According to the Turkish Labour Law, there are some rules regarding the implementation of annual paid leave. These rules can be summarised as follows:
Prohibition on working during annual leave
The right to annual paid leave cannot be waived, and even if the employee wishes to work during the annual leave period, the annual leave must be used by the employer and he/she must not be worked at the workplace.
An employee who is using his annual paid leave is prohibited from working in any other paid job during the leave period, in accordance with the Labour Code No. 4857. The main purpose of this ban is to ensure that the worker has rest.
If it is understood that the employee is working for a wage in this way, the employer will have the right to take back the wages paid to him during this leave period.
Wages belonging to unused annual leave periods at the end of the contract
If the employment contract is terminated for any reason, the employee’s wages for the annual leave periods for which he is entitled but not used must be paid to him/her or his/her beneficiaries based on his/her wage on the date of termination of the contract. The statute of limitations for this wage starts from the date of termination of the employment contract.
The annual leave wage is entitled to be paid upon termination of the contract, regardless of the reason for which the contract has been terminated. At this point, it is not required that the termination be justified or valid.
In case of termination of the employment contract by the employer, the notice period (with notice period) and the new job search permits that must be given to the employee in accordance with Article 27 of the Code No. 4857 cannot be intertwined with the annual paid leave periods.
