Turkish Labor Law
Many of the companies that apply for short term work, who are unable to come to work or who have workers in quarantine, will have a half wage for the first time this month. How to payroll this half wage? How will the premium day be determined? Will the week break be taken into account? These are among the frequently asked questions of payroll professionals.
Legal Basis of Half Wage
Half wage arises with the emergence of a compelling reason. The compelling reason is that the worker cannot come to work even though he/she wants to come to work or the employer is not able to work despite trying to employ the worker. Neither the worker nor the employer is the reason that keeps the worker from his job.
The employer pays the wages of the worker as half for a week due to a compulsory reason. If the compelling reason still continues, the employer does not have to pay wages after this first week.
If the employer wishes in this one-week period, the employer can pay the wages in full. However, the law gives him the right to pay half wage for a week in this process.
Half wages are regulated in article 40 of the relevant law for employees subject to the Labor Law No. 4857.
“Half-wage – Workers who cannot work or are not employed due to the compelling reasons stated in the subparagraphs (III) of Articles 40-24 and 25, shall be paid half a day for up to one week in this waiting period.”
The aforementioned articles 24 and 25 are the articles that rule the situations in which the worker and employer can justify the right to terminate the employment contract immediately without waiting for the notification period. The mentioned sub-clauses are;
“The right of the worker to be terminated immediately for the right reason – Article 24 – III. Compelling reasons: If there are compelling reasons that require the work to stop for more than a week in the workplace where the worker works. ”
“Employer’s right to terminate immediately for just cause – Article 25 –
III- Compelling reasons: The emergence of a compelling reason that prevents the employee from working for more than a week at the workplace”.
Half Wage Due To Short Term Work
If the application for short term work allowance is due to the compelling reason mentioned in Articles 24 and 25 of the Labor Law – explained above – the employer must pay half a wage for the worker in the first week of short term work allowance.
Let’s say that he applied for a short term work allowance for his workers, where the activity at the workplace stopped completely, the worker could not come to work even though he wanted to, and the employer could not work due to compelling reasons. After the approval of this application, half wages are paid in the first week of short work and the worker is notified to the Authority as 7 premium days worked.
If the activity at the workplace has not stopped completely, but the working time has decreased significantly, half the wage will not be in question even if it is within the scope of short term work allowance. Here, the wages of the employee for the days worked will be paid in full by the employer, based on the days worked. For the missing days, the worker will be paid a short term work allowance by İŞKUR.
How to Calculate the Premium Days in Half Wage?
In the payroll of the workers, who will be shown half a wage for a week and the remaining time within the scope of short term work allowance, the premium days will be reported as 7. Even if the wage is paid half, there will be no decrease from the premium day.
The issue of whether the week holiday should be included in the half wage or not is explicitly stated in the Labor Law numbered 4857 under the heading “Weekly Holiday Fee”. The law is clear in this regard.
“Weekly holiday wage – Article 46 – When compelling reasons that require work to be holidayed for more than one week occur in a workplace, half wage paid to workers for days not worked due to compelling reasons shown in subparagraphs (III) of Articles 24 and 25 paid for. ”
As stated in the article, during the half-paid week, the worker’s week holiday is also paid half.
Half Wage in Payroll
Suppose that the monthly gross wage of the worker is 9.000 TL. For the employee who could not go to work for 1 month due to compelling reasons, the employer applied for a short term work allowance.
In the first week when the worker is unable to go to work, the wage will be paid as half wage by the employer.
Worker’s daily wages 9.000 TL / 30 Days = 300 TL
The wages to be paid to the worker for 7 days (300/2) x 7 days = 1.050 TL will be gross.
Legal deductions (SSI and unemployment premiums, income tax and stamp tax) are made over this wage, as in a normal payroll, and the net amount will be paid to the employee’s account by adding the amount of the AGI.
For the remaining days, the worker will receive the short term work allowance from İŞKUR.
Remuneration of the Wage Below the Minimum Wage
There are some problems with paying half the 7-day wage and notifying the Agency that the worker has worked 7 premium days without any decrease on the premium day. A lower limit is set for the daily income of the worker. This lower limit is the daily amount of the minimum wage. In some low-wage people, daily earnings fall below the daily lower limit of earnings based on premium. In this case, when arranging APHB to the institution, the difference will be completed by the employer, since no wages can be reported below the daily limit.
For example, let’s consider a worker whose gross daily wage is 100 TL. A weekly half wage for the worker,
(100/2) TL x 7 Days = 350 TL will be calculated as gross wages. However, since the wages paid cannot be below the lower limit of 98.10, the employer;
An additional fee of 98.10 TL – 50 TL = 48.10 x 7 = 336.70 TL should be reported.
Half Wage Application For Part Time Employees
If part-time workers are to be paid half-wages, the payment should be calculated for the days the employee worked during the week. For example, if a part-time employee works for 2 days each week, the 2-day wages are calculated halfway and paid, and the reporting is made as 2 days.
