Turkish Labor Law
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Who are in the scope of Press Labor Law?
Persons employed in periodical newspapers and magazines, news and photograph agencies, news departments of radio and television companies, under following titles are considered as press members and subject to Press Labor Law (Law on Sector Regulations between Press Employees and Employers) No. 5953.
- Writer, news reporter, painter, cartoonist, newspaper photographer, cameraman, translator, editor,
- News director, speaker, commentator,
- Person engaged in literary and artistic works in the press and media.
Who are not in the scope of Press Labor Law?
Persons who have no contribution in the forming of news are not considered as press members and not subject to Press Labor Law, even though they are employed in radio, TV or newspaper; namely accountancy personnel, driver, secretary, marketing, sales and uplink personnel.
Employment contracts of press employees?
- Employment agreements must be in writing,
- Contract may be open-ended or fixed term,
- The type of work to be performed, wage and length of service in the press establishment must be included in the contract.
What are the Annual Leave periods of press employees?
Annual leave periods are arranged on weekly basis and determined according to employee’s length of service.
Press employee;
- Who are working in a daily periodical for at least one year: 4 weeks,
- Employee whose length of service is over ten years: 6 weeks,
- Who are working in weekly and monthly periodical: 2 weeks for every 6 months of service regardless of his/her length of service in the profession.
Also;
- Press member’s wage, pertaining to the period of annual leave, should be paid in advance,
- Press members may work during their annual leave periods; there is no prohibition in the law and regulations.
- Annual leave cannot be waived.
- In case of termination of contract, unused leave should be paid as an advance.
What are the notice periods in Press Labor Law?
Employee or employer can terminate an open-ended employment contract, on condition that required notice period is given to other party.
The minimum notice period will depend on the number of months worked as shown below; however these periods can be extended by employment contract.
- Less than 5years: 1 month
- 5 years or more: 3 months.
Thing to know about severance pay of press employees?
- Press employees who have total five 5 years of service in profession, including under different employers, will be entitled to severance pay. Severance pay is equal to last 30 days’ gross wages for each full year of employment. For a portion of a year, pro rata payment should be made, but periods less than 6 months are not taken into calculation.
- In calculation of the last 30 days’ wage, the wage and the some contractual and statutory benefits in kind provided by employer will be taken into account.
- In case the press employee gets severance pay from his prior employer and starts to work in another press establishment, the new severance payment entitlement of the employee will be calculated from the date the employee starts his work in the new establishment. However different terms can be put in the employment contracts.
Is the severance pay of press employee subject to income tax?
Severance pay of the (normal) employees in the scope of Labor Law is free of income tax, however press members’ severance pay equal to 24 months are free of income tax and the exceeding part is taxable.
Is there any maximum limit for severance payment of press employees?
There is no cap amount for severance pay. Qualified press employee will be paid a severance pay equal to last 30 days’ gross wages for each full year of employment.
Can severance be paid in instalments?
In case employer proves that he is having payment difficulty, severance may be paid in instalments, provided that total pay period not exceeds 1 year.
