Duration of short-time work allowance has been extended, but this has also given rise to several important issues. One of the most common problems concerns employees who are paid the short-time work allowance but are made to work full time. Employees covered by short-time work who are forced to work full hours have certain legal rights regarding their situation.
What Can an Employee Who Works Full Time Do?
First and foremost, employees who receive the short-time work allowance cannot be employed full time at their current workplace. Persons included in short-time work under part-time arrangements must not be made to work full time. Therefore, both employers and employees subject to short-time work should be attentive to these rules at the workplace.
At workplaces where short-time work is applied on a reduced-hours basis, payments corresponding to the period of short-time work are made from the unemployment insurance fund. The employer is responsible for paying wages corresponding to the hours actually worked. For example, if working hours are reduced by one-third, 60% of the portion corresponding to that one-third of the gross wage will be covered by the short-time work allowance from the unemployment fund. The short-time work calculation is based on the average gross wage over the last 12 months. Accordingly, the employer must pay two-thirds of the net wage proportional to the hours actually worked. Employers must also pay social security contributions for the days actually worked. At the same time, while short-time work continues, employees cannot receive a net wage higher than their pre-pandemic net salary as a result of these arrangements.
Is it possible to be made to work full time while receiving the short-time work allowance?
Steps to Take If Forced to Work Full Time
If a person covered by short-time work is forced to work full time, they have specific legal options. First, check the monthly records of insured days on the Social Security Institution (SGK) service statement available through the e-Government (E-devlet) portal to confirm how many days of contributions have been paid. Since SGK service statement entries may be delayed on E-devlet, you can check the previous month’s records around the middle of the current month. If working hours were reduced by one-third under the allowance, 20 days’ worth of contributions should be recorded for that month.
If no contributions were paid or if contributions are incomplete, and if contribution periods appear short despite full-time work, this may constitute grounds for justifiable termination of the employment contract. Likewise, if the actual days worked exceed the period reported to SGK, and you can prove this, it may also justify a lawful termination. Another important point concerns employees working from home: those working remotely due to the pandemic retain full employment rights, and their situation does not differ from regular workplace conditions.
Missing day codes in short-time work allowance
Entitlement to Unemployment Benefit
If being required to work full time or having contributions underpaid gives grounds for lawful termination, the employee will be entitled to severance pay. Unemployment benefits will also continue to be available. Because employers may not readily accept claims of wrongful termination, the employee who was forced to work full time may find it necessary to apply to the court. If an employment court rules in favor of the employee, it is possible—within statutory limits and based on the period of unemployment and total allowance duration—to receive retroactive unemployment benefits.
If the employee prefers not to terminate employment and requests improvement of the conditions, they can apply to the provincial SGK directorate or to İŞKUR. After an inspection, authorities will decide whether the employee should remain within the short-time work allowance period in accordance with applicable regulations. It is important to ensure that the employment contract is not suspended for these procedures to proceed effectively.
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