COUNCIL OF EUROPE

17th BIENNIAL REPORT

 OF REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

ON THE

EUROPEAN CODE OF SOCIAL SECURITY

(ARTICLE 76 – PARTS NOT SPECIFIED

 IN THE RATIFICATION OF THE CODE

 OR IN A NOTIFICATION MADE SUBSEQUENTLY)

STRASBOURG

REPORT

For the period from 01 July 2014 to 20 June 2016 made by the Government of the Republic of Turkey in accordance with Article 76 of the European Code on Social Security on the position of national law and practice in regard to the matters dealth with Part of the European Code of Social Security which have not been specified in the ratification of the Code or in a subsequent notification.

Republic of Turkey has not ratified Family Benefits which appears under part VII and Unemployment Benefits under part IV of the European Social Security Code.

Part IV – Unemployment benefit

As far as unemployment benefits are concerned, a system of compulsory unemployment insurance has been put in place as of 01 June 2000.

the unemployment insurance is defined as the compulsory insurance which averts any possible plight of the insured and family members, and which partially meets the income loss of those who have lost their jobs without their own will and fault, although they possess the will, the capacity, the health and the sufficiency required by the job. The unemployment insurance operates upon insurance technique and is established by the State. The legal regulation for unemployment insurance has been enacted through the Law on Unemployment Insurance No 4447 published on the Official Gazette No 23810 dated 08 September 1999.

 

The Unemployment Insurance being compulsory for all the insured covered by unemployment insurance,  the implementation of the Law started on 1 June 2000 and the first unemployment allowance to be granted was granted on March 2002.

For unemployment insurance allowances to be granted, an unemployment insurance fund based on Article 53 of the said Law has been set up and  Social Security Institution has been assigned responsible, authorized and  tasked for collecting insurance premiums and Turkish Employment Agency for all other services and proceedings.

Part VII : Family Benefit

No legal regulation concerning Family Benefits has been undertaken so far. Nevertheless, the active insured (contributors) under the Law on State Retirement Fund of the Republic of Turkey No 5434 are granted family benefit allowances by the agency/institution they worked for by virtue of the Law on Civil Servants No  657.

Article 39

            The part “Family Benefits” of the Code has not been ratified by our country.

Article 40

            The civil servants insured under Clause (c) of Paragraph 1 of Article 4 of the Law on Social Insurance And Universal Health Insurance No 5510, are granted family benefit allowances by the agency/institution they worked for by virtue of the other personnel-related Laws affiliated to the Law on Civil Servants No 657.

            By virtue of the Law on Civil Servants No 657 , civil servants’ beneficiaries of family benefits are;

-          their spouse who doesn’t work in return for any reward by any means  and doesn’t receive earnings from any social security institution,

-          their children regardless of their number, (their step-children included).

1.      Scope    

Article 41

This article covers the civil servants (the active insured) insured under Clause (c) of  Paragraph 1 of  Article 4 of the Law on Social Insurance And Universal Health Insurance No 5510.

 The number by year-end of the people insured for family benefits for the reference years.

Years

Number of the insured under 4/1-c

2014

2.910.148

2015

3.032.971

(*)* Source : SSI Monthly Bulletin of Statistics (December 2015)

Unemployment insurance covers the insured defined in Clause (a) of Paragraph 1, and in Paragraph 2 of Article 4 of the Law on Social Security and Universal Health Insurance No 5510 and working on contract and the insured working on part-time working contract under Labour Law No 4857,  if they make a request within the scope of Paragraph 1 of Article 52 of the Law No 5510 and finally it covers the insured subject to the funds specified in the provisional Article 20 of the Law on Social Security No 506.

According to Social Security Institution’s data from February 2016, the number of active insured is approximately 20 million, while the number  of  people within the scope of unemployment insurance is approximately 14 million. Those who aren’t within the scope of unemployment insurance are civil servants and self-employed workers.

2.      Conditions of Eligibility For the Benefits

Article 42

Family benefit allowance is granted to married civil servants. Civil servants are eligible for the family benefits for the spouse as of the beginning of the month following his / her marriage and they are eligible for family benefits for children as of the beginning of the month following the respective birth of each child.

Article 43

There exists no qualifying waiting period for any family benefit allowances. Married civil servants, if they meet the eligibility requirements, are entitled to family benefit allowance for their spouse and children.

For a person to receive unemployment benefits;

-          Employment contract shall terminate without the person’s will or fault,

-          The person shall apply to the Agency in person or online within 30 days of the termination of employment contract (except the force majeure and report that he/she is ready for a job,

-          The person shall have paid unemployment benefit premiums for the last 120 days continuously before the termination of employment contract and paid unemployment benefit premiums for at least 600 days within the last three years.

Unemployment benefit is given in three categories for as many days as;

-          180 days to the insured unemployed who have worked 600 days as being insured and have paid unemployment insurance premiums,

-          240 days to the insured unemployed who have worked 900 days as being insured and have paid unemployment insurance premiums,

-          300 days to the insured unemployed who have worked 1080 days as being insured and have paid unemployment insurance premiums.

3.      Level of Benefits  

Daily unemployment insurance benefit is calculated as 40 % of daily average gross earning which is calculated in consideration of  earnings of the 1st 4 months taken as the basis for the premium. The sum of unemployment insurance allowance calculated as such may not exceed 80 % of the gross sum of monthly minimum wage.

Article 44

            Family benefit allowance is payable at an amount equated to the indicator digits 2134 for the spouse and 250 for each child multiplied by monthly coefficient provided for in the Law No 657.

            Family benefits for children fall into two different categories of amounts as for children younger than 6 and older (with doubled amount for the children in 0-6 age group including the 72-month-old ones)

Amounts of family benefits paid to the civil servants active in reference periods:

Period

Family Benefits for the Spouse (TL)

Family Benefits for the child younger than 6 (TL)

Family Benefits for the child older than 6 (TL)

01.07.2014 – 31.12.2014

164,31

38,50

19,25

01.01.2015 – 30.06.2015

169,24

39,66

19,83

01.07.2015 – 31.12.2015

177,30

41,54

20,77

01.01.2016 – 30.06.2016

189,54

44,4

22,20

Article 45

            Civil servants lose their right to family benefit allowance paid for the spouse in the event of divorce or decease.

            As to their right to family benefit allowance paid for the children; they lose their right when the child;

-          gets married,

-          turns 26 year old ( the allowance shall continue for those whose invalidity to work has been proven by an official report of a medical board and for the daughters who are not still married even after 25),

-          does business on his/her own account or works in return for reward of any kind with natural or unnatural persons,

-          receives scholars or free public education.

4.      Miscellaneous

a)         Objections from the insured and employers against proceedings related to the implementation practices of the unemployment insurance are to be submitted to Social Security Institution and Turkish Employment Agency. It is compulsory to submit the objection within the next 15 days following the notification date of the dismissal in question and  the fact that an objection has been submitted does not eliminate, by any means,  the rights to resort to jurisdiction.

b)        Unemployment insurance premium is collected from the insured at a rate of 1 %, from the employer at 2 % and as State subsidy at 1 %, all calculated using the monthly gross earning amount of the insured which is the basis for the premium provided for in the Articles 80 and 82 of the Law on Social Insurance And Universal Health Insurance No 5510.

c)         Unemployment insurance fund is inpected by State Audit Courts, Turkish Employment Agency inspectors, Social Security Institution inspectors and independent financial auditors.

The fund formed by these premiums, is administered in accordance with decisions of the Board of Directors of Turkish Employment Agency which is responsible for evaluating fund resources within market conditions, ensuring income and expenditures to be audited and audit reports to be declared to the public. The Board of Directors consists of six members which are; General Director of ISKUR, representative from MoLSS, representative from Undersecretariat of Treasury, one member determined by the most representative labour confederation, one member determined by the most representative employer’s confederation, one member determined by Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen.

Citizens may resort to jurisdiction about the procedures and practices related to the Unemployment Insurance resulted from the implementation by the administration.

III.   Legal Amendments Published in Reference Periods

No legal amendments have been put in place in the reference period.