Lateness wage deductions in Türkiye: what can and cannot be docked

Pay for time not worked

Pay is the counterpart of work done. Since no work is done during the late period, that time need not be paid in practice; this is not a penalty but not paying for time not worked. The unit is minutes: an employee who is 45 minutes late cannot be docked more than 45 minutes’ pay.

Example. An employee with an hourly rate of 100 TL was late a total of 90 minutes in a month. The counterpart of unworked time is 1.5 × 100 = 150 TL. Docking more than that is a penalty and subject to the rules below.

The wage-deduction penalty: art. 38

Source: Turkish Labour Law No. 4857 art. 38. The money deducted does not stay with the employer.

For an employee with a gross monthly wage of 30,000 TL the daily wage is 1,000 TL in practice; the penalty that can be deducted in a month is at most 2,000 TL. If lateness is not written into the contract as a ground for the penalty, no penalty may be deducted; only the pay for time not worked may be withheld.

Grace period: how many minutes late is not late?

The law has no grace period for lateness; it is a workplace rule. In practice a few minutes are allowed for crowding at the door and recording delays. A written grace period applied equally to everyone prevents deductions that look arbitrary.

Repeated lateness and dismissal

Lateness on its own is not one of the immediate-termination grounds in art. 25; art. 25/II-g covers full-day absence. Frequent lateness that continues despite warnings can be grounds for a valid-reason dismissal assessment; for that, records of each late arrival and written warnings to the employee matter.

Records and objections

• The lateness record should come from the clock-in time, not a manual estimate.
• Employees should be able to see their own records and object to a wrong one.
• If a record is corrected, who corrected it, when and why should be stored.
• Any deduction should be approved in the timesheet before it reaches payroll.

In our time and attendance software a clock-in beyond the company’s grace period is marked “late”, and on repeated lateness a warning goes to the employee as well as the manager. The system does not calculate wage deductions or penalties; it passes the lateness time to the timesheet. Details: time and attendance.

This guide is for information only and is not legal or payroll advice. Your collective agreement or employment contract may contain more favourable terms.