Unpaid leave in Türkiye: statutory cases, social security and timesheets

What is unpaid leave and where is it regulated?

Unpaid leave is leave during which the contract is suspended, the employee stays away from work and the employer pays no wage for those days. Labour Law No. 4857 has no general “unpaid leave” article: it makes unpaid leave mandatory only for travel days and a few birth-related cases, and leaves every other unpaid leave to agreement between the parties.

This guide covers private-sector employees under the Labour Law. Civil servants’ leave without pay is governed by a separate law and is not covered here. The statutory paid excuse leaves (marriage, bereavement, paternity) are not unpaid; we cover them in the compassionate leave guide.

Unpaid leave the law makes mandatory

The Labour Law obliges the employer to grant unpaid leave in four situations: travel days attached to annual leave, six months of leave after birth, half-time work after birth and leave for foster parents. In these cases the employee requests the leave; if the conditions are met, the employer cannot refuse.

Source: Labour Law No. 4857 art. 56 and art. 74 (current text including the amendments of Law No. 7578 of 22/4/2026). Under that amendment maternity leave is 8 weeks before and 16 weeks after birth, 24 weeks in total.

Older sources say the six-month leave starts “after the 16-week period”. Since the 2026 amendment that period is 24 weeks; do not rely on undated lists.

Half-time work is a form of partial unpaid leave: the employee works half the weekly hours and is not paid for the other half. Separately, after maternity leave one parent may ask for part-time work until the child reaches compulsory primary school age, and the employer must meet the request (art. 13). These are two different rights.

Agreed unpaid leave: what happens depending on who asks?

Every unpaid leave not listed in the law rests on agreement. If the employee asks, the employer does not have to accept; if the employer proposes it, the employee’s written acceptance should be obtained, because waiting without pay may amount to a fundamental change in working conditions.

• If the employee asks. For moving house, a long course of treatment, education or family matters, the employee may ask for unpaid leave. If the employer agrees, the length, start date and return date are set out in writing.
• If the employer proposes it. The Labour Law says a fundamental change in working conditions can only be made by written notice and does not bind the employee unless accepted in writing within six working days (art. 22). A unilateral “sending on unpaid leave” is therefore not a safe route.
• Length. The law sets no upper limit for agreed unpaid leave, but the longer it lasts, the larger the social security and annual leave effects (below).

Unpaid leave and SGK contributions: missing days and health cover

No wage is paid for unpaid leave days, so no contribution is paid either: the employer reports fewer contribution days for the month, equal to the unpaid days, and states the reason. The supporting document is not sent to SGK; it is kept at the workplace and shown within fifteen days if requested.

• Contribution days. For an insured employee on unpaid leave for some days of the month and not paid for those days, contribution days are the days in the month minus the unpaid days (Social Insurance Procedures Regulation art. 100/3).
• Missing-day reporting. The monthly contribution and service document states the number of missing days and the reason (art. 102/1-e).
• Document. The documents proving missing work include “a leave document signed by the insured person and the employer proving unpaid leave”. It is drawn up in the month concerned but not sent to SGK; if SGK asks and it is not produced within fifteen days, it is treated as invalid (art. 102/13).
• General health insurance. Apart from unpaid leave listed in the law (such as travel days and birth-related leave), during unpaid leave not exceeding one month in total in a calendar year and documented by the employer, the employee’s general health insurance continues (Law No. 5510 art. 67).

Example. An employee who takes 6 days of agreed unpaid leave in April (30 days) and is paid for the remaining days has 30 − 6 = 24 contribution days and 6 missing days. If the same employee takes another 4 weeks of unpaid leave in the year, the annual total becomes 6 + 28 = 34 days and exceeds the one-month limit; assess health cover with your payroll adviser in advance.

For an employee receiving the half-time work allowance, the official document showing the allowance is also listed among the missing-work documents (art. 102/13-i). The conditions of that allowance are outside the scope of this guide.

How does unpaid leave affect annual leave and the weekly rest day?

Unpaid leave cannot be deducted from annual leave. Its effect on the annual leave entitlement depends on the type: the six-month unpaid leave after birth is expressly excluded from the calculation, while other leave granted by the employer counts as time worked.

• No set-off. Other paid and unpaid leave granted by the employer during the year cannot be set off against annual leave (art. 56). Unpaid leave days are not deducted from the annual leave balance without the employee’s consent.
• Six-month leave after birth. Under art. 74 this period is not taken into account in calculating paid annual leave entitlement.
• Other leave. Art. 55/j counts “other leave granted by the employer” as time worked for annual leave. Art. 54, however, says that where attendance is interrupted for reasons other than those in art. 55, the end of the service year is postponed. The text does not say clearly which rule covers a long unpaid leave taken at the employee’s own request; the reading in the employee’s favour is to count it as time worked. Set your company policy in writing.
• Weekly rest day. Other leave granted by the employer within a one-week period counts as days worked for the weekly rest-day pay (art. 46). For unpaid leave longer than a week, the pay for the rest day should be assessed separately.

We explain the annual leave entitlement step by step in the annual leave calculation guide.

How is unpaid leave shown on the timesheet?

Unpaid leave is marked on the timesheet day by day with its own code, separate from absence, sick leave and paid leave. At month end that count sets both the days deducted from pay and the missing days reported to SGK; if everything goes under one code, both come out wrong.

Code names are examples; the law sets no timesheet codes. What matters is that each type is kept separately and its document is drawn up in the same month.

Returning from unpaid leave: what if the period ends?

When unpaid leave ends, the contract continues where it left off and the employee returns on the date in the document. An employee who does not return on that date is no longer on unpaid leave and the situation is assessed as absence; if the leave is to be extended, that too should be done in writing.

• Extension. If the employee wants more time, a new written document is drawn up. An oral extension later leads to disputes between “on leave” and “did not come”.
• Early return. For agreed leave, early return is by agreement; for statutory leave (such as the six months after birth) the length depends on the employee’s request, so the employee may wish to return early.
• Not returning. Failing to come to work without permission or good reason for two consecutive working days, twice in a month on the working day after a holiday, or three working days in a month is a ground for termination without notice (art. 25/II-g). The return date should therefore be clear in the document.
• Returning after birth-related leave. After maternity leave and the six-month unpaid leave, one parent may ask for part-time work (art. 13); the request is assessed on return.

Common mistakes

Most unpaid leave mistakes come from missing documents and records, not from not knowing the law: leave is granted orally and remembered at month end. The six below are the most common and the easiest to prevent.

• Granting leave orally and having the document signed retroactively at month end.
• Deducting unpaid leave days from the annual leave balance without the employee’s consent.
• Marking unpaid leave, sick leave and absence on the timesheet with the same “did not come” code.
• Not telling the employee in advance about health cover when unpaid leave exceeds one month in total in a year.
• Using the old 16 weeks instead of the current 24-week maternity period for the six-month leave after birth.
• Applying an employer-initiated “unpaid leave” without the employee’s written acceptance.

What should an unpaid leave document say?

An unpaid leave document is a short paper, signed by the employee and the employer, showing at whose request, between which dates and on what basis the leave is granted. The minimum SGK looks for is the signature of both parties and a clear statement that the leave is unpaid.

• The employee’s full name and personnel details
• Type of leave: statutory (art. 56 travel days, art. 74 after birth) or agreed
• Who asked for it and the date of the request
• Start and end dates, return date
• The statement “no wage will be paid for this period”
• Signatures of the employee and the employer (or an authorised person)

In our workforce management software, unpaid leave, sick, maternity, marriage, paternity and bereavement leave are separate leave types. The employee opens the request from their own phone and the manager approves it; approved leave is posted to the timesheet and the leave balance automatically, and leave days are counted separately on the timesheet. At month end the approved timesheet goes to your payroll adviser as CSV and PDF; the SGK filing is done in your adviser’s own software. Details: workforce management software.

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