Conditions of Employment

Working conditions in Turkey is mainly governed by the Labor Code and Trade Union Law.

Under the Labor Law, there are various employment contract types:

• Employment Contracts for “Temporary” and “Permanent” employment,
• Employment Contracts for “Definite Duration” or “Indefinite Duration” employment,
• Employment Contracts for “Part-time” or “Full time” employment
• Employment Contracts for “On-call working”
• Employment Contracts with “Probation Duration”
• Employment Contracts created with Gang Contract.

Employment Contracts are exempt from stamp duty and any image and fee.

Discrimination against employees for their language, race, gender, political view, philosophical belief, religion or similar parameters are prohibited legally. Discrimination based on the gender while determining the salaries to be provided for the persons carrying out the same or equivalent duties are prohibited as well.   

Working Times and Overtime

Pursuant to the Labor Law, the ordinary working time is up to 45 hours a week. In principle, this 45-hour period is evenly distributed equally over working days. However, in accordance with the Labor Law, the working period can be arranged within the legal limits by the employer.

Payments for hours exceeding the 45-hour weekly working time limit, as a rule, are made within the scope of "overtime". The wage to be paid for each hour of overtime is paid by increasing the amount of normal working wage per hour by fifty percent. Instead of paying for overtime workers, 1.5 hours of rest can also be given for each hour of overtime. For overtime work during week holidays and public holidays, the worker is paid a one-day holiday wage and overtime wage. Wages can be increased based on collective labor agreements or individual employment contracts signed between employees and employers. Total overtime cannot exceed 270 hours a year.

Paid Annual Leave

There are a total of nine paid holidays, including seven paid public holidays (1 January, 23 April, 1 May, 19 May, 15 July, 30 August and 29 October) and two paid religious holidays. Provided that they have worked for at least one year, including trial period, employees are entitled to paid annual leave in accordance with the following working hours:

These leave periods are the minimum periods specified in the law and may be extended based on collective labor agreements or individual employment contracts signed between employees and employers.

Pursuant to the Regulation on Payment of Wages, Premiums, Bonuses and All kinds of Fees through Banks, in case the employer recruits at least five workers within the same workplace or across the whole country; any payments to the workers shall be paid through banks. If wage and salary amounts are not paid into employees' bank accounts, an administrative penalty is charged to the employer. It is possible to denominate wages/salaries in terms of a foreign currency. In this case, wages/salaries shall be paid in TRY calculated on the basis of the relevant foreign currency rate prevailing as of the payment date.   

Termination of Employment Contract

According to the relevant provisions of the Labor Law no. 4857, employers and employees are required to give specified notification periods prior to the termination of an employment contract, as shown in the following table.  

There are two types of termination for an employment contract:  

1) Temporary Termination

Both the employee and the employer may terminate an employment contract concluded for an indefinite period based on the notification periods indicated in the above table. The party who does not abide by the rule to serve notice shall pay compensation covering the wages which correspond to the notification period in order to terminate the employment contract.

2) Termination of an employment contract before the end of the contract period or before the notification periods stated above, based on justifiable and rightful reasons stated in the Labor Law

Both the employer and employee have the right to terminate an employment contract before its expiry or without having to comply with the prescribed notification periods, in the following cases:

• Reasons of health
• Cases arising from immoral, dishonorable or malicious conduct or other similar behavior
• Force majeure  

Severance Pay      

An employee who quits satisfying the conditions indicated in the Labor Law or whose employment contract is terminated by the employer must be compensated with a severance pay to be calculated based on the employees’ seniority at the work place. This indemnity pay is calculated on the basis of the last 30 days’ gross wage per year of the employment contract from the commencement date of employment. The thirty days’ payment per year of employment may not exceed the upper limit determined semi-annually. However, severance pay may be agreed to be paid at an amount higher than the limit indicated above in case there is a provision in the employment contract.

The reasons on the basis of which employees are entitled to receive severance pay are as follows:

• Leaving the workplace due to the compulsory military service (for males)
• Retirement (in order to receive old age, retirement pension or disability allowance from the relevant insurance institutions)
• Resignation of the employee after completing 3,600 premium days and 15 years of insurance period (in case of fulfillment of retirement conditions except the age limit and resignation with the submission of the document from the Social Security Institution indicating the fulfillment of retirement conditions, excluding the age limit, to the employer)
• Voluntary termination by female employees within one year following the date of marriage
• Death of the employee,
• Termination of the employment contract not based on a valid reason listed in the Labor Law by the employer and termination of the employment contract by the employer with a valid reason   

Job Security  

According to Labor Law, in case the employment contract is terminated by the employer, it is required that the underlying reason of this termination be notified to the employee, and the reason of termination be valid. The employee has the right to file a lawsuit in Labor Court within one month from the date of notification of termination. In the lawsuit to be filed, liability of proving that termination is based on a valid reason belongs to the employer, and if the employee claims that termination is due to another reason, he/she is obligated to prove this claim. In case the court decides that the termination is invalid and the employee is to be reemployed, and if the employee does not apply to the employer within ten work days from the date of notification of the decision to him/her, termination executed by the employer is deemed as a valid termination, and employer is only held responsible for the legal consequences.

Also, since 2018, Mandatory Mediation has been applied on employee-employer disputes and the parties must absolutely apply to the mediator before filing a lawsuit. In the event that a lawsuit is filed without applying and concluding to the mediator, the direct rejection of the case will be decided; in case the mediation process ends due to the reason that one party does not attend the first meeting without showing a valid excuse, the party who does not attend the meeting is held responsible for the entire trial expenses even if he/she is partially or fully justified in the case; in addition, the counsel fee shall  not be decided in favor of this party.   

Social Security System

Social security system in Turkey went through a major transformation in 2007 and at the end of this transformation process, it has turned out to be a system where different social security funds are gathered within one institution and controlled centrally and which operate more efficiently and fast.

Three different social security institutions of SSI, Government Retirement Fund and Bağ-Kur (Social Security Organization for Artisans and the Self-employed) were merged within a single institution named as Social Security Institution (SSI). Since 2008, these three social security institution cover approximately 81% of the total population. The new system entered into force fully since the beginning of 2008.

Social Security Premium Payments

Social security premiums (as a percentage of employee's gross earnings) are payable by both employers and employees. As an outline, the below table shows the rates regarding the issue.

Foreigners making social security contributions in their home countries do not have to pay the Turkish social security premiums if there is a reciprocal agreement between the home country and Turkey.

Unemployment Insurance Premium Payments    

Employees, employers and the state are required to make a compulsory contribution to the Unemployment Insurance Plan at the rates of 1%, 2% and 1%, respectively, of the gross salary of the employee. Like the social security premium payments, unemployment insurance premiums are also to be paid on a monthly basis. Employers are able to deduct such contributions from their taxable income. On the other hand, an employee’s contributions are deductible from the income tax base of the employee. A foreign individual who remains covered under the compulsory social security system of his/her home country that has a social security agreement in effect in Turkey is not liable for insurance payments to the Turkish social security. The proof of foreign coverage is to be filed with the local social security office. If the employee is not subject to a foreign social security, full contributions will generally be imposed. Unemployment insurance premiums are declared and paid to the Social Security Institution together with social security premium contributions.