Temporary employment regulation enters into force in Turkey

More than 1.5 million small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) are now able to hire temporary workers rather than employ permanent workers due to a new regulation enacted as part of a controversial flexible labor act, daily Habertürk reported Oct. 14. 

Businesses will be able to make 25 percent of their total labor force temporary workers and dodge the responsibility of paying severance pay and other compensation to temporary workers.

Companies which employ 10 workers or less will be able to hire five temporary workers. 

According to data from the Social Security Institution (SGK), there are around 1.7 million workplaces, 1.5 million of which employ nine workers or less. Some 4 million workers of roughly 14 million workers in total are employed by businesses with nine employees at most. 

Critics say many of the companies might fire around 25 percent of their permanent workers to employ temporary ones. 

In addition, according to the regulation, any company which sees an "unpredictably steep rise in its need to raise its production capacity" will also able to hire an additional number of temporary workers. 

When a company fires a permanent worker, it will be able to hire a temporary worker for that job just six months after the termination of the job contract of the permanent worker. 

Temporary workers will take their wage from special employment bureaus rather than their employers. 

Employers may only engage temporary staff in specific situations. These include situations where employment agreements are suspended or the interval workload increases, as well as in seasonal agricultural, domestic and urgent work that relates to occupational health and safety.