What is principle of equity in Turkey ?
Another issue to be considered in the determination of normal working time is the principle of equity in Turkey, which is defined and conditions of which are regulated by Article 63 of the Law and Article 5 of the Regulation.
Accordingly, with the agreement of the parties, it is possible to distribute the weekly normal working time differently to the working days of the week in the workplace. The following points should be taken into consideration in this process called equalization.
- In order to apply equalization, the parties must agree in writing. This agreement can be made either subsequently or through an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement.
- The equalization period is limited to a period of 2 months. However, this period may be extended up to 4 months by collective labour agreements. At this point, there is a distinctive regulation regarding the tourism sector, and the equalization period in the tourism sector has been increased to 4 months. Accordingly, in the tourism sector, the average weekly working time of the employee shall not exceed the normal weekly working time within a period of 4 months, and the equalization period may be increased up to 6 months by collective labour agreements.
- The daily working time to be found with the equalisation process shall not exceed 11 hours in any case.
- Equalization provisions may also be applied to jobs where wages are paid according to the amount of work performed, such as piecework or lump sum.
- The employer shall determine the daily and weekly working hours within the equalisation period and the start and end dates of the equalisation period.
During the equalization period determined in this way, even if the work on a day exceeds the legal limits, care shall be taken to ensure that the total working time does not exceed the total time that can be worked at the end of the equalization period. For example, if an equalization practice is to be applied in a workplace and this period is determined as 2 months, in this two-month period, on some days, working hours may be determined as 8, 9, 10 hours, not exceeding 11 hours, and on some days, working hours may be determined as 4, 5, 6 hours, and at the end of the equalization period (according to the fact that there are 8 weeks in 2 months and this corresponds to a maximum of 360 hours of working time), it will be important that the total working hours do not exceed 360 hours.
