Turkish Labor Law
On March 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus (Covid-19) a pandemic, due to the possibility of infecting larger masses. As a result of the soaring infected cases, nations are trying to avoid a major economic crisis by introducing stimulus packages. An economic package on the subject has been announced recently in Turkey. As one of the measures, İŞKUR informed that the applications for short-term working allowances will start.
In Turkey, in case of extraordinary factors negatively affecting the economic life, there is a short term work allowance in order to prevent the economic losses of the employees. According to Article 24 of the Labor Law No. 4857, short term work allowance comes into play if the work stops at a workplace for more than a week.
Short-Term Work Allowance in Our Legislation
In Appendix 2 of the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447, “In the event that the weekly working hours in the workplace are significantly reduced temporarily or stopped completely or partially due to the general economic, sectoral or regional crisis, short term work allowance can be implemented for a period not to exceed 3 months.” Short term work allowance appears as a payment to the workers for the period when the employees cannot be employed. During this period, employees’ general health insurance premiums are also paid.
Who Will Benefit from Short Term Work Allowance?
For the employee to benefit from short-term work allowance, the employer’s application to Turkey Business Council should be suitable and the employee should have rights to unemployment benefits based on the following criteria: The employee should have at least 600 days of insurance premium days in the last three years and have the last 120 days of uninterrupted insurance notification before leaving work.
If the draft law submitted to the Parliament by the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services is approved, these periods will change in favor of the worker. According to the draft law: The insurance premium days will be reduced from 600 days to 450 days in the last three years and the requirement of uninterrupted insurance of the last 120 days will be reduced to 60 days.
How Much is the Short Term Work Allowance?
The allowance is calculated as 60 percent of the daily amount of the premium earned reported to SSI in the last 12 months. This amount is proportioned not to exceed 150 percent of the gross minimum wage. The duration of the short term work allowance cannot exceed three months, unless extended by the President for a maximum of 6 months.
Employers Will be Able to Make Short-Time Working Applications Electronically
Employers who want to apply for short term work allowance on the grounds that they are adversely affected by Covid-19 will be able to apply via e-mail, which has been created specifically for Labor Provincial Directorates and Service Centers as of March 23, 2020.
Click here to access short term work application e-mail addresses.
Click for Short Term Work Request Form
Click the list containing information about the workers who receive a short term work allowance
