THE PCR TEST COSTS OF EMPLOYEES
EMPLOYERS’ OBLIGATION TO COVER

As you may kindly recall from our Newsletter dated 17 January 2022 titled “Rearrangement of PCR Test Requirement”, the requirement to take a PCR test has been abolished for several circumstances as per the “Circular” dated 15 January 2022 issued by the Ministry of the Interior. Accordingly, employees in all public and private workplaces would no longer be required to take a PCR test, even if they are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated, or have not been tested positive for coronavirus in the past 180 days.

Despite the above regulation stipulating that there is no longer the requirement of taking a PCR test for employees working in public/private workplaces, within the scope of the Letter of the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (“T.C. Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Genel Müdürlüğü”) dated 19 January 2022 (the “Letter”), it has been determined that as of 18 January 2022, the employers may request PCR tests from employees, if deemed necessary:

• In the workplaces with fifty (50) or more employees,
• where continuous work is carried out for more than 6 months,
• with the decision of the occupational health and safety board in the said workplaces (in Turkish, “İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Kurulu”).

In such case, the costs of the PCR tests shall be borne by the employers.

The Letter further states that in such cases the PCR test results of the employees may be recorded by the employers in order to be able to take necessary actions.

In this respect and referring to above mentioned views of the authorities, we are of the view that in the workplaces employing less than fifty (50) employees and thus, where there is no occupational health and safety board and that receive services from a joint health and safety unit (In Turkish, “Ortak Sağlık ve Güvenlik Birimi, OSGB”) or workplace doctor, the employers may decide requesting or not PCR tests from their employees, upon the advice of their advisors. If these employers decide to request PCR tests from their employees as per the advice of their occupational health and safety advisor, then these PCR tests’ cost should be covered by the employer.

Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may need.