As in every country, our country provides various benefits for workers and continues to develop practices in this area. One of these measures is break times. It is unreasonable to expect a worker to perform continuous work all day long. Workers need periods to recover from fatigue and attend to personal needs. Breaks are typically given as meal breaks. The purpose of these pauses is to increase productivity, reduce worker fatigue, and prevent accidents caused by loss of concentration.
Break times are rest periods allocated proportionally to a worker’s daily hours and scheduled around the midpoint of the workday in accordance with workplace rules. According to the Labor Law, there are three types of rest rights granted to employees:
- Daily rest
- Weekly rest
- Annual leave
Breaks are regulated and enforced under Labor Law No. 4857.
Break Times in Labor Law
Labor law includes provisions for break times and sets legal rules for these rests. Time to eat, drink, rest, or use restroom facilities are essential needs for workers. To maintain output and ensure employees can continue their tasks with alertness, breaks should be provided at set times during the day.
Under Law No. 4857, break periods provided in addition to daily working hours should be arranged in line with the worker’s hours that day. Commonly applied guidelines are as follows:
- For shifts of 4 hours or less: 15 minutes,
- For shifts over 4 hours and up to 7.5 hours: 30 minutes,
- For shifts over 7.5 hours: 1 hour.
Breaks specified by law should be given uninterrupted. These durations may vary depending on climate, season, workplace conditions, and the nature of the work, and can be specified by agreement. Breaks should generally be scheduled around the middle portion of the workday so that after resting the worker can return and work more effectively.
Workers are not required to use all break time at once; in workplaces with shift systems, the timing and duration may differ. During break times the worker is free and may spend the time wherever they choose.
Providing break periods to employees is mandatory and established in legislation. If a worker has equal hours across five workdays and works less on Saturday, break durations should be proportionate to each day’s hours. Short pauses such as smoking or tea breaks outside the formal break periods are considered part of working time. For employees on buses or other moving vehicles, breaks are usually taken at designated stopping points.
When Break Time Is Not Counted as Working Time
By law, break time is not counted as working time. Therefore, an employer is not obliged to pay for break periods. If employer and employee agree in a contract that a break will be counted as working time, then it can be treated as such. Failure to provide legally required break times carries penalties under Article 68 of Law No. 4857.
Working durations vary across occupations; time spent on the job differs by workplace and job type. Although the standard daily working time is 7.5 hours in many settings, some jobs exceed that, but by law daily work should not exceed 11 hours. For an 11-hour workday at least 1.5 hours of breaks must be provided, ensuring workers have adequate time to rest.
Breaks should be given to workers in one continuous block and must not be divided by assigning tasks during that period. Employers can determine when during the day break time occurs through contracts or workplace rules. Employees may use their breaks all at once or in separate segments, and the same rules apply in workplaces with shift systems.