Labour Act  - Turkey

Labour Act (No. 1475), 1971

This Act does not apply to domestic services nor, in general, to agricultural work or to persons involved in air transport such as stewardesses, handicrafts and home work (performed by family members or close relatives), and certain work involving tradesmen or small handcrafts (where the employers employs less than 4 employees). Relevant provisions may be summarised as follows:

1. Article 16 sets out the circumstances in which an employee is entitled to break a labour contract before its expiry or without notice. This includes for specified reasons which relate to health and malicious, immoral or dishonourable conduct or other similar behaviour.

2. Article 17 sets out the circumstances in which the employer may break a labour contract before its expiry or without notice. This includes periods of illness following pregnancy which last for more than the applicable notice period, plus 6 weeks, commencing after the 12 week maternity leave period set out in article 70 (see below). The employee may have a case for illegal dismissal if the employer has terminated the contract and the employee is able to establish that the requirements of article 17 were not complied with. In the case of illegal dismissal, the employee is entitled to compensation, but not reinstatement. In Turkey, these illegal dismissals are also referred to as ‘unfair’ dismissals.
   This differs from ‘abusive dismissal’ which is dealt with under article 13(c) III of the Act as, inter alia, dismissal that is a ‘manifest abuse of the right to terminate a contract with notice’. Unlike a case of illegal dismissal, in a case of an abusive dismissal the legal requirements of notice etc. may have been complied with. It is up to the employee to prove an abusive dismissal, but if established, the employee is entitled to compensation of three times the wages corresponding to the appropriate term of notice.

3. Under article 26(1), wages are defined as the amount paid by an employer or third person in cash in return for work. Article 26(4) provides that men and women workers performing work of the same nature, working with equal efficiency, at the same place of employment must not be paid different wages solely for reasons of difference in gender. In addition, collective agreements must not contain provisions which contravene this article.

4. Under article 35(e), overtime can be worked only with the consent of the worker, and is prohibited where the hours of work are fixed at 7.5 hours or less for health reasons, during night work (article 65) and certain categories of employment. In addition, overtime can not be required of workers where a doctor has certified that they are unsuitable for overtime work.

5. Article 51 provides that in calculating annual leave with pay, the periods treated as periods of employment include days that a female worker is not permitted to work before and after her confinement, and the time that she is taken to have worked under article 62(d) as a nursing mother. Under article 62(d), the time allowed to a nursing woman worker to feed her child is included in the statutory hours of work, which as a rule should not exceed 45 hours per week.

6. Under article 70, women may not be employed for 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after the anticipated date of confinement. The period may be extended, both before and after confinement, on the basis of a medical report and taking into account the nature of the work. During this period they are paid maternity benefit of 2/3 of wages from social security funds. These periods of maternity leave are included in the calculation of periods of employment (see article 51(b).). Six months additional leave without pay must be granted after the 6 week post-natal leave, if requested. Under article 17(1), a contract of employment may be terminated without notice, for a number of grounds, which include an illness due to pregnancy or confinement which continues for 6 weeks after the period of 6 weeks leave after confinement under s.70.

7. Under article 78, women and girls are prohibited from performing underground and underwater work (such as work in mines, cable-laying and the construction of sewers and tunnels.).

8. Subject to conditions set out in regulations, women over the age of 18 years may be employed in night work, in operations where the nature of the work so requires (see article 69). However, women may not be employed on night shifts on "industrial work" which is defined in article 6(1). "Night" is defined in article 65(1) as being between 8 pm and 6 am, although this may change depending on local conditions and different hours of night work may be arranged by regulations of the Minister of Labour and Social Security.

9. Under article 75(cc), an employee must not be permitted to work where their age, sex or health is incompatible with the work.

10. Under article 60, an employer can not make any deduction from an employee’s wages on the grounds that the daily or weekly working hours have been reduced due to any of the mandatory requirements of the Act.