Turkey Labor Law and Policy Update (2025): Practical Guidance for Employers and HR

This briefing summarizes the most relevant labor-law trends and policy interpretations in Turkey for 2025, and gives step-by-step operational guidance and practical precautions for employers, HR teams, and foreign investors. It draws on long-standing Turkish legal principles (Labor Law No. 4857, Social Security rules, court practice, and administrative guidance) and recent policy emphasis areas that the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has prioritized into 2025.

Key 2025 Focus Areas

• Wage and social security adjustments: Annual minimum-wage revisions and updated employer contribution guidance remain central; employers must check the official minimum wage and SGK contribution tables each January and after any special emergency revisions.
• Remote and flexible work: Post-pandemic regulatory guidance continues to refine employer duties on remote working arrangements, workplace risk assessments, and reimbursement policies.
• Gig economy and independent contractors: Enforcement activity targeting misclassification has increased—administrative fines and reclassification claims are a priority for inspectors.
• Occupational Health & Safety (OHS): Inspectorial enforcement and employer OHS responsibilities have stayed high on the agenda, with stricter follow-up on training, risk assessments and recordkeeping.
• Foreign workers and work permits: Processing standards and digitalization of permit workflows are evolving—employers should use updated e-services to avoid delays.
• Collective bargaining and dispute resolution: Sectoral negotiations and procedural clarifications from labour courts have shaped dismissal and severance disputes.

Concrete Operational Steps (Step-by-step)

1. Review and update contracts: Ensure all employment contracts are in Turkish (official language requirement), reflect the correct job classification, working time, salary components, overtime rules, and probation limits. Add clear remote-work annexes where applicable.
2. Confirm payroll and social security calculations: Recalculate payroll to reflect the 2025 minimum wage and applicable SGK and tax rates. Use official SGK and tax authority tables; document employer contributions and withholdings per pay period.
3. Classify workers correctly: Evaluate each relationship against control, continuity and economic dependency criteria. If a worker is misclassified as a contractor, prepare remediation steps (convert to payroll, pay retroactive contributions, negotiate releases where appropriate).
4. Strengthen OHS compliance: Update risk assessments, schedule trainings, keep OHS records and medical surveillance logs. For workplaces with higher risk profiles, assign or contract certified OHS professionals and document follow-ups.
5. Follow dismissal and severance procedure: For terminations, follow statutory notice periods, severance pay calculations, written warnings and disciplinary procedures. For collective redundancies, follow notification rules to authorities and the union, and consult procedural thresholds.
6. Use e-government channels: File SGK declarations, İŞKUR registrations (unemployment support), and work permit applications through the platforms required by authorities to reduce processing errors.
7. Prepare for inspections and litigation: Maintain organized personnel files, signed contracts, time and wage records, OHS logs, and internal investigation reports to respond quickly to labour inspections or court claims.

Notes (Precautions and Practical Tips)

• Language and documentation: Contracts and core workplace notices must be available in Turkish; untranslated agreements are weaker in enforcement contexts.
• Fixed-term contracts: Avoid abusive sequential fixed-term renewals. Turkish courts may recharacterize repeated fixed-term contracts as open-ended, exposing employers to severance liabilities.
• Probation periods and dismissals: Stay within statutory maximum probation lengths and document performance management steps if dismissal for cause is contemplated.
• Data protection (KVKK): When processing employee personal data (biometrics, health records, CCTV), comply with Turkish Data Protection Law requirements—obtain lawful grounds, inform employees, and secure data appropriately.
• Collective rights: Respect union and collective bargaining procedures; improper interference or collective dismissal without consultation can trigger sanctions and reinstatement orders.
• Record retention: Keep payroll, time records, and employment files for statutory periods—these documents are critical in administrative inspections and labour court claims.

Enforcement and Dispute Handling — Practical Examples

Example 1 — Misclassification claim: A mid-sized logistics company that treated drivers as independent contractors faced an SGK audit and was required to pay back contributions plus penalties. Proactive audit and reclassification can mitigate costs.

Example 2 — OHS enforcement: A manufacturing employer that lacked up-to-date risk assessments received a labour inspectorate notice. After corrective measures and documentation of training, fines were reduced—showing the value of rapid remediation and recorded evidence.

Example 3 — Termination dispute: An employee dismissed without proper written warnings took the case to the labour court and obtained compensation based on procedural defects; thorough disciplinary records and follow-up could have limited exposure.

Practical checklist before key actions

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Next steps and compliance monitoring

Keep monitoring the Ministry of Labor & Social Security announcements, SGK circulars, and recent labour-court decisions. Periodic internal audits (quarterly or semi-annually) focused on payroll, classification and OHS will reduce exposure. For cross-border employers, coordinate with Turkish counsel to ensure that localized practice and recent interpretations are applied correctly.

Disclaimer: This article provides practical guidance and illustrative examples, not legal advice. For binding legal interpretation tailored to a specific situation, consult local labour-law counsel or an HR compliance specialist in Turkey.