AMENDMENTS REGARDING MATERNITY LEAVE AND PARENTAL RIGHTS

The Code No. 7578 on Amendments to the Social Services Law and Certain Other Laws (the “Amending Law”), published in the Official Gazette dated 1 May 2026 and numbered 33240, has introduced amendments to the Labor Code No. 4857 (the “Labor Code”). These amendments concern maternity leave, paternity leave, and leave entitlements granted to employees acting as foster parents.

Accordingly, under the new regulation, female employees shall not be employed for a total of twenty-four (24) weeks, consisting of eight (8) weeks prior to childbirth and sixteen (16) weeks following childbirth. In cases of multiple pregnancies, the total paid maternity leave shall be applied as twenty-six weeks (i.e. eight weeks prior to childbirth and eighteen weeks following childbirth).

The Amending Law further stipulates that, provided that the health condition of the female employee is suitable and subject to a physician’s approval, and upon the employee’s request, the employee may continue to work at the workplace until two weeks prior to childbirth, instead of three weeks as previously regulated. It should also be noted that, in line with the existing statutory framework, periods during which the employee continues to work prior to childbirth (upon medical approval) shall be added to the post-natal leave period.

Also under the new regulation, a female employee may, upon request, be granted up to six months of unpaid leave following the completion of the twenty-four-week period, or twenty-six weeks in the case of multiple pregnancies.

In parallel with the Labor Code, the Amending Law has also amended related article of the Code numbered 5510, accordingly during increased terms of 24/26 weeks (depending on pregnancy type), related employees shall receive temporary incapacity allowance (in Turkish, “Geçici iş göremezlik ödeneği”).

In addition, pursuant to the amendment made to Additional Article 2 of the Labor Code, male employees are now entitled to ten (10) days of paid leave (instead of five (5) days as previously provided by the Labor Code) in the event that their spouse gives birth.

Furthermore, employees who become foster parents, either jointly with their spouse or individually, to one or more children, are now entitled, upon request, to ten (10) days of unpaid leave from the date on which the child is placed with them. In addition, the same system in case of adoption continues as previously regulated: in the case of the adoption of a child under the age of three, one of the adopting spouses or the adoptive parent shall be granted eight (8) weeks of maternity leave as from the date on which the child is physically delivered to the family.

Finally, pursuant to Transitional Article 1 of the Amending Law, a transitional provision has been introduced for employees who had already given birth prior to the entry into force of the new regulation. Accordingly, for employees whose maternity leave period had expired under the previous legislation as of 1 May 2026, but who had not yet completed the newly introduced twenty-four-week total maternity leave period as of 1 April 2026 (calculated from the date of childbirth), an additional eight weeks of maternity leave shall be granted. This entitlement is subject to the condition that the employee submits a request within ten working days as of the entry into force of the relevant provision. In practice, this provision enables certain employees to benefit retroactively from the extended maternity leave regime, provided that the statutory application period is observed.

The amendments set forth in this bulletin entered into force on 1 May 2026.         

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