Turkish Labor Law
As most employers applied for short term work allowance for the first time, payroll departments have been busy figuring out how to payroll short-term work allowance for workers on different employment contracts. There is still lack of clarity on how to payroll short term work for part-time workers. In this article, you can find useful hints on how to calculate payroll and notify SSI for part-time workers.
What is Part-Time Work?
Part-time work is defined as working a maximum of ⅔ of weekly work hours. Part-timers can work on certain days of the week or a few hours every day. In a company where workers work 45 hours per week, part-time workers can work up to 30 hours.
How to Determine the Premium Days of Part-Time Workers?
When reporting the insurance premium days of the part-time workers to the SSI, the total working hours of the month is divided by 7.5. For example, for a part-time worker who worked 120 hours for the month, the Payroll department reports 120 / 7.5 = 16 days to SSI. The remaining days of the month are reported as unworked days with missing days codes such as “06 Partial employment” or “07 Payroll records”.
Status of Part-Time Workers Within the Scope of Short Term Work
Businesses engaging in short-term work due to the Covid-19 either halt their activities or reduce their working time. It is also possible for different departments of the same company to operate on different hours based on the needs and requirements of the workload. For example, while the production department may be working full-time, the sales department of the same workplace can be working short time. There may also be part-time workers who work in these departments and wish to be included in the scope of short work.
Reporting short term work for part-time workers can vary: If the total hours worked by the part-time worker during the month is fixed, calculating payroll is easier. A short-term work allowance application can be made for the days the part-timer is supposed to work but couldn’t come to work due to the pandemic. The part-timer will not be paid for the scheduled unworked time anyway. If the working days or hours are not fixed, the time that the worker has to work during the month is determined according to the usual flow of the month. And if it changes every month, the payroll calculation becomes a little more tricky. In such tricky cases, there is room for interpretation as no legal provision is in place. The average of the worker’s work in the previous months can be used as a benchmark. For example, for a worker who works 100 hours in some months and 50 hours in other months, short working days may be reported according to the average of the last 12 months working hours.
How to Payroll Part-Time Workers in Workplaces That Halt Operations
Short term work at the workplaces whose activity has stopped means that full-time and part-time workers are not able to come to work on working days. When these employees are included in the scope of short work, there will be two types of missing days in their payrolls. Missing premium day due to short work and missing premium day due to part-time employment.
For example, let’s assume that a part-time worker who was supposed to work 5 days a month in April could not come to work due to the pandemic within the scope of short work. So these 5 days are missing days due to short work during the outbreak and the remaining 25 days are the unworked days that the part-time worker doesn’t normally work. As a result, the full month premium day will be missing, and SSI will be notified of 0 premium days.
Since both missing days cannot be displayed separately in SSI notifications, the missing day notification code should be selected as “27 Short Work Allowance and Other Reasons”, which is a new code added to the missing day causes due to the pandemic.
How to Payroll Part-Time Workers in Workplaces with Reduced Working Time?
Part-time workers may continue working in workplaces that continue to operate in a decreased capacity by at least 1 in 3 compared to their normal time work. If part-time workers continue working the same working hours, it is not possible to include them in the scope of short work.
For example, let’s assume that all workers work 130 hours a month instead of 225 hours a month. Suppose that a worker on a part-time employment contract works 90 hours a month, the same working hours as before the pandemic. Since there is no decrease in the working time of this employee due to the pandemic, s/he will not be included in the short term work allowance. On the other hand, if the same worker in question, worked 60 hours instead of 90 hours (a decrease of ⅓), the employer can apply for short term work for this part-time worker.
What Will The Payroll Look Like for This Part-Time Worker for April?
The employer will calculate payroll based on 60 hours of work.
The 60-hour work will be divided into 7.5 (work hours per day) and will be reported to SSI as working for 8 premium days (60 / 7.5 = 8 premium days),
The 30-hour missing work (30 / 7.5 = 4 premium days) will be reported within the scope of short work. The part-time worker will receive the wage of the time unworked from İŞKUR as a short-time working allowance.
Since the working hours of the worker is 90 hours a month, the days other than the 90 days premium day will be calculated as part-time employment and reported to the institution (90 / 7.5 = 12 premium days, missing days 30-12 = 18 days premium days)
In the monthly Premium and Service Declaration or Concise Premium and Service Declaration, the employee worked 8 premium days, 22 premium days are missing, “27 Short Term Work Allowance and Other Reasons” will be reported with the missing day code.
