Overtime and Overtime Wage in Turkish Labor Law

What is overtime?

It is necessary to review the weekly working hours in the Labor Law for the concept of overtime.

The weekly working hour rules are regulated under Article 63 of the Labor Law No. 4857 as below:

Article 63 - In general terms, working time is forty-five hours maximum weekly. Unless otherwise decided, working time shall be divided equally by the days of the week worked at the workplace.

Provided that the parties have so agreed, working time may be divided by the days of the week worked in different forms on the condition that the daily working time must not exceed eleven hours. In this case, within two months, the average weekly working time of the employee shall not exceed the normal weekly working time.

This balancing (equalizing) period may be increased up to four months by collective agreement.

The overtime term is regulated under Article 41 of the Labor Law. Per the Article, overtime can be defined as the "work periods exceeding forty-five hours per week."

Article 41 of the Labor Law is as below:

Article 41 - Overtime work may be performed for purposes such as the country's interest, the nature of the operation, or the need to increase output. Overtime is the work exceeding forty-five hours per week within the framework of the conditions under the Law. In cases where the principle of balancing is applied according to Article 63, the work exceeding forty-five hours a week shall not be deemed overtime work, provided the average working time of the employee does not exceed the normal weekly working time.

Wages for each hour of overtime shall be remunerated at one and a half times the normal hourly rate.

In cases where the weekly working time has been set by the contract at less than forty-five hours, the work exceeding the average weekly working time done in conduction with the principles stated above and which may last only up to forty-five hours weekly is deemed to be work at extra hours. In work at extra hours, each extra hour shall be remunerated at one and a quarter times the normal hourly rate.

If the employee who has worked overtime or at extra hours so wishes, rather than receiving overtime pay they may use as free time, one hour and thirty minutes for each hour worked overtime and one hour and fifteen minutes for each extra hour worked.

The employee shall use the free time they are entitled within six months, within their working time and without any deduction in their wages.

No overtime work shall be done in work of short or limited duration due to health reasons mentioned in the last subsection of Article 63 as well as in the night work stated in Article 69.

The employee's consent shall be required for overtime work.

Total overtime work shall not be more than two hundred seventy hours in a year.

Overtime work and its methods shall be indicated in a regulation to be issued.

What is the maximum overtime hour within a year?

Per Article 41, the total overtime work shall not be more than two hundred seventy hours in a year.

Do we need to obtain written approval from the employee for the overtime works?

Per Article 41 of the Labor Law, the employee's consent shall be required for overtime work.

In the meantime, it is not necessary to receive the written approval of the employee for the overtime at the state of emergencies as determined in Article 43 and overtime of imperative reasons as determined in Article 42. Due to Article 41/7, written approvals shall be received from the employees at the beginning of each year, and these written approvals shall be kept in employees' personnel files. According to Article 41 of the Turkish Labor Law, overtime is applied with a maximum working time of eleven hours daily and two hundred seventy hours annually. In case of overtime for which the written approval of employee is not necessary to be requested, the mentioned imperative reason may not be force majeure, it is sufficient for the condition to be pernicious. The time limitations of eleven hours daily and two hundred seventy hours annually could be exceeded in such cases.

How can the overtime wage calculation be made?

Per Article 41/2 of the Turkish Labor Law, overtime wage for one hour is the amount that is increased 50% compared to normal wage.

So, the wages would need to be increased by 50% of the wage amount for overtime calculation.

How can the overtime calculation be made for the works performed during the weekend?

Per Article 46 of the Labor Law, the employees working in establishments covered by this Act shall be allowed to take a rest for a minimum of twenty-four hours (weekly rest day) without interruption within seven days, provided they have worked on the days preceding the weekly rest day as indicated in Article 63.

For the unworked rest day, the employer shall pay the employee's daily wage without any work obligation in return.

If the work performed during the weekend and the maximum weekly of 45 hours is exceeded, these works would be deemed overtime.

Accordingly, the hourly wage would need to be increased by 50% for overtime wage.

For instance, with the assumption that the weekly maximum working hours of 45 hours is completed, and the hourly wage is 200 TRY of an employee:

If that employee works 3 hours during the weekend, the hourly overtime wage would be 200+100 = 300 TRY and for 3 hours 300*3 = 900 TRY.

If that employee works full day (7.5 hours) on the weekend, the overtime wage would be 300*7.5 = 2250 TRY.

How can the overtime calculation be done for the hours less than half an hour or more?

Per the "Regulation Regarding Overtime Works" Article 5, the overtime hours, which is less than half an hour, would need to be round up to half an hour and the overtime hour, which is more than half an hour, would need to be round up to one hour.

For example, if the overtime work is 20 minutes, you need to take 30 minutes into account; if it is 40 or 50 minutes, you need to take 1 hour into account during overtime wage calculation.

How can the overtime wage calculation be done for the works performed on General Holidays / Bank Holidays / Official Public Holidays?

The regulations about the wages for the works performed on public holidays/bank holidays are located under Article 47 of Labor Law as below:

Article 47 - Employees in establishments covered by this Act shall be paid a full day's wages for the national and public holidays on which they have not worked; if they work instead of observing the holiday, they shall be paid an additional full day's wages each day worked.

In establishments, where a percentage wage system is in effect, the wage for the national and public holidays shall be paid to the employee by the employer.

Employees shall be paid a full day's wage for the national and public holidays they have not worked. If employees work instead, they shall be paid an additional full day's wage each day worked during the holidays.

Accordingly, bank holidays are compensated at the same rate as the normal wage. Considering that employees receive their normal wage if they do not work on a bank holiday, they receive additional pay at the same rate if they work during a bank holiday.

For example:

Monthly salary: 3000 TRY

Daily Salary: 100 TRY (3000/30)

Monthly salary in case any work performed on bank/public holiday would be 3000 TRY

Monthly salary in case the work performed on a bank/public holiday would be 3100 TRY (3000+100)

In addition, since there is no time limit on the Article, a one full day wage would need to be paid although the work during public holiday takes a few hours or minutes.

How can the overtime wage calculation be done if the weekend and the public holiday are on the same day?

The overtime wage needs to include the one full-day public holiday wage and the overtime wage (the increased amount by 50%.) Accordingly, the overtime wage would need to be 2.5 times of daily wage.

What is excessive work? How is the excessive work wage calculation done?

As stated in Article 41/3 of the Turkish Labor Law, excessive work is defined as the work period between the agreed weekly working hours and weekly 45 hours. This is applicable if the parties agreed on fewer weekly working hours than 45 hours. The related excessive work wage for one hour is increased 25% compared to normal wage. Extra work other than the employer's request and directive would not be paid unless the employee proves that the work given could not be done without extra work.

Can an employee use free time instead of receiving overtime wage?

Per Article 41/5 of the Labor Law, the employee can use the free time to which they are entitled within six months, within their working time, and without any deduction in their wages.

Would the travel time be deemed an overtime?

Per Article 55/1-b of the Labor Law, if the employee is sent by the employer to a place outside the establishment/main workplace, the traveling would be considered work time.

Accordingly, if these times exceed 45 hours (weekly max working hours per Article 41), this would be considered overtime.

Can part-time employees work overtime or excessive time?

Per the Regulation About the Working Hours, Article 6, part-time work is defined as 2/3 of the regular weekly working hours.

Accordingly, if the weekly working hours are 45 in a workplace, the part-time work can be 30 hours maximum.

Per the Regulation About the Overtime and Excessive Work Time, Article 8, part-time employees cannot work overtime or excessive time.

Also, per the Court decision (Y9HD 11.04.2016 E.2016/6944 - K.2016/8814), if a part-time employee has overtime or excessive time, the employer should pay that employee as a full-time employee (45 hours salary.) So, the sanction of a part-time employee's overtime or excessive time could be to pay them as a full-time employee.

Equalization Application

According to Article 63 of the Turkish Labor Law, standard labor time for a week is equally divided into workdays unless otherwise stated. In workplaces that employees work 6 days a week, working hours are equally divided into the workdays and overtime is determined as 3.5 hours with a maximum working time of 11 hours daily; in workplaces that employees work 5 days a week, overtime is determined as 2 hours along with the same conditions executed. Parties could independently disarrange the weekly labor time to working days with a maximum working time of 11 hours daily if they agreed.

Equalization application is executed if the parties disarrange the weekly labor time to working days independently. Due to Article 63/2 of the Turkish Labor Law, the execution of equalization is possible only for 2 months, or it could be extended to 4 months with collective bargains. Therefore, the equalization is possible for a minimum of 360 hours. The average working hours of equalization period for 2 or 4 months shouldn't exceed 45 hours weekly and 11 hours daily.

Article 63 of the Labor Law is as below:

Article 63 - In general terms, working time is forty-five hours maximum weekly. Unless otherwise decided, working time shall be divided equally by the days of the week worked at the establishment.

Provided that the parties have so agreed, working time may be divided by the days of the week worked in different forms on the condition that the daily working time must not exceed eleven hours. In this case, within two months, the average weekly working time of the employee shall not exceed the normal weekly working time.

This balancing (equalizing) period may be increased up to four months by collective agreement.

The application methods of working time in line with the principles mentioned above shall be indicated in a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

The types of work where the daily working time must be seven and half hours maximum or less for health reasons shall be indicated in a regulation to be prepared jointly by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Ministry of Health.

Rest Periods

The rest periods are regulated under Article 68 of the Labor Law as below:

Article 68 - Employees shall be allowed a rest break approximately in the middle of the working day fixed with due regard to the customs of the area and the requirements of the work in the following manner:

• fifteen minutes, when the work lasts four hours or less,
• half an hour, when the work lasts longer than four hours and up to seven and a half hours (seven and a half included),
• one hour, when the work lasts more than seven and a half hours.

These are minimum durations, and the full period must be allowed at each break.

However, these break periods may be split up by contracts where the climate, season, local custom, or nature of the work so requires.

Breaks may be taken at the same or varying times by the employees at the establishment.

The breaks shall not be reckoned as part of the working time.

As designated in Article 68 of the Turkish Labor Law, working hours do not include rest periods. Therefore, rest breaks should be excluded in the method of calculation of weekly working hours. For example, an employee who works 10 hours daily and 5 days a week could not demand for 5 hours of overtime with the calculation of 5x10 = 50 and 50-45 = 5. A rest break of 1 hour a day shall be excluded from the stated calculation; therefore, the employee works 45 hours a week and the overtime could not be claimed accordingly. The Turkish Labor Law determines different rest breaks according to the nature and requirements of the job.

Employees must be allowed a rest break in the middle of the working day timed with due regard to the customs of the area and to the requirements of the work as follows;

• 15 minutes, when the work lasts four hours or less,
• 30 minutes, when the work lasts longer than four hours and up to (and including) seven and a half hours,
• 1 hour, when the work lasts more than seven and a half hours.

Mentioned relaxation allowances are minimum periods, they could be extended but could not be abridged.

Night Works

As stated in Article 41/6 of the Turkish Labor Law, overtime is forbidden at night works. According to Article 69, the night starts at most at 8 p.m., ends at 6 a.m., and in any case, it could not exceed 11 hours daily. Due to this article, night works could not exceed 7.5 hours daily.

If the night work exceeds 7.5 hours, the overtime calculation would need to be done for the excessive hours on a daily basis.

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