What Is Important About Workıng On General Holiday Days? 17 August 2018

First of all, general holidays are specified specially by "Law on National Holiday and General Holidays No. 2429". Therefore, it is necessary to follow the legal regulations regarding the days which are the general holidays and not under the initiative of the employer for workplaces included in the scope of the Labor Law No 4857.

When the law numbered 2429 is examined; it is seen that the Feast of Sacrifice - which is one of the religious holidays - starts from 13.00 on the eve day of Feast of Sacrifice and it is determined as 4,5 general holiday days. Therefore, next week is general holiday for work places that are covered by the Labor Law No 4857 because of the Feast of Sacrifice. The holiday starts from 13:00 on August 20, 2018 and ends on August 24, 2018, the 4th day of the festival. The "30th August Victory Day", which is one of the legal holidays, is one of the public holidays (1 full day) and coincides with Thursday this year.

If it is necessary, it can be agreed to work on national holidays and public holidays by collective labor agreement or individual labor contract or reasons arising from execution of the work. However, if there is no such provision in any contract, it is necessary to obtain the written approval of the employee who will be required to work during the public holidays specified in the Law (Article 44).

The employee who does not work on days that considered as national holiday and public holidays in the law is entitled to these day's salary without any work compensation (Article 47). However, the employer must pay an extra daily charge – for each general holiday day – to the employee who works on days that determined as public holidays in the Law.

It should be noted that, the Labor Law No 4857, which specifically regulates the general holiday charge, does not include the free time application instead of paying charge for the work carried out these days (Article 47). For this reason, it is against the law to compensate the employee's work on the public holiday in any way as giving free time after work or giving permission to take a day off. Therefore, such practices do not prevent the employee from earning the general charge.

If the charge for general holidays is not paid separately despite of the mandatory provisions of law concerning this matter; an administrative penalty of 191,00-TL (for 2018) may be applied for each employee and each month that non-payment is continued. In addition, the employer may terminate the employment contract for this justified reason and demand the severance pay and unpaid charges with its interest.