From 1 January 2018, Turkey's Ministry of Family and Social Policies ("Ministry") will cover employers' share of insurance premiums for one year, provided certain conditions are met. The new scheme encourages private sector employers to hire people who were previously registered as unemployed.

Turkey has introduced new principles and procedures for insurance premium support provided to beneficiaries of regular cash social aid programs by Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations.

The employee must meet the following criteria:

  • Live in a residence with at least one person who received regular cash social aid for one year before the employee began work.
  • Receive a per person income amounting to less than one third of the minimum wage, once the monthly income is split among the employee's nuclear family.
  • Be previously registered as unemployed with the Turkish Employment Agency.
  • Be hired by an employer in the private sector, on or after 26 April 2016.

The employer must meet the following criteria:

  • Work in the private sector.
  • Employ the individual as an additional employee to the average number of employees which were registered with the Institution in the calendar year before the employee's first date of employment.
  • Submit monthly premium and employment documents to the Institution by the relevant deadline.
  • Pay accrued insurance premiums by the relevant deadline.
  • Have no unpaid insurance premium, unemployment insurance premium, administrative fine, or default interest.
  • Register all employees with the Institution.

Employers will still be able to receive this support if unpaid insurance premiums, unemployment insurance premiums, administrative fines, or default interest are postponed and bound to an instalment plan (Article 48 of the Law on Collection Procedure of Public Receivables No. 6183) or are restructured (for example, under Law No. 6736 or Law No. 7020).

Please see this link for the full text of the Regulation on Employment of Social Aid Beneficiaries published by the Ministry in the Official Gazette numbered 30104 on 22 June 2017 (only available in Turkish).

Information first published in the  MA | Gazette, a fortnightly legal update newsletter produced by Moroğlu Arseven.

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