Turkish Labor Law
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After the 3 December has been proclaimed as “International Day of Persons with Disabilities” in 1992, “The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol” which is signed and ratified by Turkey, was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations. Purpose of the Convention is stated as “to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity,” and the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others is stressed on Article 27 of the Convention.
Turkey has taken steps to apply affirmative actions to create equal and safer work conditions for disabled persons by the provisions arranged in Labor Law No. 4857, Article 30, and the “Regulation on Employment of Disabled, Ex-convict and Terror-stricken Persons”.
Obligation of Employing Dısabled Persons
In private sector workplaces employing fifty or more employees within the boundaries of a province, employer must employ disabled persons, numbers of which cannot be less than the %3 of total employees.
Restrictions on Employment of Disabled
– The jobs disabled person assigned must be consistent with their occupational skills and physical and mental capacities.
– Disabled personnel cannot be forced to work on hazardous and hard works without a health report stating that he can work on these types of tasks.
– No disabled person shall be employed in any underground and underwater work, and employees engaged in underground and underwater works shall not be taken into account in determining the number of disabled employees.
– Although there is no special provision forbidding the night work for disabled, persons who have health reports as to their incompetency to work at nights should not be worked at nights.
– Employer shall; make arrangements in the workplace, within the bounds of possibility, to facilitate disabled’s work, take the necessary measures to preserve their health, employ them in the works appropriate to their profession, and provide the necessary tools and equipment required for their work.
– When the circumstances allow, the starting and ending hours of work can be determined in accordance with the disabled’s needs.
– Being an employee with disability must not be the cause of wage discrimination. No provision to the detriment of disabled person can be inserted into employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements.
– The works that the disabled persons can be employed in are specified in the annexed Table 1 of above mentioned Regulation, if it is not possible to give a job included in the said – Table, another work determined by workplace doctor may be given to disabled employee.
Paid Leave of Absence for Dependent Child with Disability
Employed parents whose child has at least seventy percent disability or chronic disease based on medical report, shall be allowed to take up to 10 days leave of absence with pay in a year for attending the treatment of the child; on condition that leave may be taken only one of the parents and without interruption or with segments.
