The primary law of the Turkish Labour Law is the Turkish Labour Code No. 4857. Working hours of workers are being regulated by the Code No. 4857.
Accordingly, the normal weekly working hours are accepted as 45 hours. Works exceeding 45 hours per week are considered as “overtime”. The wage to be paid for each hour of overtime is paid by increasing the amount of the normal working wage per hour by fifty percent.
In cases where the weekly working hours are determined by contracts as less than forty-five hours, work exceeding the average weekly working hours applied and up to forty-five hours is defined as “working with extra hours”. In working with extra hours, the wage to be paid for each hour of extra hour must be paid by increasing the amount of the normal working wage per hour by twenty-five percent.
One of the overtime working methods regulated in the Turkish Labour Law is the “equalization principle”. In cases where the equalization principle is applied, even if the worker’s average weekly working hours exceed 45 hours in total in some weeks, provided that it does not exceed the normal weekly working hours during the equalization period, these works are not considered as overtime.
The equalization application refers to the working method in which the average weekly working hours of the worker are equalized to the normal weekly working hours within a two-month period. The example given in the table below shows the application of the equalization application:
| 1st Week | 2nd Week | 3rd Week | 4th Week | 5th Week | 6th Week | 7th Week | 8th Week |
| 60 hours | 30 hours | 60 hours | 30 hours | 30 hours | 60 hours | 60 hours | 30 hours |
In a working model arranged as above, there will be no need to pay overtime to the employees, if the equalization methods is being applied in the workplace.
The equalization period can be increased up to four months in workplaces where collective labour agreements are applied, provided that it is written in the agreement. In the tourism sector, the average weekly working hours of the worker within a four-month period cannot exceed the normal weekly working hours. The equalization period can be increased up to six months with collective labour agreements in the tourism sector.
In order for the equalization application to be valid, approval must be obtained from the employees, the working hours must be planned at the workplace and daily or weekly working plans must be announced at the workplace until the end of the equalization.
Even in the balancing application, the daytime working hours cannot exceed 11 hours and the nighttime working hours cannot exceed 7.5 hours.
It is not possible to include National Holiday, General Holiday, Weekend work and prohibited work (such as work on job search leave, work on breastfeeding leave, work exceeding 11 hours during the day and 7.5 hours at night) in the equalisation application.
