Unofficial English translation for information only. In case of discrepancy, the Turkish text prevails. This translation is not legal advice.
Turkish source: Law No. 4857, Official Gazette 10/06/2003, No. 25134. Turkish text as published on mevzuat.gov.tr, checked on 26 October 2026: https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=4857&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5
CHAPTER FOUR – Organisation of Work
Madde 63 – Working time
In general, working time shall not exceed forty-five hours per week. Unless otherwise agreed, this period shall be applied by dividing it equally among the days worked in the week at workplaces. (Added sentence: 10/9/2014-6552/7 art.; Amended sentence: 4/4/2015-6645/36 art.) The working time of employees working in underground mines shall not exceed seven and a half hours per day or thirty-seven and a half hours per week.
By agreement between the parties, normal weekly working time may be distributed differently among the days worked in the week at workplaces, provided that it does not exceed eleven hours per day. In this case, the employee’s average weekly working time within a two-month period shall not exceed normal weekly working time. The averaging period may be increased to up to four months by collective agreements. (Added sentence: 6/5/2016-6715/3 art.) In the tourism sector, the employee’s average weekly working time within a four-month period shall not exceed normal weekly working time; the averaging period may be increased to up to six months by collective agreements.
The manner in which working time is applied in accordance with the above principles shall be regulated by a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
(Repealed fourth paragraph: 20/6/2012-6331/37 art.)
Madde 64 – Compensatory work
Where work is stopped for compelling reasons, the workplace is closed before or after national holidays and general holidays, or working time at the workplace is substantially reduced or suspended entirely for similar reasons, or leave is granted at the employee’s request, the employer may require compensatory work within four months for the periods not worked. (Added sentence:25/3/2020-7226/43 art.) The President of the Republic is authorised to extend this period up to twofold. Such work shall not be considered overtime work or work in excess of normal working hours.[19]
Compensatory work shall not exceed three hours per day, provided that the maximum daily working time is not exceeded. Compensatory work may not be required on holidays.
Madde 65 – Short-time working and short-time working allowance
(Repealed: 15/5/2008-5763/37 art.)
Madde 66 – Periods counted as working time
The following periods shall be counted as part of the employee’s daily working time:
a) The time required for employees in mines, quarries or any work to be performed underground or underwater to descend or enter shafts, galleries or their actual workplaces, and to leave those places.
b) Time spent travelling where employees are sent by the employer to work somewhere other than their workplaces.
c) Periods during which the employee remains at work and ready to perform work at any time, but is not actually working and is waiting for work to arise.
d) Periods during which the employee, without performing their principal work, is sent by the employer elsewhere or kept occupied at the employer’s home or office, or at any place connected with the employer.
e) Periods specified for women employees breastfeeding their children to feed them.
f) In all work requiring employees to be transported together to and from workplaces located far from their places of residence, such as the construction, maintenance, repair or alteration of railways, roads and bridges, the time spent transporting them collectively and regularly.
Time spent in vehicles while employees are transported to and from the workplace by the employer solely for social assistance purposes, and not by reason of the nature of the work, shall not be counted as working time.
Madde 67 – Start and end times of daily work
The start and end times of daily work and break times shall be announced to employees at workplaces.
Depending on the nature of the work, start and end times may be arranged differently for employees.
Madde 68 – Breaks
At approximately the midpoint of the daily working period, adjusted in accordance with local customs and the requirements of the work, employees shall be given:
a) fifteen minutes for work lasting four hours or less,
b) half an hour for work lasting more than four hours and up to seven and a half hours (including seven and a half hours),
c) one hour for work lasting more than seven and a half hours,
as a break.
These break periods are minimum periods and shall be taken without interruption.
However, taking account of the climate, season, local customs and nature of the work, these periods may be taken intermittently under agreements.
Breaks may be taken by employees at the same or different times at a workplace.
Breaks shall not be counted as working time.
Madde 69 – Night period and night work
In working life, “night” is the period beginning no later than 20.00 and ending no earlier than 06.00, and in any event lasting no more than eleven hours.
Regulations may be issued to determine how the provision in the first paragraph is to be applied, by bringing forward the start of “night” in working life or adjusting summer and winter times, or specifying the start and end times of the daytime period, in view of the nature and requirements of certain types of work or the characteristics of certain regions of the country; to establish a procedure for paying additional wages at any rate for certain night work; or to prohibit night work by employees at workplaces where there is no economic necessity for operating at night.
Employees’ night work may not exceed seven and a half hours. (Added sentence: 4/4/2015-6645/37 art.) However, in work in tourism, private security and health services, and in work carried out as part of petroleum research, exploration and drilling activities pursuant to the Turkish Petroleum Law No. 6491 dated 30/5/2013, night work exceeding seven and a half hours may be required provided that the employee’s written consent is obtained.[20]
(Repealed fourth paragraph: 20/6/2012-6331/37 art.)
(Repealed fifth paragraph: 20/6/2012-6331/37 art.)
(Repealed sixth paragraph: 20/6/2012-6331/37 art.)
In work operated day and night using alternating employee shifts, employees who work nights during one working week shall work days during the following second working week, and the shifts shall be arranged in rotation accordingly. A two-week rotation between night and day shifts may also be applied.
An employee whose shift is to be changed may not be employed on another shift without being given at least eleven consecutive hours of rest.
Madde 70 – Preparatory, finishing and cleaning work
The provisions concerning the organisation of work that shall not apply, or the different conditions and procedures under which they shall apply, to employees performing preparatory, finishing or cleaning work required before or after the specified working hours at a workplace in general shall be set out in a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Madde 71 – Minimum age for employment and prohibition on employing children
(Amended first paragraph: 4/4/2015-6645/38 art.) It is prohibited to employ children who have not completed fifteen years of age. However, children who have completed fourteen years of age and are past compulsory primary education age may be employed in light work that will not hinder their physical, mental, social or moral development or the attendance at school of those who continue their education. Children who have not completed fourteen years of age may be employed in artistic, cultural and advertising activities that will not hinder their physical, mental, social or moral development or the attendance at school of those who continue their education, provided that a written contract is made and separate permission is obtained for each activity.
When placing child and young employees in work and determining the work in which they may be employed, their safety, health, physical, mental and psychological development, personal aptitudes and abilities shall be taken into account. The work performed by a child may not prevent the child from attending school or continuing vocational training, or impair the child’s regular attendance at lessons.
The work prohibited for child and young employees who have not completed eighteen years of age; the work in which young employees who have completed fifteen years but not eighteen years of age may be employed; the light work in which children who have completed fourteen years of age and are past compulsory primary education age may be employed; the types of work in which young employees who have completed sixteen years but not eighteen years of age may be employed; and the working conditions shall be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security within six months.[21][22]
(Amended fourth paragraph: 4/4/2015-6645/38 art.) The working hours of children who are past compulsory primary education age and do not attend formal education may not exceed seven hours per day and thirty-five hours per week; for those working in artistic, cultural and advertising activities, they may not exceed five hours per day and thirty hours per week. For children who have completed fifteen years of age, this period may be increased to up to eight hours per day and forty hours per week.
The working hours of preschool children and children attending school during the education period may not exceed two hours per day and ten hours per week, outside school hours. During periods when school is closed, working hours may not exceed the periods stipulated in the fourth paragraph above.[23]
(Added paragraph: 4/4/2015-6645/38 art.) The scope of artistic, cultural and advertising activities; the granting of work permits to children employed in such activities; working and rest periods according to age groups and types of activity; the working environment and conditions; the procedures and principles concerning payment of wages; and other matters shall be determined by a regulation to be issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, taking the opinions of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of National Education and the Radio and Television Supreme Council.
Madde 72 – Prohibition on employment underground and underwater
It is prohibited to employ males under eighteen years of age and females of any age in mines and in work to be performed underground or underwater, such as cable laying, sewerage and tunnel construction.
Madde 73 – Prohibition on night work
In industrial work, it is prohibited to employ child and young employees under eighteen years of age at night.
The procedures and principles concerning the employment of women employees aged eighteen or over on night shifts shall be set out in a regulation to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, taking the opinion of the Ministry of Health.
Madde 74 – Work during maternity and breastfeeding leave
As a rule, women employees shall not be employed for a total period of twenty-four weeks, comprising eight weeks before childbirth and sixteen weeks after childbirth. In the case of multiple pregnancy, two weeks shall be added to the eight-week period during which they may not be employed before childbirth. However, if her health permits, a woman employee may work at the workplace until up to two weeks before childbirth with the doctor’s approval, if she so wishes. In that case, the periods worked by the woman employee shall be added to the postnatal periods. (Added sentence: 13/2/2011-6111/76 art.) If the woman employee gives birth prematurely, the periods during which she could not be employed before childbirth and did not use shall be granted by adding them to the postnatal periods. (Added sentences: 29/1/2016-6663/22 art.) If the mother dies during or after childbirth, the unused postnatal periods shall be granted to the father. One of the spouses adopting a child under three years of age, or the adopter, shall be granted eight weeks of maternity leave from the date the child is physically placed with the family. (Added sentence:22/4/2026-7578/15 art.) An employee who becomes a foster parent to one or more children jointly with their spouse or individually shall, upon request, be granted ten days of unpaid leave after the date the child is placed with them.[24]
(Added paragraph: 29/1/2016-6663/22 art.) From the end of the postnatal maternity leave taken under the first paragraph, for the purpose of caring for and raising the child and provided that the child is alive, a woman employee and a female or male employee who adopts a child under three years of age shall, at their request, be granted unpaid leave equal to half the weekly working time for a period of sixty days for the first birth, one hundred and twenty days for the second birth and one hundred and eighty days for subsequent births. In the case of multiple births, thirty days shall be added to each of these periods. If the child is born with a disability, this period shall be three hundred and sixty days. During the period in which the provisions of this paragraph are used, the provisions on breastfeeding leave shall not apply.
The periods prescribed above may, if necessary, be increased before and after childbirth depending on the employee’s health and the nature of the work. These periods shall be specified in a medical report.
During pregnancy, a woman employee shall be granted paid leave for periodic check-ups.
Where considered necessary by a medical report, a pregnant woman employee shall be employed in lighter work suitable for her health. In that case, no reduction shall be made in the employee’s wage.
At her request, a woman employee shall be granted unpaid leave for up to six months after the end of the twenty-four-week period, or the twenty-six-week period in the case of multiple pregnancy. (Added sentence: 29/1/2016-6663/22 art.) In the case of adoption of a child under three years of age, this leave shall be granted to one of the spouses or to the adopter. This period shall not be taken into account in calculating entitlement to annual paid leave.[25]
Women employees shall be granted a total of one and a half hours of breastfeeding leave per day to breastfeed their children under one year of age. The employee shall determine the times at which this period is taken and how it is divided. This period shall be counted as daily working time.
(Added paragraph: 29/1/2016-6663/22 art.) The provisions of this article shall apply to every employee working under an employment contract, whether within or outside the scope of this Law.
Madde 75 – Employee personnel file
The employer shall prepare a personnel file for each employee it employs. In addition to the employee’s identity information, the employer shall keep in this file all documents and records it is required to prepare under this Law and other laws, and shall present them to authorised officials and authorities whenever requested.
The employer shall use information obtained about the employee in accordance with the rules of good faith and the law, and shall not disclose information in which the employee has a legitimate interest in its confidentiality.
Madde 76 – Regulations
The procedures enabling working time at jobs and workplaces where, due to their nature, it is not possible to apply daily and weekly working periods as provided for in Article 63 to be arranged so as not to exceed the statutory daily working time, with an averaging period of up to six months, shall be regulated by regulations to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Special procedures and principles concerning working time, weekly rest days, night work and compulsory rest periods during work, in jobs operated continuously because of their nature by employing successive shifts of employees, or performed using alternating employee shifts, shall be regulated by regulations to be prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Notes
[19] By Article 43 of Law No. 7226 dated 25/3/2020, the word “two” in this paragraph was amended to read “four”.
[20] By Article 4 of Law No. 7429 dated 22/12/2022, the phrase “and health services” in this paragraph was amended to read “, health services and, within the scope of petroleum research, exploration and drilling activities pursuant to the Turkish Petroleum Law No. 6491 dated 30/5/2013”.
[21] By Article 32 of Law No. 6331 dated 20/6/2012, the following phrase was added after the phrase “light work” in this paragraph: “, the types of work in which young employees who have completed the age of sixteen but not the age of eighteen may be employed”.
[22] By Article 38 of Law No. 6645 dated 4/4/2015, the phrase “has completed the age of fourteen and completed primary education” in this paragraph was amended to read “has reached the age of fourteen and completed compulsory primary education”.
[23] By Article 38 of Law No. 6645 dated 4/4/2015, the phrase “Attending school” in this paragraph was amended to read “Pre-school children and those attending school”, and the word “first” was amended to read “fourth”.
[24] By Article 15 of Law No. 7578 dated 22/4/2026, the phrase “eight weeks after childbirth” in the first sentence of the first paragraph was amended to read “sixteen weeks after childbirth”; the phrase “sixteen in total” was amended to read “twenty-four in total”; and the word “three” in the third sentence was amended to read “two”.
[25] By Article 15 of Law No. 7578 dated 22/4/2026, the word “sixteen” in the first sentence of this paragraph was amended to read “twenty-four”, and the word “eighteen” was amended to read “twenty-six”.