Obligations Regarding the Timing of Annual Leave Pay and the Calculation of Annual Leave Periods
Article 57 of Labour Code No. 4857 obliges the employer to pay each employee using their annual paid leave the wages corresponding to the leave period, either in advance or as an advance payment, before the employee begins the leave. The same obligation is set out in Article 21 of the Annual Paid Leave Regulation.
The term "advance payment" here refers to a timing obligation that is independent of whether the amount is correctly calculated. For example, an employee earning a net monthly wage of TRY 40,000 who takes 14 days of annual leave from 15 to 29 June must receive the wages corresponding to that period (calculated on a daily-wage basis) before the leave begins — that is, by 14 June at the latest. If the employer instead pays this amount during the regular end-of-month payroll cycle, the amount and accuracy of the payment may be beyond dispute, but a breach of timing under the law still occurs.
The legal nature of this obligation is absolute and mandatory; in other words, it is not conditional on the employee having separately requested advance payment. The absence of a statement such as "I request that my leave pay be made in advance" on the employee's leave request form does not exempt the employer from this obligation. Likewise, the fact that an employee may have used more leave days than their seniority entitles them to does not eliminate the obligation to pay on time — these are two independent matters: one concerns the amount of leave, the other concerns the timing of payment.
The consequence of breaching this obligation is significant: an employee whose leave pay is not paid before the leave begins may terminate the employment contract for just cause under Article 24/II-(e) and (f) of Labour Code No. 4857 and become entitled to severance pay. This outcome is not affected by the payment subsequently being made in full and accurately (for example, a few days after the employee returns from leave); the breach occurred in the timing of the payment and cannot be cured retroactively.
Practical point to note: Maintaining a record stating merely that "wages were paid" during the leave approval process is not sufficient. Documented evidence with a date showing that payment was made before the leave start date (bank transfer/EFT date, a separate advance payroll record, a hand-payment receipt) should be prepared and retained. Otherwise, even if the employer has in fact made the payment, it may be unable to prove that it did so on time.
CALCULATION OF THE LEAVE PERIOD: WEEKLY REST DAYS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
Article 56/5 of Labour Code No. 4857 expressly provides that weekly rest days, national holidays, and general holidays falling within the annual leave period cannot be counted as part of the leave period. This provision is a point that is frequently overlooked when preparing leave schedules and often develops into a serious wage dispute later on.
To illustrate with a concrete example: suppose an employee is entitled to a total of 28 days of annual leave based on seniority, and the employer schedules this leave as consecutive calendar days (for instance, from 1 to 28 June, including weekends, as a single block). If this 28-day calendar span includes a total of 4 weekly rest days (4 weekend days, in a workplace where Saturday and Sunday are rest days), the employee has, in reality, only used 24 working days of leave. The remaining 4 days, since they should never have been deducted from the leave calculation, remain as a leave balance the employee has not used and is still entitled to.
In practice, this situation typically arises as follows: the employer assumes "I gave the employee 28 days of leave, the matter is closed" and keeps the leave record on that basis. When the employment contract ends, the employee reviews the leave days actually used, calculates how many weekly rest days or public holidays fell within that span, and claims payment for the corresponding outstanding leave days. Because Article 56/5 is explicit, such claims are generally upheld; the manner in which the contract ended (resignation, termination for just cause, or unjust termination) has no bearing on this outcome — what matters is whether the leave entitlement was actually and correctly granted.
The same logic applies to national holidays and general holidays: for example, if a public holiday such as 19 May falls in the middle of a leave period, that day likewise should not be deducted from the leave calculation.
Practical point to note: When preparing a leave schedule, it is not sufficient merely to state "from date X to date Y." It must also be verified separately that the number of actual working days within that span equals the number of leave days the employee is entitled to use. Whether Saturday is treated as a weekly rest day or as a working day at the relevant workplace also has a direct bearing on this calculation; this matter should be clearly established by the employment contract or workplace practice.
BURDEN OF PROOF
A common and decisive factor in both matters above is that the burden of proof rests with the employer. The employer must prove — by means of a leave register bearing the employee's signature, a leave approval form, or an equivalent document — both that the leave pay was made before the leave began and that the leave period was granted based on the correct number of days (excluding weekly rest days and public holidays). If the employer cannot provide such proof, a court may rule in favor of the employee's claim regarding outstanding leave pay.
For instance, in the 28-day leave example above, if the employer's only record simply states "on leave from 1 to 28 June" without breaking down how many of those days were working days versus weekly rest days, this gap may be interpreted against the employer in the event of a dispute.
ADMINISTRATIVE FINES
Pursuant to Article 103 of Labour Code No. 4857, the following administrative fines apply per employee for the year 2026 in case of breach of the obligations described above:
| Act | 2026 Administrative Fine |
|---|---|
| Illegally dividing annual paid leave | TRY 4,815 (per employee) |
| Failing to pay or underpaying annual leave wages in violation of the law | TRY 4,815 (per employee) |
| Failing to pay annual leave wages to an employee whose contract has ended | TRY 4,815 (per employee) |
| Failing to grant leave, or granting insufficient leave, in violation of the Regulation | TRY 4,815 (per employee) |
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The two matters discussed above — timely payment of annual leave wages and correct calculation of the leave period excluding weekly rest days and public holidays — represent the areas of highest legal risk for employers in the administration of annual leave. Accordingly, we recommend the following:
- Adding a control step to the leave approval process to confirm that the payment date precedes the leave start date;
- Marking the weekly rest days and public holidays falling within each leave period on leave schedules, and excluding them from the total number of leave days granted;
- Maintaining leave records with the employee's signature on a regular basis and retaining them for at least 5 years following termination of the employment contract.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions on this matter.
