With the 13th Article of the Regulation on Working Conditions of Pregnant or Nursing Women, Breastfeeding Rooms, and Child Care Dormitories, which was enacted based on the Article 30 of the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, employers are obliged to open a Nursing Room and Nursery in their workplaces.
The fourth part of the Regulation on Working Conditions of Pregnant or Nursing Women, Breastfeeding Rooms and Child Care Dormitories is stated as “General Provisions Regarding Nursing Rooms and Dormitories”.
Accordingly, regardless of their age and marital status, in workplaces with 100-150 female employees, it is obligatory to establish a breastfeeding room with the conditions specified in ANNEX-IV of the regulation, as to be separate from the workplace and at a maximum distance of 250 meters from the workplace, for breastfeeding employees to breastfeed their children.
Regardless of their age and marital status, in workplaces with more than 150 female employees, a child care dormitory that meets the conditions specified in ANNEX-IV of the regulation, separate from the workplace and close to the workplace, must be provided by the employer for the release and care of children aged 0-6 and for breastfeeding employees to breastfeed their children. If the dormitory is more than 250 meters from the workplace, the employer is obliged to provide a shuttle to reach to the dormitory.
The following conditions are specifically important at dormitories: Thermometers are placed in the necessary places of the rooms and dormitories to measure the body temperature of the children, where the drugs and medical equipment written in the table in Annex-VI and deemed necessary by the physician in charge of the workplace are kept. Medicines should be stored in a special cabinet and in a way that they can be used easily. In addition, it is important to replace the damaged, unusable or exhausted ones with new ones by regularly reviewing them by the physician in charge of the workplace.
In determining the obligation to open nursing rooms and dormitories, the total number of female employees in all workplaces within the boundaries of the employer’s municipality and adjacent areas is taken into account. At this point, the concept of municipality should be evaluated not as a district municipality, but as a provincial municipality.
In the calculation of the number of female employees required for the establishment of a nursing room and/or dormitory, among the male employees, those whose mother has died or whose custody has been given to the father are also included.
Therefore, if the above-mentioned conditions are met, employers are advised to allocate a room of the workplace as a breastfeeding room and announce this situation to the employees in the workplace accordingly.
If the employer have more than 100 female employees for all workplaces located within the borders of the same municipality and the adjacent area and the obligation to open a nursery is not fulfilled for the year 2022, an administrative fine per month shall be applied for workplaces with 50+ employees;
- Workplaces in the Less Dangerous Hazard Class: TRL 5.218
- Workplaces in the Dangerous Hazard Class: TRL 6,958
- Workplaces in the Very dangerous Hazard Class: TRL 10,437
In addition, the employer can provide this room and dormitory obligation through agreements with authorized dormitories as outsourcing. Income tax exemption is applied up to 50 percent of the minimum wage if it is agreed with a dormitory authorized by the employer without providing service. The basic condition in tax exemption is that the payment is made to the nursery directly, not to the employee.
