Turkish Labor Law
Workers whose employment contracts have expired follow their exit payments when leaving their jobs. Some workers calculate the amount they need to receive in terms of salary and side benefits, and cross check the amount deposited in their account by the employer. The net-brut.com site provides easy calculation for seniority-notices and net-gross amounts.
The calculation gets more complicated when there are side benefits, additional wages and bonuses. Should bonuses be taken into account when calculating the allowance of unused leave of absence by the employee?
What is a bonus?
A bonus is a side benefit that is paid in addition to the actual wage the worker receives for his work, and is generally paid to everyone working for the company. A bonus is not mandatory by the Turkish Labor Law, but can be obligatory by employment contracts. Bonuses are usually tied to periods worked and these periods can be determined on the basis of year(s) and month(s) (i.e. one bonus in two years, three bonuses per year, or one bonus in three months and double bonuses in six months).
The feature of the bonus is that it is a right that is offered equally to all workers without any criteria or distinction. The performance of the worker or the department is not a criterion for the bonus. However, for a reason justifying the distinction, employees can also be paid bonuses in different amounts. For example, 1,000 TL may be paid to those who have worked in the company for at least 1 year, while 2,000 TL may be paid to workers who have worked for 5 years. Even when a similar method is applied, equal conditions must be provided for all workers meeting the same criteria.
Although the bonus is not legally required, it is a compulsory payment for all workers if applied at the workplace. If the workplace will eliminate the bonus application, it can do so with the written approval of all workers.
A bonus paid at least twice consecutively in the same period, even if it is not included in the employment contract or collective bargaining agreements, is now deemed mandatory in the following period.
How is Annual Leave Fee Calculated?
Workers are entitled to annual paid leave if they work for at least one year for the same employer. This leave is given to the employee to be used in the next year of service, it is not possible for the worker to give up this right legally. However, there are times that workers may not be able to use all their leaves. In such a case, the wage of the leave should be calculated per day and paid to the worker. This is called annual leave pay or leave pay.
What is taken into account when calculating leave pay is the worker’s final gross wage. Even the unused leaves from previous years are calculated over the wage of the employee in the month that he left the job. The number of days off he does not use is multiplied by the worker’s last daily wage.
How is the bonus paid if given as a 13th salary?
Some employers apply the total wage for one year of work as 13 salaries or 15 salaries, keeping the actual wage of the employee more than the number of months in the year, and expressing the additional wages as a part of the wage does not change the calculations. Of course, the employer and the employee can make a mutual agreement and calculate higher amounts by adding different payments when calculating leave wages. The employer can add the bonus or other payment items called the 13th salary to the fee. These practices are in favor of the worker. However, it is also correct to calculate the leave allowance only on the basis of the bare wage, without including these payments.
According to Article 59 of Labor Law No. 4857, in case the employment contract is terminated for any reason, the wages of the annual leave periods that the employee is not entitled to use, shall be paid to him or to the right holders on the basis of his wage at the expiry date of his contract. stated in the form.
