30Nisan2015

Amendments in Labour Legislations with the Bill Omnibus Nr. 6645

6645 enumerated 'Law amending Work Place Health and Safety and other laws and enactments' has been published in the Reiterated Official Gazette on 23/04/2015 and entered into force on the date of publishing. With the Bill Omnibus, which includes 89 articles, many regulations, including Labour Law, Social Security and Income Tax have been subject to important changes. This article consists of briefing on the most significant amendments concerning employees and employers.

Amendments on Paid Leaves

In addition to the 3 day paid leave granted to employees in case of marriage and death of close relatives, the amendments have introduced the much anticipated 5 day paternity leave in case of childbirth and 3 day paternity and maternity leave in case of adoption.

Parents of handicapped children whose disability ratio is no less than 70 % are also granted paid leave up to 10 days.

The table below indicates the paid leaves granted under different labour laws applicable in Türkiye:

	Marriage	Child's marriage	Childbirth	Adoption	Death of spouse, children or parents	Death of Sibling	Death of grandparents or grandchildren	Death of spouse's parents or siblings
4857 Labour Law	3	-	5	3	3	3	-	-
854 Maritime Labour Law	3	-	-	-	2	2	-	-
5187 Media Labour Law	-	2	3	-	4	2	2	-
657 Public Workers	7	7	10	-	7	7	-	7
4/B Insured Public Contractors	3	3	2	-	3	3	-	-
Temporary Workers	7	7	7	-	7	7	-	7

Maximum Hours in Night Work

The prohibition to work more than 7.5 hours has been lifted for employees in the tourism, health and private security sectors provided that employee's consent to work more hours is obtained in writing.

Legal Working Age and Prohibition on the Employment of Children

The legal working age is currently set at 15. Light work is also permitted to children who are between ages of 14 to 15. The new regulations now make it possible for younger children to work in cultural and artistic activities provided that there is a contract in writing and permission is obtained from the related authorities for each activity.

Working Hours for Children have also been amended:

For children over 15 years of age, maximum working hours are set at 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week.

For children working in cultural and artistic activities maximum hours are capped at 5 hours per day and 30 hours per week.

The Regulation on Employer Social Security Premiums

The law which prescribed social security premiums of employers not to be less than their employees have been abolished – making it possible for employers to hire employees higher salaried than themselves.

4 1/B Debts on Social Security Premiums will be put on hold for an indefinite period of time

Independent contractors and people who are not working under an employment contract as well as people who have their own business are automatically registered under the 4 1/B Social Security and Pension Fund, hence they incur the liability to pay premiums from the moment they are registered under the system.

Prior to new legislation, premiums and interest on unpaid portion would accumulate indefinitely. The new legislation will automatically freeze the account for account holders who owe 12 months or more premium debts (calculated retroactively from April 2015 to July 2015).

As a result, days worked under such frozen accounts will not be taken into consideration for retirement. However, account holders will have the option re-activate their insured status when they make the full payment.

Amendments to Income Tax Law

Minimum Subsistence Allowance

Effective 01/05/2015, the minimum subsistence allowance rate for a family with three children has been increased from 5% to 10%.

İŞ-KUR on-the-job training recognized as an expense

Employers can now claim on-the-job training received from İş-kur for their employers as expenses under income tax law.

İŞ-KUR Employer Incentives

Employers are now eligible to claim this incentive for entire the 'employer' SSI premium portion for their employees between ages 18-29 who have:

- completed an on-the-job training programme by İş-Kur,

- have been employed under an employment contract within three months of the completion of their training program,

- have been employed in a job that is related to their training,

- are included in the declared headcount of the workplace.

Provided that the above is in order, for these employees who are working in the manufacturing industry, their employer SSI Premium portion will be paid for 42 months and in other sectors for 30 months.

Kategori Social Security Law and Legislation, Taxation Law, Labor Law