance pay in the workplaces specified within the scope of subparagraph (a) of paragraph 1 of Additional Article 8 of Law No. 4734, and from the service procurement expenditure item in the workplaces specified within the scope of subparagraph (b) thereof.

Added paragraph: 21/2/2019, Law No. 7166, Art. 11 Paragraph 6 annulled by Constitutional Court decision of 19/9/2019, E. 2019/42, K. 2019/73

Added paragraph: 10/9/2014, Law No. 6552, Art. 8 The calculation of the service period spent in these workplaces by employees working for subcontractors within the scope of this Article, the documents to be requested from the subcontractor and the subcontractor's employee, and other procedures and principles relating to the payment process shall be determined by a regulation issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security after obtaining the opinions of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Procurement Authority.

Added paragraph: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 40 Revenues obtained from the sale, through seizure or enforcement proceedings by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, of assets belonging to companies carrying out underground mining operations under royalty (rödövans) contracts within the scope of Public Procurement Contracts Law No. 4735 of 5/1/2002 and Mining Law No. 3213 of 4/6/1985, and to their shareholders, shall be used primarily for the payment of the severance and notice pay, as well as leave, overtime and other wage receivables, of employees who worked in such companies under these contracts and whose employment contracts ended in a manner entitling them to severance pay. These payments shall be made by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund by deposit into the accounts of the persons concerned. The information and documents forming the basis for payment shall be delivered to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund by the employee's last employer.

The provisions of Articles 32, 35, 37 and 38 shall apply to employees working in the workplaces listed in subparagraphs (b) and (ı) of paragraph 1 of Article 4 of this Law. In cases of breach of these Articles, the relevant penal provisions shall be applied to the persons concerned.

For the purposes of developing industrial peace and industrial relations and monitoring legislative work and practices relating to working life, an advisory board of a consultative nature based on tripartite representation shall be established to ensure effective consultation between the Government and the confederations of employers', public servants' and workers' trade unions.

The working procedures and principles of the Board shall be regulated by a regulation to be issued.

Where one hundred and fifty or more employees are employed at workplaces, employers may allocate space to consumer cooperatives to be established by the employees in order to meet the necessary needs of the employees and their families.

Relates to Law No. 5953 of 13.6.1952 on the Regulation of Relations Between Employees and Employers in the Press Profession and has been incorporated therein.

Relates to Trade Unions Law No. 2821 of 5.5.1983 and has been incorporated therein.

Relates to Trade Unions Law No. 2821 of 5.5.1983 and has been incorporated therein.

The regulations provided for in this Law shall be issued within six months from the date of publication of the Law.

The articles of Labour Law No. 1475 of 25.8.1971, except Article 14, have been repealed.

Added: 6/2/2014, Law No. 6518, Art. 59

Of the wages paid on time by employers to persons with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities who are employed in sheltered workplaces and whose integration into the labour market is difficult, the following portions:

a) for each disabled person working in sheltered workplaces, an amount equal to the monthly allowance paid pursuant to subparagraph (a) of paragraph 1 of Article 2 of Law No. 2022 of 1/7/1976 on the Granting of Monthly Allowances to Needy, Infirm and Destitute Turkish Citizens Who Have Reached the Age of 65,

b) for each disabled person working in sheltered workplaces established in the provinces within the scope of Article 2 of Law No. 5084 of 29/1/2004 on the Promotion of Investments and Employment and on Amendments to Certain Laws, an additional twenty percent of the amount determined under subparagraph (a),

c) in workplaces employing more disabled persons than the number they are required to employ under the relevant legislation in order to obtain sheltered workplace status, for each disabled person employed above the required number, an additional twenty percent of the amount determined under subparagraph (a),

shall be paid by the Treasury to the employer, provided that the statutory obligations relating to these wages have also been fully and timely fulfilled.

The procedures and principles for the payment of the portions of wages specified in the first paragraph shall be determined by a regulation issued by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies upon obtaining the favourable opinion of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Undersecretariat of Treasury.

Added: 4/4/2015, Law No. 6645, Art. 35

The employee shall be granted three days of paid leave in the event of his or her marriage or adoption of a child, or the death of his or her mother or father, spouse, sibling or child, and ten days of paid leave in the event that his or her spouse gives birth.

For the treatment of an employee's child who has a disability of at least seventy percent or a chronic illness, paid leave of up to ten days within one year, taken at once or in parts, shall be granted on the basis of a medical report, provided that it is used by only one of the working parents.

Added: 12/10/2017, Law No. 7036, Art. 15

Provided that they arise from an employment contract, and irrespective of the law to which they are subject, the limitation period for annual leave pay and for the compensation items listed below shall be five years.

a) Severance pay.

b) Compensation arising from the termination of the employment contract without complying with the notice requirement.

c) Bad faith compensation.

d) Compensation arising from the termination of the employment contract without complying with the principle of equal treatment.

References made in other legislation to Labour Law No. 1475 shall be deemed to have been made to this Law.

References to Articles 16, 17 and 26 of Labour Law No. 1475 made in subparagraphs 1 and 2 of paragraph 1 and in paragraph 11 of Article 14 of the said Law, which has been kept in force by Article 120 of this Law, shall be deemed to have been made to Articles 24, 25 and 32 of this Law.

Repealed: 20/6/2012, Law No. 6331, Art. 37

The minimum wage decision adopted under Law No. 1475 shall remain in force until a determination is made pursuant to Article 39 of this Law.

For persons to whom the provisions of Article 13 of the repealed Labour Law No. 3008 were not applied, the right to severance pay referred to in Provisional Article 6 of this Law shall commence as of 12.8.1967.

The severance pay rights of persons who fall within the scope of this Law for the first time shall commence as of the date on which this Law enters into force.

The rates set out in Article 25 of Law No. 1475 and in paragraph (B) of Additional Article 1 of Law No. 3713 shall remain valid until they are redetermined by the Council of Ministers pursuant to Article 30 of this Law.

A severance pay fund shall be established for severance pay. Until the date on which the Law on the severance pay fund enters into force, the severance pay rights of employees in respect of their seniority under the provisions of Article 14 of Labour Law No. 1475 are reserved.

Added: 6/5/2016, Law No. 6715, Art. 5

Temporary employment relationships established before the date of publication of the Law introducing this article, pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 7, by way of temporarily assigning an employee to another employer to perform work, on condition that the employee is employed in work similar to the work he or she was performing, shall continue for the duration of their contracts.

Added: 12/10/2017, Law No. 7036, Art. 16

Additional Article 3 shall apply to annual leave pay and compensation arising from employment contracts that terminate after the date on which this article enters into force.

Limitation periods that began to run before the entry into force of this article for the annual leave pay and compensation specified in Additional Article 3 shall continue to be subject to the provisions in force before the amendment. However, if the unexpired portion of the limitation period is longer than the period provided for in Additional Article 3, the limitation period shall expire upon the lapse of the period provided for in Additional Article 3.

Added: 21/2/2019, Law No. 7166, Art. 12

First sentence annulled by Constitutional Court decision of 19/9/2019, E. 2019/42, K. 2019/73 In enforcement proceedings, a decision of discontinuance shall be rendered without collecting fees in respect of the portion for which no recourse will be sought, and the enforcement costs and attorney's fees shall be left with the parties. However, amounts that have been pursued and collected by way of recourse against the subcontractor within this scope shall in no way give rise to a right of claim in favour of subcontractors, and the amounts collected shall not be refunded.

Added: 16/4/2020, Law No. 7244, Art. 9

Irrespective of whether they fall within the scope of this Law, no employment or service contract of any kind may be terminated by the employer for a period of three months from the date on which this article enters into force, except in cases of conduct contrary to the rules of morality and good faith and similar reasons set out in subparagraph (II) of paragraph 1 of Article 25 and in the relevant provisions of other laws, the expiry of the term in fixed-term employment or service contracts, the closure of the workplace for any reason and the cessation of its activities, and the completion of the work in all kinds of service procurements and construction works carried out under the relevant legislation.

For a period not exceeding three months from the date on which this article enters into force, the employer may place the employee on full or partial unpaid leave. Being placed on unpaid leave under this article shall not give the employee the right to terminate the contract for just cause.

An employer or employer's representative who terminates an employment contract in breach of the provisions of this article shall be imposed an administrative fine, for each employee whose contract is terminated, in the amount of the monthly gross minimum wage applicable on the date of the act.

The President of the Republic is authorised to extend the three-month periods set out in the first and second paragraphs each time by periods of up to three months, until 30/6/2021.

Added: 23/7/2020, Law No. 7252, Art. 6

For employees who worked in the Işıklar, Atabacası and Geventepe mines covered by royalty (rödovans) contracts signed under Law No. 3213 to which the Turkish Coal Enterprises Authority is a party in the Soma district of Manisa province, and whose service contracts were terminated (…) in a manner entitling them to severance pay, those who have not received their severance pay and/or the compensation arising from the termination of the employment contract without complying with the notice requirement shall be paid such compensation by the Authority within six months from the date of application, provided that they apply to the Authority within two months from the date of entry into force of this article. On account of the payment made, the Authority shall have recourse against the relevant companies that are parties to the royalty contract and, for the amount that cannot be collected or is understood to be uncollectable from these companies, against the members of the board of directors who served from the date on which the employment contracts terminated in a manner entitling the employees to severance pay until the date on which this article enters into force.

Added: 23/1/2026, Law No. 7573, Art. 6

Collection shall be waived of the portion, attributable to the relevant tender contracts, of amounts subject to recourse against subcontractors arising from severance pay payments made by public institutions and organisations to employees employed by subcontractors under tender contracts signed pursuant to subparagraph (e) of paragraph 1 of Article 62 of Law No. 4734 between 11/9/2014, the date on which Article 8 of Law No. 6552 of 10/9/2014 on Amendments to the Labour Law and Certain Laws and Decrees-Laws and on the Restructuring of Certain Receivables entered into force, and 15/10/2019 (both dates inclusive).

In actions pending as of the date on which this article enters into force that are conducted by public institutions or organisations for recourse against the subcontractor within the scope of the first paragraph, it shall be ruled that there is no need to decide on the merits of the dispute with respect to the portion whose collection is waived under the first paragraph, and the litigation costs and attorney's fees shall be left with the parties. In enforcement proceedings, a decision of discontinuance shall be rendered without collecting fees in respect of the portion whose collection is waived, and the enforcement costs and attorney's fees shall be left with the parties. However, amounts that have been pursued and collected by way of recourse against the subcontractor within this scope shall in no way give rise to a right of claim in favour of subcontractors, and the amounts collected shall not be refunded.

This Law shall enter into force on the date of its publication.

The provisions of this Law shall be executed by the Council of Ministers.