The Turkish Labour Code No. 4857, which is the primary law of the Turkish Labour Legislation, does not have a working regime that is essentially compatible with flexible working arrangements. According to the law, the working method is determined with its general elements and the principle of working full-time and indefinitely is accepted as base.
On the other hand, it is seen that there are some flexible working arrangements in the Turkish Labour Law, albeit limited. One of these is the “on-call work” method.
On-call work is defined as an employment relationship in which it is agreed with a written contract that the worker will perform the work if needed in relation to the work he/she has undertaken to do. It is a part-time employment contract based on on-call work and therefore cannot be arranged to be more than 2/3 of the weekly working hours determined according to the workplace conditions (The normal working hours of the week is accepted as 45 hours).
In the on-call work model, the parties can determine how long the worker will work within a time period such as a week, month or year. However, if this period is not determined, the weekly working period is deemed to be twenty hours at minimum.
The worker will be entitled to the hourly wage determined whether or not he/she is employed during the determined period for on-call work.
The employer, who has the right to demand that the employee fulfill his/her obligation to work by calling, must make this call at least four days before the employee is scheduled to work, unless otherwise agreed upon. If otherwise agreed upon, the employer may call the employee to work for the specified period in advance.
The employee shall be obliged to perform the act of working upon a call in accordance with the period.
If the daily working hours are not agreed upon in the contract, the employer must make the employee work at least four consecutive hours per day at each call. However, if otherwise agreed upon, the working hours may be determined as 1 hour per day.
