OREANDA-NEWS The Turkish government has begun preparing legislative amendments to the Labor Code, which can reduce the length of the working week from 48 hours to 35-40. According to the Sabah newspaper, the authorities plan to combine the norms of labor laws that differ by sector and develop a comprehensive and unified regulation for the field of employment.

The Labor Law of 1936 fixed the standard of work - 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week. In 2003, the Labor Law was revised, the length of the work week was 45 hours. However, these standards are not universally applied due to the existence of separate regulations by sector. Thus, in the field of media and maritime labor law, the 48-hour work week norm remains, while in other sectors the 45-hour week rule applies. At the same time, it is possible to involve an employee in overtime work up to 270 hours per year.

The Government intends to unify the rules for all professional groups and introduce 35-40 working hours per week and a new overtime regulation as a norm. These changes are planned to be developed taking into account the current state of technology development, which makes it possible to reduce work time by increasing the efficiency of processes. In addition, it is planned to review some legal norms concerning the rights of employees, rules and amounts of bonuses, coefficients for overtime, social guarantees. It is noted that the revision of these rules will be done in the interests of employees.