Night work rules in Türkiye: the 7.5-hour limit, night shifts and exceptions

What is night? The 20:00–06:00 period

In working life, “night” is the period starting at 20:00 at the latest and lasting until 06:00 at the earliest, and in any case no longer than 11 hours (art. 69). The law also allows the period to be set differently for some jobs or regions by regulation.

How long can night work be?

Night work may not exceed 7.5 hours (art. 69). What is measured is net work: since breaks are not working time (art. 68), a 22:00–06:00 shift with a 30-minute break is exactly 7.5 hours of night work.

Exception. In tourism, private security, health services and petroleum exploration and drilling under Turkish Petroleum Law No. 6491, night work above 7.5 hours is allowed provided the employee’s written consent is obtained. The exception applies only to these sectors and only with written consent.

Which shift counts as a night shift?

Under art. 7 of the Regulation on Special Procedures for Work Carried Out in Shifts, work in a shift more than half of which falls in the night period counts as night work. The Court of Cassation also treated an entire 20:00–08:00 shift as night work (9th Civil Chamber, 2016/36126 E., 2020/17967 K.).

A shift with exactly half in the night period is not a night shift, because the regulation says “more than half”.

The overtime ban on night shifts

Overtime may not be worked in night work (art. 41). The ban is absolute: the tourism, security and health exception in art. 69 concerns the length of night work and does not lift the overtime ban. If a night shift has to run longer, the answer is an extra shift or more staff.

Rotation and 11 hours of rest

• One week nights, one week days. Where work runs day and night, an employee on nights for one working week moves to days the following working week. A two-week rotation may also be used (art. 69).
• 11 hours at a shift change. An employee changing shift may not work the other shift without at least 11 consecutive hours of rest (art. 69).
• Under 18. Night work by workers under 18 is prohibited in industrial work (art. 73).

Our shift scheduling software identifies night shifts with this test: it warns when night work exceeds 7.5 hours, stops overtime requests on night shifts at the request stage and measures the 11-hour rest at shift changes. Details: shift scheduling.

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