Tourism workers' leave allowance reduced from 6+1 to 10+1

Tourism workers have been exempted from the regulation that stipulates that employees subject to the Labor Law are entitled to one day off after six days of work. The law, passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly , has eliminated the general rule regarding weekly holidays in the tourism sector. Workers working in hotels with tourism operation licenses will be able to take leave on the 11th day after 10 days of work.

According to a report by Ahmet Kıvanç from Habertürk , the exemption granted to the tourism sector is also being requested by other sectors, especially the construction sector.

Article 50 of the Constitution stipulates that workers be entitled to paid weekly holidays, public holidays, and annual leave, and that the relevant conditions be regulated by law. Article 46 of the Labor Law stipulates that workers must be granted at least 24 uninterrupted hours of weekly leave within a seven-day period . To qualify for a weekly leave, an employee must work six days prior to the holiday. Compassionate leave and sick leave days are considered days worked for the purposes of the weekly leave. According to established practice by the Supreme Court of Appeals, if less than 24 uninterrupted hours of weekly leave are granted within a seven-day period, the weekly leave is deemed not to have been granted. In other words, even if an employee works for one hour during the weekly holiday, the Supreme Court of Appeals considers the employee to have not taken the weekly leave.

Rights of workers working on a weekly holiday

Legally , employees cannot be employed on a weekly holiday. However, employees can be employed on a weekly holiday if they consent. In practice, employees are required to confirm their willingness to work on a weekly holiday when hired.

The current Labor Law No. 4857 does not specify how much a worker should be paid for working on a weekend. However, the law does provide for a 50% increase in overtime pay. For example, if a worker's normal hourly wage is 100 TL, they are paid 150 TL for each hour they work overtime.

The Supreme Court of Appeals considers work performed during a weekly holiday to be "overtime" because the employee is entitled to a weekly holiday after working 45 hours. Therefore, if the employee worked during a weekly holiday, they are requesting that they be paid 1.5 days' wages in addition to the one day's wages they would otherwise pay for their work.

The law also stipulates that employees working overtime may, if they choose, take 1.5 hours of free time (leave) for each hour worked overtime, instead of receiving a 50% increase in wages. The Supreme Court of Appeals has also ruled that if an employee working on a weekly holiday chooses to take free time instead of receiving a higher wage, they may be granted 1.5 days of leave.

Weekend holiday in tourism may be postponed until the 11th day

A law passed by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on Wednesday night exempts the tourism sector from the general rule regarding weekly holidays. While workers normally take a weekly holiday according to the 6+1 rule (working 6 days and then working on the 7th day), workers working in accommodation facilities that have a tourism operation license from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will be able to take a weekly holiday according to the 10+1 rule. In other words, workers in the tourism sector will be able to work up to 10 days and then take a weekly holiday on the 11th day. The portion of the work performed during the weekday break to which the worker is entitled, equal to the normal daily working hours, will not be counted towards overtime. In other words, workers working during the weekday break will not be considered overtime.

The amendment does not specify how many days it will take to make up for unused accrued weeks of vacation. Unless the Supreme Court of Appeals establishes a precedent regarding the compensation period, under the current law, employers in the tourism sector can grant employees one week of vacation every 11 days throughout the season.

Other sectors are expected to follow tourism

It's safe to say that a new era has begun in Turkey regarding the implementation of the weekly holiday. During the debates on the law in the Parliamentary Planning and Budget Committee, representatives of employer organizations argued that the construction sector needed to have the same weekly holiday arrangement as the tourism sector. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security is reportedly receiving similar requests from sectors other than construction. Requests from other sectors to postpone the weekly holiday are expected to be brought to the Parliamentary agenda shortly.