The issues regarding the short-time working allowance in Turkey are regulated within the framework of the Additional Article 2 of the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447 and the provisions of the Regulation on Short-time Working Allowance issued according to this article and published in the Official Gazette dated 30.04.2011 and numbered 27920.
According to the aforementioned provision of the law and Article 6 of the regulation, in order to benefit from the short-time working allowance, first of all, there must be a short-time working phenomenon whose legal conditions are met. Accordingly, the first condition is that the short-time working request made upon an application made in an environment where the working time is reduced by at least one third or the work is completely or partially stopped for at least four weeks due to a general economic, sectoral or regional crisis or compelling reasons.
The second condition is related to the workers who will benefit from the short-time working allowance in Turkey. Accordingly, the worker must be entitled to unemployment allowance in terms of working time and the number of days of unemployment insurance premium payment in accordance with Article 50 of the unemployment insurance law numbered 4447 on the date the short-time working starts.
If these two conditions are met, short-time working allowance in Turkey will be paid to the workers. The principles regarding the payment of short-time working allowance are specified in Article 7 of the Regulation.
First of all, the amount of short-time working allowance should be mentioned. According to the aforementioned article, the amount of short-time working allowance is determined as 50% of the average daily gross earnings to be calculated by taking into account the insured’s earnings based on the last twelve months’ premium, not exceeding 150% of the gross amount of the minimum wage applied for workers in accordance with Article 39 of the Labour Law No. 4857. This determined amount of allowance will be paid according to the principles in Article 50 of the Law No. 4447, without contradicting the Additional Article 2, which includes regulations on short-time working.
The short-time working allowance in Turkey will be paid for a maximum of three months for the duration of the short-time working period, provided that it does not exceed the period specified in the eligibility determination.
If there are compelling reasons, the allowance will start after the one-week period stipulated in Article 34, Paragraph III and Article 40 of the 4857 Law.
It will be calculated monthly for the periods not worked in a way to complete the weekly working time applied in the workplace and will be paid to the worker at the end of each month.
The time interval during which the short-time working will be carried out within the daily, weekly and monthly working period will be determined by the employer, taking into account the traditions of the workplace and the nature of the work.
Additionally, the insurance premium to be paid in accordance with the Social Security and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 will be transferred to the Social Security Institution by the Unemployment Insurance fund for the period during which the worker receives the allowance.
The amount of wages and short-time working allowance for the unworked week holidays, national holidays and general holidays of the short-time working employee will be paid by the employer and the institution in proportion to the period of short-time working.
In the event that the worker who benefits from the short-time working allowance becomes unemployed before the conditions stipulated in the Law No. 4447 to benefit from unemployment insurance are fulfilled, he/she will be able to benefit from unemployment allowance until he/she completes the unemployment allowance period he/she previously deserved, after deducting the period he/she received the allowance.
Short-time working allowance in Turkey cannot be seized or transferred or assigned to someone else, except for alimony debts.
Finally, overpayments made due to the employer’s providing incorrect information and documents will be collected from the employer with legal interest, and overpayments due to the fault of the employee will be collected from the employee with legal interest.
According to Article 8 of the Regulation, workplaces related to short-time working will be inspected by labour inspectors. In the event that it is determined that the employer provides incorrect information and documents regarding the working hours of the workers receiving the allowance during the inspection in the workplaces where short-time working is applied and upon the written request of the labour inspector, the short-time working allowance will be suspended, taking into account the number of workers about whom incorrect information is provided.
Apart from this, Article 9 of the regulation deals with the termination of the short-time working allowance in Turkey. Accordingly, in the event that the recipients of short-time working allowance get a job, start to receive old-age pension, take up arms for any reason, quit their jobs due to the labour obligation arising from any law, and in the event that the temporary incapacity allowance starts, the short-time working allowance will be discontinued as of the date of the medical report subject to the temporary incapacity allowance.
Preparation, completion and cleaning works fee
In the event that the preparation, completion and cleaning works are carried out by the workers of the workplace before or after the work period, the wages for the preparation, completion and cleaning works to be entitled are regulated in Article 15 of the relevant regulation.
According to Article 46 of the law, the part of this wage for week holidays must also be paid to the worker.
