Social Security Ministry

The Labor and Social Security Ministry is introducing new regulations to improve the rights and living conditions of seasonal agricultural workers.

According to the draft circular on the matter, the definition of seasonal agricultural workers will be expanded to include itinerant workers.

The Labor and Social Security Ministry has noted that 133,637 mobbing complaints were filed through the Working Life Communication Center hotline between March 2011 and November 2023, a striking statistic that reveals a pressing issue in Türkiye.

The Labor and Social Security Ministry is promoting the selective expansion of the digital labor card in retail trade and industry from the beginning of 2024, with the competent agencies hard at work making preparations, as in its full development the measure will concern over 500,000 workers in at least 65,000 businesses.

Turkey's Constitutional Court has ruled that the Soma mining disaster in 2014 happened due to procedures that violated the victims' right to life.

According to the top court's ruling, published on the Official Gazette dated March 9, "negligence and errors" caused 301 deaths.

The 2019 budget of the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA) allegedly refers to a "virtual reality," as if it were an imaginary, surplus-producing fund, and according to a senior government official the same goes for the last couple of years too.

Pensioners remain in the dark about the recalculation of their pensions according to the 2016 law, as they have not yet been notified by the Labor and Social Security Ministry about their so-called personal difference - i.e. the part of their pension that is likely to be cut.

The new plan for restructuring arrears to social security funds foresees a haircut to the original debt averaging between 50 and 55 percent, and a write-off of late fees by up to 85 percent, sources have told Kathimerini.

Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry has dubbed 2018 as the year "to fight child labor" and prepared an action plan that includes several key measures, from tighter controls in child labor intensive sectors to closer examination to schools' student attendance records, in a bid to achieve this goal. 

Turkey will grant permanent work and residence permits to qualified foreigners who have to meet several criteria, including contributing to the country's science, technology, employment and economy, a new practice published in the Official Gazette said March 14. 

The government may use revenue data from two years back in 2017 to calculate the social security contributions for hundreds of thousands of workers.