Working Hours in Türkiye

Introduction: Working Time and Labor Law Regulations

In Turkish labor jurisprudence, establishing and regulating working time boundaries is fundamentally linked to the physical and psychological health of employees. Historically, the industrial revolution produced working environments fraught with occupational health and safety hazards. Extended hours directly threatened the health of workers, rendering time restrictions not merely a matter of economic negotiation but a fundamental human right aimed at preventing exhaustion, increasing productivity, and preserving work-life balance.

Labor Law No. 4857 introduced significant modernizations to the traditional, rigid concepts of working hours in Türkiye. Driven by the rapidly evolving technological landscape and complex commercial relationships, this law embraced "flexibility" as a core mechanism. While establishing a definitive ceiling on working hours to protect employees, the law simultaneously provided employers with versatile tools - such as equalization (denkleştirme), compensatory work, and short-time working structures - to adapt to fluctuating economic and operational demands. This legal evolution ensures that while an employer exercises management prerogatives to optimize workforce efficiency, such power is rigorously checked by statutory protections preventing the exploitation of the employee’s physical well-being.

The Concept of Working Time

The Turkish Labor Law does not provide a succinct, one-sentence definition of "working time." However, Article 63 and its accompanying Working Time Regulation stipulate rules establishing its boundaries. Legally, working time comprises not merely the exact minutes an employee is actively engaged in a task, but extends to encompass the entire period an employee is subjected to the employer’s authority.

Actual Working Time (Fiili Çalışma Süresi)

The core component of working time is Actual Working Time. This represents the continuous period from when an employee commences their duties until they finish them, excluding dressing/undressing periods and statutory rest breaks. It denotes the exact span during which the employee’s labor is actively placed at the employer's disposal for the execution of the assigned tasks.

Constructive (Deemed) Working Time (Farazi Çalışma Süreleri)

To prevent the evasion of working time regulations and protect workers' rights, Article 66 of Labor Law No. 4857 explicitly defines several situations where an employee might not be actively performing physical or mental tasks, yet the time is legally deemed as working time. These "Constructive Working Times" include:

• Underground and Underwater Work: The time spent by employees descending to, returning from, and transitioning within underground locations (like mines) or underwater environments is fully counted as working time.
• Off-site Assignments: If an employer dispatches an employee to a location outside the primary workplace, the travel time required to reach the destination is calculated within the working hours.
• On-Call or Waiting Readiness: When an employee remains at the workplace or a designated location, ready to perform duties upon request without actively working, this "standby" period is fully recognized as working time.
• Idle Time at the Workplace: If an employee is present at the workplace but left idle - for instance, due to machine breakdowns, lack of materials, or lack of assignment by the employer - this duration counts entirely toward the daily limit.
• Nursing Leave (Emzirme İzni): Female employees are legally entitled to 1.5 hours of paid leave per day to nurse children under the age of one. This period is strictly calculated as active working time.
• Collective Transportation to Remote Sites: If employees are transported together to a remote site (e.g., a highway construction site or a railway line) that is far from their residential centers, the transit time on the company-provided vehicle is included in working hours.

Periods Excluded from Working Time

Certain periods during the workday are expressly excluded from the calculation of working hours. Most prominently, this includes Rest Breaks (Ara Dinlenmesi).

Under Article 68, employers are obligated to provide employees with rest breaks to recover from fatigue. These breaks do not count toward the daily or weekly working hour limits. The minimum duration of these breaks is statutorily scaled to the length of the shift:

Daily Working Time	Minimum Rest Break Required
4 hours or less	15 minutes
More than 4 hours, up to 7.5 hours	30 minutes
More than 7.5 hours, up to 11 hours	1 hour
Exceeding 11 hours (special circumstances)	1.5 hours

These breaks must be granted uninterruptedly, although they can be split by mutual agreement depending on the nature of the work. During a rest break, the employee is entirely free from the employer's authority and can leave the premises.

Legal Working Hour Limits

The Weekly Limit

The cornerstone of Turkish working time regulation is the 45-hour weekly limit (Article 63). As a general rule, this 45-hour quota is distributed equally among the working days of the week. For example, in a workplace operating six days a week, the daily working time is 7.5 hours. In a five-day workweek, it equals 9 hours per day.

The Absolute Daily Limit

Regardless of how the 45 hours are distributed, the law imposes a strict absolute limit: An employee cannot work for more than 11 hours in a single day. This 11-hour ceiling encompasses both standard working time and any potential overtime. Any agreement attempting to extend daily work beyond 11 hours is null and void, and subjects the employer to administrative fines.

Overtime Work (Fazla Çalışma)

When operational demands, urgent orders, or extraordinary circumstances necessitate longer hours, employers may resort to overtime work. Overtime is a critical domain in Turkish Labor Law, strictly regulated to prevent abuse and ensure fair compensation.

Types of Extended Work

Turkish law distinguishes between two specific categories of extended work:

1. Fazla Çalışma (Overtime Work): Work that exceeds the statutory maximum of 45 hours per week.
2. Fazla Sürelerle Çalışma (Work at Extra Hours): Applicable to employees whose contracts stipulate a weekly working time of less than 45 hours (e.g., 40 hours). If they work beyond 40 hours but up to 45 hours, this intermediate period is termed "Work at Extra Hours."

Conditions for Normal Overtime

For an employer to legally demand standard overtime, several conditions must be met:

• Employee Consent: The employer must obtain the employee's explicit, written consent to perform overtime. Historically obtained annually, recent regulatory changes state that consent is secured either during the initial employment contract or when the need arises. However, an employee can withdraw this consent by providing 30 days' notice.
• Annual Limit: The total amount of overtime an employee can perform is capped at 270 hours per year. Exceeding this limit is a violation of the labor code.
• Daily Constraint: Overtime cannot cause the total daily working time to exceed the 11-hour maximum.

Mandatory and Extraordinary Overtime

While standard overtime requires consent, the law permits compulsory overtime under specific, exceptional conditions:

• Zorunlu Nedenlerle Fazla Çalışma (Compulsory Overtime): Mandated in the event of a breakdown, an urgent need to protect machinery/materials, or a force majeure event (e.g., a fire or flood at the facility). The employee cannot refuse this work, but it is limited to the extent strictly necessary to resolve the emergency.
• Olağanüstü Durumlarda Fazla Çalışma (Emergency Overtime): Mandated during periods of national mobilization, war, or severe economic crises, subject exclusively to the decree of the President of the Republic.

Remuneration for Overtime Work

The financial compensation for extended labor is heavily guarded by law to prevent wage theft and ensure equitable reward for additional physical exertion.

Wage Calculations

• For Overtime Work (> 45 hours): The employee must be paid their standard hourly wage increased by 50% for every hour of overtime.
• For Work at Extra Hours (Contractual limit to 45 hours): The employee must be paid their standard hourly wage increased by 25% for every hour.

Free Time Compensation (Serbest Zaman)

Instead of receiving increased wages, an employee may opt to take paid time off. This is entirely at the employee's discretion; the employer cannot force the employee to take free time instead of cash compensation.

• For every 1 hour of Overtime Work (> 45 hrs), the employee is entitled to 1 hour and 30 minutes of free time.
• For every 1 hour of Work at Extra Hours (< 45 hrs), the employee is entitled to 1 hour and 15 minutes of free time.

This free time must be utilized within 6 months and cannot be deducted from the employee's annual paid leave or statutory rest days.

Legal Consequences of Unpaid Overtime

Failure to pay overtime wages carries severe legal consequences for the employer. Under Turkish law, unpaid overtime constitutes a fundamental breach of the employment contract.

Employee's Right to Terminate: If an employer systematically fails to pay accurate overtime wages, the employee possesses the right to terminate the employment contract with "just cause" (Haklı Nedenle Fesih) under Article 24 of the Labor Law. In such a scenario, the employee can immediately leave the job without serving a notice period and is entitled to claim their full severance pay (Kıdem Tazminatı), provided they have worked for at least one year.

Statute of Limitations: Overtime wage claims are subject to a strict statute of limitations of 5 years from the date the wage became due.

Prohibitions on Overtime

To protect vulnerable demographics and ensure workplace safety, overtime is strictly prohibited for certain groups and in certain conditions, regardless of employee consent:

• Minors: Employees under the age of 18 cannot work overtime.
• Health Restrictions: Employees who obtain a medical report stating they cannot work overtime for health reasons.
• Pregnant and Nursing Mothers: From the certification of pregnancy and for a specified period postpartum, female employees are exempt from overtime.
• Part-time Employees: Employees on part-time contracts generally cannot be asked to perform overtime, ensuring the nature of their partial employment remains intact.
• Night Shifts: As a fundamental rule, overtime cannot be performed during night shifts. Night work is strictly capped at 7.5 hours.
• Hazardous Work: Jobs requiring a maximum of 7.5 hours of daily work due to severe health and safety risks (e.g., specific chemical manufacturing, heavy mining) are absolutely barred from overtime.

Compensatory Work (Telafi Çalışması)

Compensatory work is a unique flexibility mechanism introduced in Law No. 4857. It addresses situations where work stops unexpectedly, allowing the employer to recover lost hours without paying overtime premiums later.

Conditions for Compensatory Work

An employer can mandate compensatory work only under the following specific circumstances:

1. Force Majeure / Compulsory Reasons: Work is halted due to unpredictable external events (e.g., severe weather preventing construction, widespread power outages).
2. Bridging Holidays: The employer decides to suspend work on days falling immediately before or after a national holiday to create a long weekend.
3. Employee Request: The employee requests, and the employer grants, time off for personal reasons not covered by standard leave provisions.

Implementation Rules

• The compensatory work must be completed within 4 months of the event that caused the work stoppage.
• The compensatory work cannot exceed 3 hours per day.
• The total daily working time, even with compensatory work added, cannot exceed the absolute limit of 11 hours.
• Compensatory work cannot be performed on statutory rest days (weekends) or national holidays.
• Because it is merely "making up" for previously paid but unworked hours, compensatory work is compensated at the normal wage rate, not the overtime premium rate.

Short-Time Working (Kısa Çalışma)

Short-Time Working is a critical crisis-management tool designed to protect employment during severe economic downturns or force majeure events. Rather than laying off workers when business plummets, the employer reduces working hours or temporarily halts operations, and the state's Unemployment Insurance Fund steps in to cover a portion of the employees' lost income.

Conditions for Short Work

To apply for short-time working, the employer must demonstrate that operations have been temporarily reduced by at least one-third (1/3) or stopped completely for at least four weeks, due to:

• General Economic, Sectoral, or Regional Crises: Severe economic depressions recognized broadly by the government.
• Force Majeure (Zorlayıcı Nedenler): Unforeseeable, unavoidable external events such as earthquakes, pandemics (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic heavily utilized this mechanism), or massive floods.

The Short-Time Working Allowance (Kısa Çalışma Ödeneği)

Once the Ministry of Labor approves the application, affected employees receive an allowance directly from the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR). The allowance is generally calculated as 60% of the employee's average gross daily earnings over the last 12 months, capped at 150% of the gross minimum wage. This mechanism ensures business continuity for the employer and financial survival for the employee without severing the employment contract.

Night Work and Shift Work

The Turkish Labor Law defines "Night" as the period starting at 20:00 at the latest and ending at 06:00 at the earliest, encompassing a maximum of 11 hours.

Restrictions on Night Work:

• An employee's night work cannot exceed 7.5 hours. This is an absolute ceiling to protect workers from the severe physical toll of nocturnal labor.
• However, recent amendments introduced exceptions for the tourism, private security, and healthcare sectors. In these specific industries, employees can work beyond 7.5 hours at night, provided they give written consent.
• If a shift overlaps both day and night periods, it is legally classified as a "night shift" if more than half of the shift falls within the statutory night hours (20:00 to 06:00).

Shift Rotation: For businesses operating continuously with alternating shifts, an employee cannot be assigned exclusively to the night shift. Shifts must be rotated so that an employee works a night shift for a maximum of one week, followed by a day shift the next week (or two-week rotations by agreement).

Conclusion

Working hours in Türkiye represent a complex intersection of stringent protective regulations and dynamic flexibility mechanisms. For international enterprises and local businesses alike, navigating the nuances of the 45-hour limit, equalization periods, overtime consent, and post-termination wage claims is paramount.

A failure to accurately track working hours, secure proper consent for overtime, or adhere to the absolute 11-hour daily maximum exposes employers to substantial financial risks, administrative fines, and employee-initiated contract terminations with severance pay. Proactive legal structuring of employment contracts and meticulous payroll management are essential to maintaining compliance and fostering a productive, legally secure workplace under the Turkish Commercial and Labor frameworks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum legal working week in Turkey?

The maximum legal working week is 45 hours. In most workplaces, this is equally divided across the working days, typically 7.5 hours over a 6-day workweek or 9 hours over a 5-day workweek.

Can daily working hours exceed 11 hours?

No. Regardless of any equalization period or flexible working arrangement, the maximum daily working time for an employee can never exceed 11 hours, including overtime.

What is the equalization period (denkleştirme)?

The equalization period allows employers to distribute the 45-hour weekly limit unevenly across weeks within a 2-month period (up to 4 months by collective agreement), provided the daily limit of 11 hours is not exceeded and the average weekly hours over the period do not exceed 45.

How is overtime compensation calculated?

For every hour worked beyond 45 hours a week (Fazla Çalışma), the employee is paid at an hourly rate increased by 50%. For hours worked beyond the contractual hours but under 45 hours (Fazla Sürelerle Çalışma), the increase is 25%.

Are rest breaks counted as working time?

No, statutory rest breaks (Ara Dinlenmesi) are explicitly excluded from the calculation of working time under Turkish Labor Law.

Can an employer force an employee to work overtime?

Generally, no. Standard overtime requires the employee's explicit, written consent. The only exceptions are force majeure events (emergencies, fires, breakdowns) or national mobilization declared by the President, where overtime becomes compulsory.

What happens if an employer refuses to pay overtime?

If an employer systematically fails to pay overtime, the employee has the right to terminate the employment contract for "just cause" without notice and can sue to claim their severance pay and the accumulated unpaid overtime wages (subject to a 5-year statute of limitations).