The Labour Code No. 4857, which determines the basic principles of the Turkish Labour Law, has set several rules in the nature of positive discrimination for certain groups of employees. One of these employee groups consists of disabled employees and ex-convicts.
Accordingly, employers are required to employ three percent disabled employees in private sector workplaces where they employ fifty or more employees. In addition, the public workplaces are required to employ four percent disabled employees and two percent ex-convicts or those who were injured in a way that would not be considered disabled as a result of terrorist incidents while performing their military service.
Disabled people should be employed in jobs suitable for their occupation, physical and mental conditions. The disabled cannot be discriminated while being employed in terms of wages and other working conditions.
In determining the number of disabled employees who must be employed in the workplace, the total number of employees of employers with more than one workplace within the borders of the same province is taken into account.
In this context, employees employed under fixed-term and indefinite-term employment contracts are taken into account in determining the number of employees to be employed. Employees under part-time employment contracts are converted to full-time employment by taking into account their working hours. In this way, the total working hours of part-time employees are divided by the daily normal working hours of 7.5 hours to determine the number of full-time employees. Fractions up to half are not taken into account in calculating the rate, and those that are half or more are converted to full.
Priority is given to those who become disabled while they are employees of the workplace.
In sum, according to the Turkish Labour Law, private sector employers are required to employ three percent disabled employees in private sector workplaces where they employ fifty or more employees. The disabled employees should be given a proper job to their disability and for their occupation, physical and mental conditions.
