Turkish Labor Law
During the 3-month period where workers will be entitled to short-term work allowance, there are quite a few public holidays including 23 April, 1 May, 19 May and Ramadan Holiday… How do we record payroll for employees who are on short term work allowance on these days? How should the wages of workers employed on April 23 be paid? Let’s try to answer these questions in this article.
How to Calculate Payroll of Short-Term Work During Public Holiday?
For companies applying for short-term work allowance, the working order may have changed in two ways:
- Companies whose work completely stopped
- Companies where working time reduced to ⅓
Companies Whose Work Completely Stopped
For workplaces whose activity has stopped completely, if the workers receive short term work allowance, the employee will be paid for all days, regardless of holidays and weekdays.
For example, in a workplace that has halted operations due to the outbreak as of April 1st, workers who meet short working conditions will receive short-term work allowance from the government for the working days plus for April 23rd. In order for this allowance to be granted, the payroll department needs to report 30 missing premium days in the SSI notifications and in the payroll file it reports to İSKUR and the reason for missing days need to be indicated as related to short-term work.
The reasons for the missing days related to Short Work:
18 – Short Work Allowance
27 – Short Work Allowance and Other Reasons
Workplaces with Reduced Working Time
In companies with reduced working time, if the employees worked on the day of the holiday, both the wages for the day and 1-day extra wage corresponding to working on a public holiday are paid. Due to the employment contract or the tradition of the workplace, the wage paid to people working on holidays may be more than a 1-day wage. The wage payment must be made based on the company’s determined wage policy on this matter.
For example, let’s consider a workplace with reduced working hours and a short work allowance as of April 1, if workers work 3 hours a day for 6 days, they will get paid 3 hours a day, without allocating a week break. The remaining periods will be paid as short term work allowance. For the work carried out on April 23rd, the 3-hour wage must be paid extra.
The employer, on the other hand, calculates the premium days of the worker over the total working hours. The method accepted in this calculation is to notify every 7.5 hours of work to the institution as a premium day. The remaining unworked missing hours will also be calculated to hit 7.5 hours 1 day, and SSI and İŞKUR will be notified by selecting one of the reasons for the short term work missing days.
In workplaces with a reduced working time that do not work every day of the week, if 23 April coincides with one of the days worked, the wages of the holiday should be paid to the employee as if worked. Even if the worker was employed that day, another wage will be calculated and payrolled as mentioned above. If April 23rd is not a working day, it can be shown as a missing day for the short-term work allowance.
For example, let’s consider a workplace that has reduced working times due to the epidemic, employing workers only on Mondays and Tuesdays, and benefiting from short term work allowance. While the employer pays the wages for all Monday and Tuesday, the remaining days are shown as missing days in order to receive short-term work allowance. Therefore, the wage for Thursday, April 23rd should be reported to SGK and İŞKUR by showing the missing days on the payroll like other Thursdays. In return, the worker will receive the wage of this day as a short term work allowance.
Effect of Curfew on Holidays
Since April 23 is both a holiday and a curfew day, hiring workers on this day is only valid for groups of workers who are specified as exceptions in the relevant circulars published. In the event that these workers fail to come to work due to the curfew despite having a working day at work, the compelling reason in Articles 24 / III and 25 / III and Article 40 of the Labor Law No. 4857 should apply.
Failure to continue the work for compelling reasons may result in the payment of half wages. Even if employers cannot come to work for compelling reasons, employers can also pay the wages of these days on a full day basis. However, the Labor Law gives the employer the right to pay half wages in these cases. Employers pay half wages for the days when the worker is absent for up to 1 week. In case of failure to come to work exceeding 1 week for compelling reasons, the employer is not obliged to pay wages after the week.
For example, due to the curfew imposed on April 23rd to 26th, the employer pays the wages of the workers who are unable to continue their work in full or as half wages as defined by the labor law, for these 4 days in question.
