Employment Law Series · 2 of 8
Textile production fluctuates with orders, delivery deadlines and export seasons. These pressures do not remove statutory limits. Clear scheduling, accurate records and correct pay calculations protect employees and employers.
1. Normal hours, breaks and weekly rest
Normal weekly work generally cannot exceed forty-five hours under Labour Law No. 4857. Unless otherwise agreed, hours are divided equally between working days. Daily work cannot exceed eleven hours. Night work in ordinary textile production is generally limited to seven and a half hours; sector-specific exceptions elsewhere do not automatically apply to a textile workshop.
Article 68 provides minimum breaks: fifteen minutes for up to four hours; thirty minutes for more than four and up to seven and a half hours; and one hour for longer work. Genuine breaks are excluded from working time. Breaks are normally uninterrupted, but agreed division is permitted in specified circumstances. Calling time a break does not make work or time at the employer's disposal genuine rest.
Article 46 provides at least twenty-four consecutive hours of paid weekly rest within seven days, subject to its working-day conditions and periods legally treated as worked. Weekly-rest and public-holiday work require separate analysis.
2. Two premium rates
- Overtime: work exceeding forty-five weekly hours generally attracts the normal hourly rate increased by 50%.
- Additional hours: where contractual normal hours are below forty-five, hours above that duration but not exceeding forty-five generally attract a 25% increase.
Daily and night limits and special rules also matter. An average below forty-five does not permit exceeding a daily ceiling. The regulation prohibits overtime and additional hours for part-time employees; the 25% rule is not a general permission to increase their hours.
3. Consent and annual limits
The ordinary annual overtime ceiling is 270 hours per employee. Consent cannot authorise exceeding it. Unlawful work actually performed does not become unpaid because a limit was exceeded. Compulsory and extraordinary overtime have distinct provisions.
Written consent is obtained when the contract is made or the need arises and retained in the personnel file. Annual renewal at the beginning of every year is no longer required. The employee may withdraw consent by giving written notice thirty days in advance. Article 9 of the Overtime Regulation separately excepts compulsory and extraordinary circumstances. Consent does not override worker-specific or task-specific prohibitions.
4. Balancing working time
Article 63 allows uneven distribution by written agreement, within the daily eleven-hour limit. Over the ordinary two-month balancing period, average weekly hours must not exceed normal weekly hours. A collective labour agreement can extend the period to four months.
For example, properly scheduled fifty-five-hour and thirty-five-hour weeks may average forty-five when correctly weighted over a valid period. This does not automatically eliminate overtime: contractual normal hours, daily and night limits, breaks, weekly rest and all conditions must be satisfied. The employer cannot retrospectively label overtime as balancing without a valid arrangement.
5. Time off instead of premium pay
At the employee's written request, each overtime hour may be replaced by one hour and thirty minutes off; each qualifying additional hour by one hour and fifteen minutes. The employee uses the time within six months without wage reduction, on working days and not statutory or contractual holidays or leave.
The employee gives written advance notice; the employer determines the start date according to work or workplace requirements. The time is used continuously under the regulation. The employer cannot unilaterally replace premium pay with leave, and the employee's choice does not make every requested date automatically binding.
6. Records, payroll and privacy
The employer must document overtime hours, retain the required signed record in the personnel file and show payments distinctly in payroll and wage statements. Attendance records, card entry data, shifts, production records and payment evidence can all matter. No recording system automatically proves the whole dispute.
Employees should keep lawful personal notes and correspondence and compare payroll entries with actual hours and payments. The effect of a signature, reservation, bank payment or witness evidence depends on the dispute and record. Without records, witnesses may matter but are not automatically the only or decisive proof.
Biometrics: fingerprint or facial-recognition attendance systems should not be presented as an ordinary compliance recommendation. The data-protection authority's 2026/921 decision and clarification treat processing solely for attendance as lacking the required legal basis and proportionality, even with valid explicit consent. Separate critical-security purposes require individual analysis. Use proportionate lawful alternatives such as cards and attendance records.
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Official sources
Ministry of Labour legislation: Labour Law Articles 41, 46, 63, 68–69 and Working Time Regulation. Overtime Regulation: Articles 3–10. Data-protection authority clarification.
Reviewed on 27 October 2026. General information about Turkish law. Actual schedules, wage records and exceptions require individual review. Turkish statutory texts govern.