New development
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security ("Ministry") has published the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles Regarding Short-Term Working and Short-Term Working Allowance ("Regulation") in the Official Gazette dated 11 June 2024 and numbered 32573. The Regulation entered into force on the date of publication to be effective as of 1 March 2024. The Regulation repealed the Regulation on Short-Term Working and Short-Term Working Allowance ("Previous Regulation") published in the Official Gazette dated 30 April 2011 and numbered 27920. You can access the Regulation here.
Which amendments are introduced by the Regulation?
The most significant amendments introduced by the Regulation are as follows:
- Pursuant to the Regulation, in short-time working implementations with a short-time working commencement date before 1 March 2024, the provisions of the Previous Regulation, which was repealed pursuant to the Regulation, will continue to be applied. If no payment is made to the insured during the short-time working period with a short-time working commencement date before 1 March 2024 and the employer reports that the insured is not actually subjected to short-time working, the entitlement to the short-time working allowance will be revoked.
- With the Regulation, "sectoral crisis," "regional crisis" and "general epidemic," which were not included in the Previous Regulation, are included among the reasons for short-time working. These concepts are defined in Article 3 of the Regulation titled Definitions.
- As per the Regulation, in addition to the requirements set out in the relevant article of the Previous Regulation, employers are obliged to submit a list of the insured individuals who will be subjected to short-time working, including information on the short-time working period and its duration. In addition, if the employer makes more than one short-time working request on different dates with the same application justification, the three-month period stipulated as the maximum period for the short-time working period will be calculated from the short-time working commencement date of the first request. The same article also states that the short-time working commencement dates to be applied by the employer can be determined differently for each insured, provided that they remain within the determined short-time working period. It is also established in the short-time working request that the short-time working period cannot be less than four weeks for the insured, except for the termination or suspension of the employment agreement of the insured, or their transfer to another workplace of the same employer.
- Unlike the Previous Regulation, Article 5 of the Regulation sets out in detail the authorities that will determine and evaluate the request, and the details regarding the determination of eligibility of employers' short-time working requests.
- The conditions for benefiting from the short-time working allowance have been rearranged. The insured who will benefit from the short-time working allowance must have been subject to an employment agreement for the last 120 days prior to the commencement date of the short-time working and must have worked as an insured for at least 450 days in the last three years and paid unemployment insurance premiums.
- In the Previous Regulation, the amount of the daily short-time working allowance, which is determined like the amount of unemployment allowance, is determined as 60% of the average daily gross earnings of the insured calculated considering the last 12 months' premium-based earnings, not exceeding 150% of the gross amount of the monthly minimum salary. In the calculation of the short-time working period, the months in which the short-time working period commences and ends will be evaluated over the actual number of days. The interim months included in the short-time working period will be evaluated over 30 days, including February. The amount of salaries and short-time working allowance for the weekly holidays, national holidays and general holidays of the insured will be paid jointly by the employer and the Turkish Employment Agency in proportion to the period of short-time working. In addition, the Regulation stipulates that the short-time working allowance shall not be subject to any tax other than stamp tax, and it shall be paid to the insured on the fifth day of each month instead of the end of each month as in the Previous Regulation. To make a short-time working request on behalf of an insured whose employment agreement is suspended at the workplace, the relevant article establishes that the insured must have started to work on or before the short-time working commencement date.
- Under the new adjustment in the Regulation, the short-time working allowance will be granted over the short-time working period actually realized, provided that it does not exceed the period specified in the eligibility determination. In this context, the rule of reducing the weekly working hours by at least one-third will not be sought for the short-time working period actually realized in accordance with the monthly premium and service documents or withholding and premium service declarations submitted to the Social Security Institution.
- Unlike the Previous Regulation, the Regulation introduces a provision on the suspension of the short-time working allowance. According to the relevant article, if the employer is found to have provided erroneous information and documents regarding the working hours of the insured who receive the allowance by the labor inspector during the inspection carried out by the labor inspectors in the workplaces where the short-time working implementation continues, and the labor inspector makes a written request regarding this situation, the short-time working allowance will be suspended considering the number of insured about whom erroneous information was provided.
- With the Regulation, the cases of "interruption of the short-time working allowance" regulated in the Previous Regulation have been regulated in more detail as "interruption and suspension of the short-time working allowance." Pursuant to the relevant regulation, if the employment agreements of the insured who receive a short-time working allowance in the workplace where they are subjected to short-time working are terminated or suspended, or if the insured transfer to a different workplace, start to receive old-age pension, are recruited for any reason, or leave their jobs due to their obligation arising from any law, arrest, conviction, going abroad or death, their short-time working allowance will be interrupted or suspended as of the date of any of the aforementioned situations. In addition, in accordance with the Regulation, unlike the Previous Regulation, if the insured receive a temporary incapacity report, the regulation that the short-time working allowance will be interrupted as of the date of the report has been changed to the short-time working allowance being suspended. Pursuant to the Regulation, the employer is required to notify the Turkish Employment Agency if any of the above-mentioned situations that will cause the short-time working allowance to be suspended or interrupted occur. If the employer violates the notification obligation, the overpayments made will be collected from the employer together with legal interest. If the breach of the notification obligation is caused by the insured's fault, the overpayments made will be collected from the insured with legal interest, except for the overpayments of the deceased insured.
- According to the Regulation, the employer in whose workplace there are insured individuals subject to short-time working must keep records of the working hours of the insured individuals and submit them upon request.
- The sanction to be applied in case of noncompliance with the obligation of the employer to notify the situation within six business days in case of early termination of short-time working, which is included in the Previous Regulation, has been determined in the Regulation. Under the Regulation, if the employer makes a late notification in violation of the notification obligation regarding the early termination of the short-time working, the unwarranted payments will be collected from the employer together with the legal interest.
Conclusion
Pursuant to the Regulation published by the Ministry, the necessary conditions for making a short-time working request have been expanded, and the evaluation processes regarding the determination of the eligibility of short-time working requests have been detailed. Changes have been made regarding the number of premium payment days required to benefit from the short-time working allowance, the amount of the short-time working allowance and its payment. Additionally, new regulations have been introduced regarding the inspection of the short-time working allowance by the labor inspectors and the suspension of the short-time working allowance based on this inspection. It is important to carefully examine the changes introduced by the Regulation, particularly the obligation of the employer to keep records of the working hours of insured individuals subject to short-time working and to ensure that short-time working implementations starting after 1 March 2024 comply with the Regulation.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.