If the report payment (temporary incapacity benefit) is issued due to a work accident or occupational disease, no premium day requirement applies. However, insured persons under 4A must have had at least ninety days of short-term insurance premium contributions reported within the previous year for sick leave reports issued for illness.
Pay Attention to the Day Limit for Report Payments
There is no premium day requirement for payments of report money issued because of sick leave resulting from a work accident or occupational disease. However, for insured workers covered by SSK (4A), payment of report money for sick leave requires that at least 90 days of short-term insurance premiums were reported within the year preceding the start date of incapacity (the report start date). Conditions unrelated to a work accident or occupational disease that cause incapacity are treated as illness. Likewise, female insured persons under 4A and 4B who receive sick leave for pregnancy or childbirth must also have at least ninety days of short-term insurance premiums reported in the year before childbirth for report money to be payable.
Because 4A and 4B include short-term insurance branches, periods completed under either 4A or 4B within the preceding year count toward the required 90 days. If the insured had both 4A and 4B coverage in the past year and has no outstanding Bağkur debt, the total of premium days from both insurance periods is considered. If the insured worked for multiple employers in the previous year, all employers’ reported premium days are summed when calculating the 90-day requirement. However, premium days from voluntary insurance are not counted toward the 90-day calculation.
Premium Days During Reported Leave Are Not Counted
Because the employee is not actually working during reported leave, the employer does not report days and earnings to SGK for the days the employee is on leave, and no premiums are paid for those days. If the employer provides financial assistance to the employee for the leave period, that cash assistance must be reported to SGK and its premiums paid. Even so, days reported as earnings for the leave period are not counted toward the 90-day total.
Similarly, if short-time working is applied at the workplace and the employee receives short-time work allowance from İŞKUR, the employer does not report days and earnings for those allowance days to SGK. Therefore, those days are not included in the 90-day calculation for employees who benefited from short-time work allowance.
90-Day Rule for Childbirth
For sick leave due to pregnancy or childbirth, payment of report money requires that at least 90 premium days have been paid within the year preceding the expected or actual birth date. If a medical report is issued at the 32nd week of pregnancy but the insured does not have 90 premium days at the start date of the leave, the report payment cannot be received. However, if the woman can work up until three weeks before childbirth and obtains a medical clearance indicating she can continue working until that time, the days worked until three weeks before the birth can be reported to SGK and counted toward the 90-day requirement. Presenting the physician’s approval to the employer is required if the employee continues working up to three weeks before delivery.