The Turkish Labour Code No. 4857 constitutes the primary legislation of the Turkish Labour Law. According to the Turkish Labour Code No. 4857, which regulates the employment relations, overtime or extra-hours working in a workplace are subjected to special conditions.
Accordingly, an employer who wants his/her employees to work overtime at the workplace must obtain written approval from the employee. In the Turkish Labour Law, the worker is protected regarding overtime and the employer’s option to make the worker work overtime is left to the previously given written consent of the worker.
It is statet in the Regulations Regarding Overtime Work and Extra-Hours Working, which is a sublegislation which is issued in-line with the Article 41 of the Labour Code No. 4857, the written consent of the employee must be obtained in order to work overtime or for extra hours.
There is no need to obtain this approval from the employee for overtime and working for extra hours due to works to be done by compelling reasons or in extraordinary circumstances.
This approval can be obtained by the employer who needs overtime work during the conclusion of the employment contract or when the need arises and is kept in the employee’s personnel file. An employee who does not want to work overtime or work for extra hours can withdraw his/her approval by notifying the employer in written form 30 days in advance. The approval is not required to be taken each year repeatedly, and unless the consent is being withdrawn it would be valid till the end of the employment contract.
According to the provision of the aforimentioned regulation, the employer is obliged to issue a document showing the working hours of the employees who are made to work overtime and extra-hours working, and keep a signed copy this in the employee’s personnel file. Workers’ wages for overtime and extra-hours work are paid together with the wages for their normal work, as specified in the Labour Code. These payments are clearly shown on the wage slips/payrolls and one copy must be given to the worker.
In case of overtime without the written consent of the employee, an administration fine of TRL 2.666 for each employee in this case, shall be applied in accordance with the Article 102/c of the Labour Code No. 4857. In case of detection, this administrative fine shall be applied by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
