When Does Maternity Leave Begin??

Under Article 74 of the Labor Law, female employees are, as a rule, not permitted to work for a total of 16 weeks: 8 weeks before and 8 weeks after childbirth. In cases of multiple pregnancy, two additional weeks are added to the 8-week pre-birth period. The pre-birth leave generally begins automatically at the start of the 8-week (or 10-week, for multiple pregnancies) period calculated backward from the expected delivery date.

If a physician certifies that her health condition permits it and the employee requests it, she may continue working until up to 3 weeks before delivery. In that case, the unused portion is added to the post-birth leave. In unforeseen situations such as premature birth, any pre-birth period that could not be used is likewise added to the post-birth leave, which is why the actual date of delivery is decisive in calculating the applicable periods.

For a single pregnancy, total maternity leave is 16 weeks (112 days); for multiple pregnancies, the pre-birth portion is extended by 2 weeks, bringing the total to 18 weeks (126 days). These are minimum periods; where a physician deems it necessary, additional time may be granted before or after birth based on a medical report.

Can the Maternity Leave Period Be Extended?

Where health complications arise from pregnancy or childbirth, a physician may grant additional rest periods before or after the standard leave. Such extensions are separate from an employee's general sick leave and are based on a pregnancy- or birth-related medical report; because this can vary case by case, the current medical report should be relied upon.

Following the end of the 16-week (or 18-week, for multiple births) post-birth leave, a female employee may, provided the child is alive and she so requests, benefit from an additional period of half-time work. This period is 60 days after a first birth, 120 days after a second birth, and 180 days after subsequent births, with an additional 30 days for multiple births. During half-time work, an allowance may be provided by İŞKUR for the unworked portion, subject to certain conditions.

How Long Is Breastfeeding Leave?

Where the half-time work right is not used or has ended, the law provides a daily leave period for a female employee to breastfeed a child under the age of one; the employee decides at which hours and in how many intervals this leave is used. Breastfeeding leave is counted as part of the daily working time.

As a rule, the employer is not obliged to pay wages during maternity leave; instead, the Social Security Institution (SGK) provides a temporary incapacity allowance for this period. Entitlement to this allowance generally depends on the employee having a sufficient number of premium days before the birth and having active insured status — the specific conditions should be assessed under SGK regulations. Certain collective bargaining agreements or internal workplace policies may provide for supplementary pay during this period, which should be checked against the specific workplace's own documents.

Taking maternity leave is not recognized by law as a valid or just cause for termination by the employer. Whether a termination made because an employee used maternity leave or the related half-time work right is valid must be assessed on a case-by-case basis, typically within a reinstatement lawsuit. Employees who believe their employment was terminated during or shortly after this period may benefit from consulting an employment lawyer given the procedural steps and risk of losing rights involved.

Av. Mehmet Yücesoy

İzmir Attorney & Legal Consultancy