Didim Today

Today I will write about maternity leave, which is regulated under Turkish Labor Law No. 4857 and was amended under Sack Law No. 6111. I want to explain maternity leave starting with one of my readers’ question:

“I just have a question regarding maternity leave according to Turkish labor law. I have been working in the public sector (Turkish embassy) for a couple of years now and I would like to plan to have a baby soon. I have heard rumors that the maternity leave is eight months after giving birth and I was just wondering whether this was correct. If not, what are the basic rules applying to maternity leave?”

In respect of Turkish Labor Law, female employees have the right to take maternity leave for a period of 16 weeks. They may use eight weeks of maternity leave before and eight weeks after giving birth. In the case of the mother giving birth to more than one baby, it is recommended that an additional two weeks be granted for maternity leave.

Female employees may work until three weeks before giving birth if they so choose, but with the approval of a doctor that indicates that there is no health risk for the baby or the mother if the mother works. If the mother asks for this, the time spent working prior to the birth shall be added to the period of maternity leave to be granted after the birth.

According to Sack Law No: 6111, if a female employee gives birth prematurely, the period of maternity leave that may not be used within eight weeks shall be added to the period granted after birth. This period may be extended depending on health of the female employee and the requirements of job. This period shall be determined by any relevant medical reports.

In addition, upon a request for further leave from the employer, the employer is obliged to provide an additional period of maternity leave up to six months following the 16-weeks maternity leave period. This additional period shall not be taken into account in the calculation of paid annual vacation. During these six months, a working mother shall not be paid.

Female employees are also entitled to have one-and-a-half hours set aside for breast feeding every day, for those whose babies are under 1 year of age. This one-and-a-half-hour period counts as paid working hours. The periods during which the employee will breast feed are scheduled by herself and the schedule is to be submitted to the employer.

The remaining part of the question regards payment during maternity leave: “And when it comes to getting paid during maternity leave, will I get paid during the whole period?”

The periods mentioned above are all periods during which female employee shall be paid, with one exception. In the case of a working mother requesting an additional six months at the end of 16-weeks of paid maternity leave given after birth, during this additional period the female employee shall not be entitled to receive any payment.

Berk Cektir http://www.berkcektir.av.tr/ The information provided here is intended to give basic legal information. You should get legal assistance from a licensed attorney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on the information in this corner. http://www.todayszaman.com/ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it