Whilst state employees have been entitled to 10 days paternity leave (increased in 2011 from three days) plus 24 months unpaid leave upon request and 24 months unpaid adoption leave (introduced in 2011), there was no similar entitlement for most private sector employees.
Nevertheless, whilst legislation was silent on the matter for a long time, many
private sector employers voluntarily granted their employees paternity leave of three to five days. Initially it was mostly companies with foreign headquarters, but over time it became a common practice amongst Turkish companies too.
With the introduction of Omnibus Law no. 6645, the entitlement for private sector employees is now set in law. The legislation also introduces “Compassionate Leave” into the Turkish Labour Act. In addition, an employee whose wife has given birth will be granted five days paid paternity leave and, in the case of adoption, employees will be granted three days paid leave.
Comment
These amendments are a significant step in the modernisation of labour-related regulations. However it is noteworthy that the length of the paternity leave was originally proposed as three days but it was increased to five during the negotiations. Consequentially, whilst paternity leave has been welcomed by the public, criticisms about the shortness of the adoption leave have been raised.
First published by Taylor Vinters Articles in Aug 29, 2015.
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