As it is known, some measures have been taken to eliminate the effects of the economic recession within the scope of the Covid-19 Pandemic, which started to be seen in Turkey in April 2020. Within the scope of these measures, the employees of employers who want to do short-time work due to the Pandemic were paid “short-work allowance” by the Turkish Employment Agency, and “cash wage support” was being given to employees who were unilaterally taken on unpaid leave by the employer.
However, due to the problems experienced in practice, several inconsistencies have occurred between the notifications made by some employers to the Turkish Employment Agency and the “short-work allowance” payments made by the Turkish Employment Agency. Therefore, tens of thousands of notifications were being sent to many employers for correction these inconsistencies. Employers who have been notified in this way are requested to return the improperly paid short-work allowances with legal interest.
The Provisional Article 94 is being added to the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Code No. 5510 with the 5th Article of the Act No. 7431 Regarding Amendments at the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law, Some Laws, and the Decree-Law No. 375. With this article, a legal arrangement has been made to correct the incompatibilities mentioned above regarding the short-work allowance and cash wage support.
With this regulation, the employers who have benefited from the provisions of the Temporary Article 29 and the Temporary Article 32 of the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447 have been given the right to make the following arrangements for correction of the aforementioned inconsistencies:
- Relevant employers should apply to the Social Security Institution (SSI) for insurance holders who are paid more “short-work allowance” and “cash wage support” then they have actually deserved.
- Within 3 months from the beginning of the month following the application date, the insured’s under-reported service days must be reported with a concise and premium service declaration or a monthly premium service document to the SSI.
- Premiums related to notification must be paid within the same period.
- If the above transactions are made, the premiums paid will be considered as reported and paid within the legal period.
In the relevant regulation, the employers have been given a right for notifying the SSI for the missing service days for the insurance holders who benefit from short-work allowance and cash wage support. If the procedures are being fulfilled by the employer no administrative fine will be applied to the employer regarding the inaccurate notifications.
Contrary to what is commonly misunderstood by the general public, this regulation is not related to service borrowing for the under-reported periods during short-work and pandemic unpaid leave periods. What should be understood from the incomplete notification required to be completed in this regulation is the correction of employer’s incorrect notifications without any administrative fine to be applied.
If to explain with an example, consider that an insured who have worked 10 days in the month is declared as in short work for 20 days. However, assume that it is being understood that the insured actually worked in the workplace 15 days. With the latest provision the employer has given the right to declare the missing 5 days and to complete working days to 15 days for this insured to the SSI.
On the other hand, the regulation made does not cover employers those who have benefited from the provisions of the Temporary Article 29 and the Temporary Article 32 of the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447. According to the Provisional Article 29 and the Provisional Article 32 of Law No. 4447, administrative fines applied to the employers are being cancelled in case it is determined that the employee who benefits from the short-work allowance and/or cash wage support payments due to the New Coronavirus (Covid-19) is actually employed by the employer.
In order to benefit from the provisions of the Act No. 7431, the following conditions must be met:
- The employer must not be within the scope of the Provisional Article 29 and the Provisional Article 32 of the Law No. 4447.
- The employer has to apply to the SSI for the insured people who are paid more short-work allowance or cash wage support then they have actually deserved.
- Within 3 months from the beginning of the month following the application date, the missing notification days for the insured must be reported to the SSI with a concise and premium service declaration or a monthly premium service document, and the premiums related to this notification must be paid within the same period.
In this case, the notifications and premiums paid will be deemed to have been fulfilled within the statutory deadline.
In addition, social insurance premiums paid for the days notified to the SSI before the effective date of the Act No. 7431 cannot be refunded or deducted.
