Amendment of the Regulation on Overtime

Regulation on Overtime and Extra Work (“Regulation”) has been amended with the regulation published on Official Gazette numbered 30165 and dated August 25, 2017.

As very well known, overtime is one of the major issues that the employees are exploited the most in their work life. The primary reason for this is that employees are forced to work for long hours as the employers choose to decrease their workforce. In fact, the law-maker has brought various restrictions regarding overtime in order to protect the employee. One of the main restrictions is the obligation imposed which requires employers to get the consent of the employees regarding overtime at the start of every year. By giving such consent the employees could end up working 270 (two hundred seventy hours) every year, waiving their right to overtime.

With the amendment made, it will no longer be necessary for the employers to get consent for overtime from the employees at the start of every year. From now on it will be sufficient for employees to give their consent for overtime under their employment contract that they will be signing before starting work. The new version of the amended article 3 of the Regulation says:

“The employer who requires overtime will obtain the consent of the employee at the time the employment contract is being signed or whenever such a requirement arises and this shall be kept under the personal file of the employee. Employee who does not want to work overtime or do extra work may withdraw his/her consent by sending a written notice to the employer in writing”

As it is clear from the article, the employer will be entitled to get consent of the employee under the employment contract and/or before any overtime work and the employee will be able to withdraw his/her consent by sending a written notice to the employer 30 (thirty) days in advance. In regards to withdrawing the consent already given, it will be difficult to say that this will be possible in practice considering the cold facts about the work life. When we predicate on the unemployment rate of our country, we can say that any employee who refuses to work overtime and who gives an unfavorable response on this issue during signing of the employment contract shall probably not be recruited. This type of consents given in advance by the employee is in fact mandatory consents that the employee has to give in order to be recruited. The crucial problem that this amendment shall arise will be that “the employers may lay off the employees who abstain from working overtime, by putting forward various justifications and they will try to prove the otherwise”.

Yazar : Gulel Hukuk