The basic legislative text of social insurance law in Turkey is the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510. According to this law, the concept of “occupational disease” is defined as temporary or permanent illness, physical or mental disability suffered by the social insured person due to a recurring reason due to the nature of the job he/she works or does, or due to the conditions of the work.
It is mandatory to determine that the insured person has an occupational disease due to his work, as a result of examining the medical board report and the underlying medical documents duly prepared by the health service providers authorized by the Social Security Institution. Likewise, when deemed necessary by the Social Security Institution, inspection reports and other necessary documents revealing the working conditions at the workplace and the related medical consequences must be examined. The final decision on the diagnosis of occupational disease is made by the Social Security Institution Health Board.
If the occupational disease occurs after leaving the job and is caused by the job in which he/she is insured, in order for the insured to benefit from the rights provided by Turkish social insurance law, there must be a longer period of time between the actual leaving of the old job and the occurrence of the disease than the period specified in the regulation issued by the Social Security Institution for this disease. It is essential that it has not passed. This period is called the liability period. Persons in this situation can apply to the Institution with the necessary documents.
In cases where any occupational disease is determined by clinical and laboratory findings and the factor causing the occupational disease is determined as a result of the examination in the workplace, even if the liability period in the occupational diseases list has been exceeded, the disease in question can be diagnosed with the approval of the Social Security Institution or the Social Insurance Higher Health Board upon the application of the relevant person. In this case, the ilness can be considered an occupational disease.
For insured individuals who work for an employer with an occupational disease, the employer who learns that the insured has an occupational disease or is notified of this situation is required to notify the Social Security Institution within three business days, starting from the day on which this situation is learned. For social insurance holders (self-employed persons) within the scope of paragraph 4/b, the notification must be made by the insured person within three business days, starting from the day on which this situation is learned.
Notification regarding occupational disease must be made with the document named “Declaration of Work Accident and Occupational Disease”, which will be submitted to the Social Security Institution and whose form is specified in the Social Insurance Procedures Regulation. The expenses incurred by the Institution for this situation and the temporary incapacity benefits, if paid, are recourse to the employer or the insured within the scope of 4/b status who do not fulfill this obligation or deliberately report incompletely or incorrectly the matters notified in writing.
Necessary investigations upon notifications regarding occupational diseases can be carried out by Social Security Inspectors and Social Security Auditors, who are the officers of the Social Security Institution authorized for inspection and control, or by labor inspectors of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
