Pursuant to the Law on the Amendment of Certain Laws and on the Establishment of a Digital Media Commission No. 7252 (hereafter referred to as “Law No.7252”) published in the Official Gazette on 28 July 2020, notable amendments have been made regarding Labor Law. We would like to bring forth to your attention the important updates.

In accordance with Article 3 of Law No. 7252, the President may now extend, totally or partially by sector, the period of application for Short-Time Work Allowance and/or the benefit duration of Short-Time Work Allowance until 31 December 2020.

By virtue of Article 4, Law No.7252, Provisional Article 26 has been added to Unemployment Insurance Act No. 4447. In the event where short term work has been suspended or the workplace has returned to its usual weekly work hours, with respect to insured workers employed in private sector workplaces who are benefiting from short-time work allowance as a result of applications made before 1 July 2020, for a period of 3 months following the first month after the suspension of short term work, not to exceed the date of 31 December 2020, the employer shall receive premium support equal to the total of insurance premium shares of the insured and the employer calculated as per the minimum earning limit for base premium determined in accordance with Article 82 of the Law No.5510, to be set-off from all of the premiums to be paid by the relevant employers each month to the Social Security Institution; the support fee shall be provided by the Fund. The President is authorized to extend the aforementioned 3-month period up to 6 months for all sectors or partially by sector.

With respect to those insured, benefiting from the daily cash support as a result of having applied before 1 July 2020, if the employee returns to work within the usual weekly hours, the same aforementioned periods and limitations of this Article shall apply to the employer regarding said employee.

The time limit of the monthly support that the employer shall receive within the scope of this Article, for those insured and receiving short-time work allowance within the scope of Provisional Article 23, may not exceed the monthly estimated number of days in which they received allowance; for those receiving daily cash support within the scope of Provisional Article 24, may not exceed the monthly estimated number of days in which they received daily cash support.

The provisions of this Article do not apply to (i) institutions stated in paragraph 2 article 30 of the Law No.5335, (ii) to workplaces conducting purchase and manufacturing activities  as per the Law No. 2886, the Law No.4734 and international contracts(iii) employees working subject to social security support premiums and working in workplaces exempted from the application of the Law No. 4734, (iv) those insured working abroad or (v) those insured working in house services within the scope of additional article 9 of the Law numbered 5510.

Kindly note, that in case it is determined that there is no basis for the short-time work allowance being used, that the application is determined not to be suitable, or that the daily cash support is availed of without just reason, the workplace shall have its benefit suspended, or will be deemed to have benefited unjustly. The amount of the unjustly used benefit shall be collected from the employer with a delay fine and interest.

Subsequent to Article 5, the prohibition on the unilateral termination of employment contracts may be extended by the President, totally or partially by sector, in 3-month periods, until the date of 30 June 2021. This extension shall also apply with respect to the employer placing employees on total or partial unpaid leave.
The prohibition of termination shall exclude the following reasons:

The provisions of Article 4 shall enter into force on 1 August 2020; the rest of the Articles mentioned above shall be effective as of 28 July 2020.

Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications or assistance you may need about the subject matter.