Turkish Labor Law
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Overtime wage and working times are arranged in articles 41 and 63 of Labor Law No. 4857, which give the employer an option of balancing the extra worked hours without paying overtime wages by applying the equalizing principle, currently, within a time period of two months, and this equalizing (balancing) period may be increased up to four months by collective agreement.
Now, as a side support to Turkey’s tourism sector that has been badly affected by recent developments in the region and is expecting hard times ahead, duration of this balancing period is to be extended to 4 months and may also be increased to 6 months by collective agreements.
WHAT IS BALANCING PERIOD?
According to Article 63 of Labor Law 4857, working time is forty-five hours maximum weekly. If the employers and employees have so agreed, working time may be divided by the days of the workweek in different forms, on condition that the daily working time must not exceed eleven hours. In this case, within a time period of two months, the average weekly working time of the employee should not exceed normal weekly working time. This balancing (equalizing) period may be increased up to four months by collective agreement.
And pursuant to Article 41 of Labor Law 4857, “In cases where the principle of balancing is applied in accordance with Article 63, work which exceeds a total of forty-five hours a week will not be deemed overtime work, provided the average working time of the employee does not exceed the normal weekly working time.”
More clearly, a worker can work overtime (time that may exceed the 45 hours in a week, but not exceeds the 11 hours in a day) during a period of two months without receiving overtime pay if the average weekly working time has not exceeded the normal weekly working time of 45 hours. This average will be reached by providing workers with time off with pay within this balancing period which can be increased up to four months by collective agreement.
EXPECTED AMENDMENT
During the discussion of the Draft “On Amending the Labor Law and Turkish Employment Organization Law” the Parliament’s Health, Family, Labor and Social Policies Commission has added the following sentence to the second paragraph of article 63.
“In tourism sector, within a time period of four months, the average weekly working time of the employee shall not exceed normal weekly working time. This balancing (equalizing) period may be increased up to six months by collective agreement.”
In line with this inserted sentence, an employee in a tourism establishment can work overtime during a period of six months without receiving overtime pay if the average weekly working time has not exceeded the normal weekly working time which is 45 hours. This also means that, employees will be working up to 11 hours daily and 66 hours weekly at peak periods and take time off during slow business periods in order to reach the average weekly worked 45 hours.
The draft is expected to be in the General Assembly this week and abovementioned arrangement will probably be the most objectionable one from the point of opposition.
