Flexible Weekly Holiday for Tourism Sector

With Law No. 7553 which was published in the Official Gazette dated July 14, 2025 and entered into force on the same day, two important amendments were introduced to the Labour Law dated May 22, 2003 and numbered 4857, which are summarized below.

Flexibility for the Weekly Holidays in the Tourism Sector: Opportunity for Shifted Weekends (Article 46)

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has introduced flexibility in the application of weekly holidays for employees working in accommodation facilities that have been granted tourism management certificates by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Within the framework of the new regulation:

• The weekly holiday to which employees are entitled may be taken within four days following the entitlement date, upon the employee's written request or approval.
• In such cases, any work performed by the employee on the originally scheduled weekly holiday, up to the standard daily working hours, shall not be considered as overtime.
• The employee may withdraw their consent by providing 30 days' prior written notice.

This provision only applies to tourism certified accommodation facilities. It is important that these facilities document their written approval processes and carefully maintain the relevant working records.

Imposition and Collection of Administrative Fines (Article 108)

With the new regulation, the procedure for imposing administrative fines has been clarified:

• Under Law No. 4857, administrative fines are to be imposed by the Provincial Directorate of Labour and Employment Agency in the province where the relevant workplace is located.
• Per Articles 101 and 106, if the employer operates workplaces in more than one province, the fines will be imposed by the provincial directorate in the province where the employer's head office is located.
• Fines imposed under these articles shall be collected in accordance with general provisions.
• Additionally, penalties imposed under Article 106 will be calculated based on the amounts specified in Article 20 of the Turkish Employment Agency Law No. 4904.

You can reach the relevant Law via that link. (In Turkish)

Should you have any queries or need further details, please contact your customer representative.