General Terms Of Employment in Turkey
Remuneration
Payment of salary is the main obligation of the employer under Turkish law. The employee’s main salary has to be monetary and cannot be paid in kind. The net salary does not include premiums, bonuses, social beneits and other side beneits to be provided to the employee. The salary amount can be freely determined under the employment agreement. However, the salary amount cannot be less than the minimum salary determined by the Minimum Wage Determination Commission in every two years at the latest.
Working Time
Probation Period
Agreeing on a probation period is permissible under Turkish law. The probation period cannot exceed 2 months but can be extended to up to 4 months by a collective labour agreement. Within the probation period both parties may terminate the employment agreement without serving a termination notice and without any compensation.
Standard Working Hours
The working hours of the employee are the times when the employee dedicates his/her work to the employer within or outside the workplace; whether working physically or not. Working hours cannot be more than 45 hours per week.
Overtime Work
Legal overtime is calculated as the number of hours worked beyond the employee’s normal working day. Overtime hours may not exceed a maximum of 270 hours/90 days per year (and working over 11 hours per day is not permitted). If an employee works overtime, the employer is required to pay the employee an additional 50% of his/her daily salary for weekdays or 100% on Sundays and holidays. Alternatively, the employee may beneit from additional vacation time in lieu of overtime payment. In such case, every hour worked is equal to 1 ½ hours of vacation time.
Overtime work is conditional upon the consent of the employee. If the employer fails to obtain such consent, the Labour Law provides for a monetary fine.
Balancing Schemes
With a view to providing lexible working hours for employees, standard weekly working hours can be distributed unequally to the days of the week provided that the working hours do not exceed 11 hours per day. Implementation of a balancing scheme is conditional upon the consent of the employee.
Working on Weekends and Public Holidays
Work is generally prohibited on public holidays unless it is agreed otherwise under the employment agreement. Those required to work during a public holiday are entitled to extra salary equivalent to the portion of their monthly salaries corresponding to the duration of the public holiday.
Annual Paid Leave
Under Turkish law, the minimum paid vacations to be provided to employees vary in accordance with the duration of the employee’s employment as follows:
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DURATION OF EMPLOYMENT
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PAID VACATION
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|---|---|
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1 to 5 years (inclusive)
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14 days
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5 to 14 years (inclusive)
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20 days
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15 years and more
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26 days
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In addition to paid vacations and public holidays, employees are granted paid leave in certain cases. For example, employees are
granted 3 days’ paid leave upon the event of
(i) their marriage, or
(ii) the death of one of their close relatives (mother, father, spouse, sibling or child).
Restrictive Covenants
Non-disclosure
Under Turkish law, the employee has a non-disclosure obligation which is considered part of the employees’ loyalty obligation towards his/her employer. Accordingly, the employee may not disclose, or use for his/her own beneit, any secret that he/she learns during his/her employment. A breach of such obligation would permit the employer to rightfully terminate the employee’s employment agreement. The scope of the non-disclosure obligation of the employee is deined by law in a limited way as keeping the secrets of the employer and not beneitting from such secrets. Such obligation can also be detailed in the employment agreement or in a separate non-disclosure agreement.
Non-competition
The employee and employer are free to negotiate a prohibition on working for the employer’s competitors after termination of employment, and to provide a penalty in case of breach. However, under Turkish law, non-compete obligations are subject to certain limitations in order not to unduly restrict the economic status and the earning power of the employee. Therefore, a non-compete clause is valid only if the employee has had access to some customerrelated or industry-related information that he/she could not have independently acquired. Moreover, the non-compete provision must have a reasonable duration, which should not exceed 2 years. The applicable territory must also be well deined.
Changes in the Working Conditions
Under Turkish law, substantial changes to the working conditions stipulated in the employment agreement or personnel guidelines attached to the employment agreement may only be made upon notiication to the employee in writing. The employee may accept such changes within 6 days as of the notiication date. Otherwise, such changes in the working conditions shall not bind the employee. In case the employee does not accept the change within 6 days, the employer has the right to terminate the employment agreement by complying with the applicable notice periods and by explaining in writing that the change in the working conditions is based on a valid reason.