The Turkish Labour Code No. 4857 does not have a working regime that is essentially compatible with flexible employment models. In this regard, Turkish Labour Law is regarded as one of the rigid labour law regimes compared to the industrialised world.
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. In addition, working hours of an employee is determined as 45 hours per week within the scope of the Labour Code No. 4857.
While determining working hours, without prejudice to workplace practices, the actual working hours, excluding break periods, should be determined. Break periods as defined in the law can be summarized as follows;
• Fifteen minutes in jobs of four hours or less,
• Half an hour in jobs of more than four hours and up to seven and a half hours (including seven and a half hours),
• One hour in jobs of more than seven and a half hours.
Unless otherwise provided in the written documents determining the employment contract and working conditions, it is accepted that the working hours are distributed equally to the working days of the week. Since the seventh day following the sixth day of work is an absolute weekly holiday, the concept of a working day in the Turkish Labour Law consists of six days, and thus, the working period is essentially 6 days and 7.5 hours per day.
However, provided that the parties agree in writing, the 45 hours can be distributed to other workdays of the week in different ways, provided that it does not exceed 11 hours per day. The total of the break and actual working hours cannot exceed 12 hours per day.
On the other hand, night work is defined as the working hours between the hours of 20:00 and 06:00. Night work cannot exceed 7.5 hours per day. However, in jobs carried out within the scope of tourism, private security, healthcare services and petroleum research, exploration and drilling activities in accordance with the Turkish Petroleum Law No. 6491 dated 30/5/2013, night work can be made to exceed seven and a half hours, provided that the written approval of the worker is obtained.
The working hours of workers working in underground mining are determined as a maximum of seven and a half hours per day and a maximum of thirty-seven and a half hours per week.
In addition, special working hours are regulated for some special working conditions with the Regulation on Jobs Requiring a Maximum of Seven and a Half Hours or Less Per Day Due to Health Rules, depending on their nature.
