Turkish parliament passes law to ease working conditions

Parliament has approved a draft law to significantly improve work life by establishing temporary employment relations via private employment agencies that offer flexible work models. Accordingly, an employer can employ temporary employees from private employment agencies in place of employees whose labor agreements are suspended as well as those who leave office due to maternity leave or military service. The law, which also offers a remote-working opportunity for employees, includes the following regulations: *Private employment offices can establish temporary employment relations either by charging an employee in a company in the same holding or the same group of companies. For this, private employment agencies need authorization from the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) to provide temporary employees. In addition, they need to have operated for two uninterrupted years before they apply to İŞKUR to obtain this authorization.

*Temporary employment relations with other employees in place of others will be established when an employee takes maternity leave, works part-time after giving birth, leaves office for military service or a labor agreement is suspended. Substitute employees will serve as long as these cases continue. This relation will be created without seeking a time limit in seasonal agricultural labor and domestic services, such as cleaning, in addition to patient, elderly and childcare.

*Temporary employees will not be employed in the public sector or mines. Companies that make collective redundancies will not be able to employ temporary employees for eight months. Also, temporary employment relations will not apply during strikes and lockouts. *If the business volume of a company increases to an unpredictable extent, the number of temporary employees will not exceed one-fourth of the total number of employees. However, companies that employ 10 or fewer employees can employ up to five temporary employees.

*If a company terminates the labor agreement of an employee, it will not establish a temporary employment relation with them within six months after termination. The temporary employment relation established within the same holding or the same group of companies will not last longer than six months, and this relation can be renewed two times at most.

The law also includes remote working under the category of on-call work. Remote work is defined as a written employment relation where an employee carries out a work act that is created by an employer as a part of a work organization at home or outside of the work place by means of technological communication instruments. Individuals who act as intermediaries in finding employment and employers without permission from İŞKUR will be fined TL 20,000 ($6,862), and repeat infractions will increase the fine to TL 40,000. Employers who get services in this regard will be fined TL 10,000.