Legislation

11March2021

VERBIS Registry Deadlines Have Been Postponed

According to the decision of the Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority ("KVKK") dated 11.03.2021 and numbered 2021/238, the deadlines for registration obligation to Data Controllers' Registry Information System ("VERBIS") have been extended.

With the relevant decision, it has been concluded that,

For natural and legal person data controllers with more than 50 employees annually or a financial balance of more than 25 million TL annually, the deadline for fulfilling VERBIS registration and declaration obligation to Registry to be extended to 31.12.2021,
For natural and legal person data controllers resident abroad, the deadline for fulfilling VERBIS registration and declaration obligation to Registry to be extended to 31.12.2021
For natural and legal person data controllers with less than 50 employees annually and a financial balance of less than 25 million TL annually, and whose main activity is sensitive personal data processing, the deadline for fulfilling VERBIS registration and declaration obligation to Registry to be extended to 31.12.2021,
For public institutions and organizations, the deadline for fulfilling VERBIS registration and declaration obligation to Registry to be extended to 31.12.2021,

and this decision to be announced at the website of the Authority and to be published in the Official Gazette.

We would like to emphasize that the relevant decision did not bring any changes about the compliance with the Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data ("KVKK") other than the registration deadline to VERBIS.

In order to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals, especially the privacy of individuals, natural and legal persons who process personal data are required to complete the compliance processes related to their administrative and technical obligations in processing personal data.

Author CottGroup Hukuk ve Mevzuat Ekibi, Category Personal Data Protection Law

09March2021

Termination Ban and Pandemic Unpaid Leave are Extended to 17.05.2021

Cash wage support/pandemic unpaid leave and termination ban due to Covid19 have been extended to May 17, 2021.

The decision was published in the Official Gazette dated 09.03.2021 and numbered 31418.

The related regulations are located on the Labor Law Temporary Article 10 as below:

"TEMPORARY ARTICLE 10 - Regardless of whether this Law covers it or not, any employment or service contract cannot be terminated by the employer for three months from the effective date of this article other than these cases: if they do not comply with the rules of ethics and good faith that are stated in item (II) of the first paragraph of Article 25 and the relevant provisions of other Laws and in similar cases, if fixed-term work or service contracts expire, if the workplace closes for any reason or its activities stop, if there are any kinds of services purchased in accordance with the relevant legislation and if the work is over in the construction work.

The employer may leave the worker entirely or partially on unpaid leave for a period of three months from the effective date of this article. Being entitled to unpaid leave under this article does not give the employee the right to terminate the contract based on the justified reason.

In violation of the provisions of this article, the employer or his/her representative, who terminates the employment contract, is given an administrative fine at the monthly gross minimum wage amount for the employee whose contract is terminated.

The President is authorized to extend the three-month periods in the first and second paragraphs up to six months."

Author Erdoğdu Onur Erol, Category Social Security Law and Legislation, Labor Law

08March2021

Employer Support Payments on Short-Term Employment

As known, the short-term employment period expires as of March 31, 2021 (The deadline for cash wage support/pandemic unpaid leave and termination ban is on March 17, 2021).

Accordingly, it is necessary to recall the issue of social security and income tax declarations of employers' payments as a support in the short-term employment period.

Social Security Premiums

Per the Article 80 of the Law No. 5510;

"Earnings subject to premium for insurance holders under item (a) of paragraph one of Article 4 shall be determined as follows.

a) In the calculation of earnings subject to premium, a gross total of;

Author Erdoğdu Onur Erol, Category Social Security Law and Legislation

03March2021

Cancellation of Retrospective Benefit in Employment Incentives

According to the recent amendments on the Law, the opportunity to benefit retrospectively from premium incentives, supports, and discounts that were not utilized on time is eliminated.

The draft statement is as below:

ARTICLE 27 - The first paragraph of the additional article 17 of the Law No.5510 has been changed as below.

"The premium incentives, supports and discounts provided by this Law or other laws for the months / periods that were not utilized cannot be utilized retrospectively, and the premium incentives, supports and discounts that were used cannot be changed with another premium incentive, support and discount."

Based on this, employers can check whether they utilized their incentives in the previous periods, and take the necessary actions immediately to benefit from them.

Author Erdoğdu Onur Erol, Category Social Security Law and Legislation