Turkey’s annual leave framework is distinctive in two ways that catch international employers off guard. First, the entitlement scales with seniority across three tiers — 14, 20, and 26 days — rather than staying fixed throughout an employee’s career. Second, the law requires an annual leave premium: an additional payment equal to the employee’s normal wages for each day of leave taken, on top of the wages they receive during that period. Under Labour Law No. 4857 and the Annual Leave Regulation, these obligations apply to the full private sector. For companies managing cross-border teams, understanding Turkey alongside markets like the UAE, Germany, and Greece is essential for consistent, compliant HR operations.

This guide covers every element of the statutory entitlement, how the annual leave premium works in practice, eligibility requirements, employer obligations, and the pitfalls that most commonly lead to disputes.

Key Takeaways

Labour Law No. 4857 entitles employees to 14 days of paid annual leave after less than five years of service, 20 days after five to fifteen years, and 26 days after more than fifteen years.
Employees under 18 or over 50 years old are entitled to a minimum of 20 days regardless of their seniority tier.
Employees must complete at least one full year of service, including any probation period, before they are entitled to paid annual leave.
Turkish law requires an annual leave premium — an additional payment equal to normal wages for each day of leave — on top of the wages paid while the employee is on leave.
Unused annual leave must be paid out on termination of employment.

The Statutory Entitlement

Articles 53 to 60 of Labour Law No. 4857 and the Annual Leave Regulation establish the leave framework for private-sector employees in Turkey. The entitlement is structured as a seniority ladder:

Years of Service	Annual Leave Entitlement
Less than 5 years	14 working days
5 to 15 years	20 working days
More than 15 years	26 working days

These are working days, not calendar days. Public holidays and rest days do not count against the annual leave quota.

Age-Based Minimum

Turkey adds an important age-related floor to the seniority ladder. Employees who are under 18 years old or over 50 years old are entitled to at least 20 working days of annual leave, regardless of where they fall on the seniority scale. In practice, this means:

A 52-year-old employee with three years of service (who would ordinarily receive 14 days) is entitled to 20 days.
A 17-year-old with two years of service is also entitled to 20 days.

Employers managing multi-generational workforces need to track employee ages alongside tenure to apply the correct entitlement. Comparing Turkey’s approach to peer markets — such as Greece, which uses a different seniority model, or Germany, which sets a statutory floor but allows sector-level enhancements — shows just how varied leave frameworks can be across European and Mediterranean markets.

The Annual Leave Premium

The annual leave premium is one of the most distinctive features of Turkish employment law, and the one most commonly overlooked by international employers entering the market.

Under Labour Law No. 4857, employers are required to make an additional payment equal to the employee’s normal wages for each working day of annual leave. This is separate from, and in addition to, the wages the employee earns during the leave period itself.

To illustrate: if an employee’s daily wage is 500 Turkish lira and they take 14 days of annual leave, the employer must pay:

14 days × 500 TRY in normal wages during the leave period (the employee is not working, so they receive their standard pay), plus
14 days × 500 TRY as the annual leave premium, paid in a lump sum before the leave begins.

The total cost of that leave period to the employer is therefore double the employee’s normal leave-period wages. The premium must be paid before the employee departs on leave, not after their return.

This requirement has no close equivalent in most Western European jurisdictions. Employers benchmarking Turkey against Germany or the UAE — where leave pay is calculated at normal or basic wages without an additional premium — will find the Turkish obligation materially more expensive to administer.

Eligibility

The annual leave entitlement under Labour Law No. 4857 applies to employees who have completed at least one year of continuous service with the same employer. The one-year qualifying period includes the probation period, so time spent on probation counts toward eligibility.

Employees who have not yet completed one year of service are not entitled to paid annual leave under the statute. They may, however, be entitled to pro-rated or contractual arrangements depending on what the employment agreement provides — though this is not a statutory requirement.

Once the one-year threshold is passed, the employee’s leave entitlement is determined by their total years of service with that employer, applying the seniority ladder set out above.

Employer Obligations

Labour Law No. 4857 places a set of clear, non-negotiable obligations on employers managing annual leave in Turkey.

Grant the statutory minimum leave. Employers must provide annual leave of at least 14, 20, or 26 working days per year, depending on the employee’s seniority, and at least 20 days for employees under 18 or over 50.
Pay normal wages during annual leave. Employees continue to receive their standard wages for every working day of annual leave. Annual leave is a paid entitlement, not unpaid time off.
Pay the annual leave premium. Before the employee begins their annual leave, the employer must pay the annual leave premium — an additional sum equal to the employee’s normal wages for each day of leave. This is not optional and cannot be waived by agreement.
Pay out unused annual leave on termination. If the employment relationship ends before the employee has taken all accrued annual leave, the employer must compensate the employee for those unused days at the employee’s wage rate.
Not require the employee to work during annual leave. During approved annual leave, the employer cannot require the employee to attend work, perform tasks, or remain reachable in a way that constitutes work. Annual leave must be genuine rest time.

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Common Pitfalls

Even experienced HR teams encounter compliance gaps when managing Turkish employees for the first time. The two most frequent errors are:

Not paying the annual leave premium. Many international employers are used to paying employees only their normal wages during leave, with no additional premium. In Turkey, failing to pay the premium is a breach of the Labour Law. The employee has a statutory right to claim the unpaid premium, and labour inspectors treat this as a straightforward violation.

Not adjusting leave for age. The standard seniority ladder (14 / 20 / 26 days) leads employers to focus solely on years of service. The age-based floor of 20 days for employees under 18 or over 50 is a separate, overlapping rule that must be applied in every case. An employee who hits their 50th birthday mid-year may need a leave adjustment if their seniority tier would otherwise give them fewer than 20 days.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does an employee become entitled to annual leave in Turkey?

An employee becomes entitled to paid annual leave after completing one full year of continuous service with the same employer. The probation period counts toward this qualifying year. Employees who have not yet completed one year of service have no statutory entitlement to paid annual leave.

How many days of annual leave is an employee entitled to?

The entitlement depends on years of service: 14 working days for less than five years, 20 working days for five to fifteen years, and 26 working days for more than fifteen years. Employees who are under 18 or over 50 years old receive a minimum of 20 working days regardless of their seniority tier.

What is the annual leave premium and when must it be paid?

The annual leave premium is an additional payment equal to the employee’s normal wages for each day of annual leave. It is paid on top of, and separately from, the wages the employee receives during the leave period. The premium must be paid to the employee before they begin their annual leave, not after they return.

Does unused annual leave carry over or expire?

Turkish law does not set a blanket expiry for unused annual leave within the employment relationship. However, on termination of employment — whether by resignation, dismissal, or mutual agreement — the employer must pay out all accrued and unused annual leave at the employee’s prevailing wage rate. Employees cannot waive this right.

Are public holidays deducted from annual leave?

No. Public holidays are separate from the annual leave entitlement under Labour Law No. 4857. If a public holiday falls during a scheduled annual leave period, it does not reduce the number of annual leave days consumed. The employee’s leave day count is unaffected by the intervening holiday.

Do the same rules apply to all private-sector employees?

Labour Law No. 4857 applies broadly to private-sector employment relationships in Turkey. Some specific categories of workers — such as certain maritime workers and domestic workers — may be covered under separate frameworks. For most office, retail, and industrial employees, the Labour Law provisions described in this guide apply in full.

How Leave Balance Helps

Tracking a seniority-based leave ladder, applying age-based minimums, calculating the annual leave premium, and managing payouts on termination are all tasks that compound in complexity as your team grows. Leave Balance is built to handle exactly this kind of multi-rule, multi-country leave management — at a flat rate of $10 per month, with no per-employee fees.

With Leave Balance, you can configure leave policies that reflect Turkey’s seniority tiers and age-based floors, track accruals in real time, and give employees visibility into their entitlements without manual spreadsheet reconciliation. HR teams managing employees across Turkey, the UAE, Greece, and Germany can run consistent approval workflows from a single platform rather than maintaining separate processes for each jurisdiction.