Employing home service staff
You can obtain home services in two different ways. You can either hire someone as an employer or you can apply to a home services company.
Getting home services is a serious problem for everyone in daily life, especially for foreigners in Turkey. You need an assistant for housekeeping, babysitting, elderly care and so on. In this article, I look to answer questions on the issue, including:
• How can you obtain home service staff?
• What are the legal obligations in terms of labor and social security law?
• What are the legal problems with regard to home service employment?
• What issues do you need to pay attention to?
[HH] Obtaining home service staff
You can obtain home services in two different ways. You can either hire someone as an employer or you can apply to a home services company. In this case, your home service will be performed by company personnel.
If you choose the first option and the employee is a permanent worker, it means you are facing legal obligations, which are as follows:
[HH] Social security law
According to the social security act, workers who work for a fee and on a permanent basis in home services are considered insured. If you employ someone in this context, you are an employer. As such, you must fulfill the following legal obligations:
• You must give a “workplace notification document” to the Social Security Board. This document is given one time only.
• You must give an “insurance holder employment report” to the Social Security Board. One of these reports is given separately for each staff member.
• You must relay “premium documents” to the Social Security Board each month.
• You must pay an “insurance premium or social security support premium” (for retired persons) to the Social Security Board on a regular basis. The premium of each month must be paid by the end of the following month.
If you do not fulfill these obligations, you will face administrative fines. These administrative fines include the following:
• 729 Turkish Liras for workplace notification
• 729 liras for the insurance holder employment report
• Between 146 and 2,187 liras for premium documents.
[HH] Labor law
There are also other obligations arising from labor law provisions. For example, you cannot pay your employee an amount below the minimum wage (729 liras per month or 24.30 liras per day for the first six months of 2010). You should take into consideration the rights given by labor law, such as annual paid leaves, severance pay and notice pay.
[HH] Choosing to purchase a service
Instead of being an employer, you could choose to purchase a service, which is a much easier way. In this case, you apply directly to a home services company, who the sends you home services staff. For any services rendered, you then pay this company.
In comparison to being an employer, purchasing a service allows you to avoid the many legal procedures, including social security and labor law obligations. Furthermore, you do not need to sign employment contracts with employees.
However, while making the agreement with the company, I advise you to be careful – otherwise, purchasing the service could be more costly for you.
[HH] Private employment arrangements
Last year, the government passed a bill on private employment offices, giving the offices additional authority in hiring workers. This regulation allows employment offices to sign contracts with workers and then hire them out to whichever workplace they choose without consulting the workers.
This regulation was rejected by President Abdullah Gül, however. If this arrangement had been passed, finding home services staff would have been easier. In my opinion, these arrangements will be brought to Parliament’s agenda in the near future.
Hurriyet Daily News/15.01.2010
Getting home services is a serious problem for everyone in daily life, especially for foreigners in Turkey. You need an assistant for housekeeping, babysitting, elderly care and so on. In this article, I look to answer questions on the issue, including:
• How can you obtain home service staff?
• What are the legal obligations in terms of labor and social security law?
• What are the legal problems with regard to home service employment?
• What issues do you need to pay attention to?
[HH] Obtaining home service staff
You can obtain home services in two different ways. You can either hire someone as an employer or you can apply to a home services company. In this case, your home service will be performed by company personnel.
If you choose the first option and the employee is a permanent worker, it means you are facing legal obligations, which are as follows:
[HH] Social security law
According to the social security act, workers who work for a fee and on a permanent basis in home services are considered insured. If you employ someone in this context, you are an employer. As such, you must fulfill the following legal obligations:
• You must give a “workplace notification document” to the Social Security Board. This document is given one time only.
• You must give an “insurance holder employment report” to the Social Security Board. One of these reports is given separately for each staff member.
• You must relay “premium documents” to the Social Security Board each month.
• You must pay an “insurance premium or social security support premium” (for retired persons) to the Social Security Board on a regular basis. The premium of each month must be paid by the end of the following month.
If you do not fulfill these obligations, you will face administrative fines. These administrative fines include the following:
• 729 Turkish Liras for workplace notification
• 729 liras for the insurance holder employment report
• Between 146 and 2,187 liras for premium documents.
[HH] Labor law
There are also other obligations arising from labor law provisions. For example, you cannot pay your employee an amount below the minimum wage (729 liras per month or 24.30 liras per day for the first six months of 2010). You should take into consideration the rights given by labor law, such as annual paid leaves, severance pay and notice pay.
[HH] Choosing to purchase a service
Instead of being an employer, you could choose to purchase a service, which is a much easier way. In this case, you apply directly to a home services company, who the sends you home services staff. For any services rendered, you then pay this company.
In comparison to being an employer, purchasing a service allows you to avoid the many legal procedures, including social security and labor law obligations. Furthermore, you do not need to sign employment contracts with employees.
However, while making the agreement with the company, I advise you to be careful – otherwise, purchasing the service could be more costly for you.
[HH] Private employment arrangements
Last year, the government passed a bill on private employment offices, giving the offices additional authority in hiring workers. This regulation allows employment offices to sign contracts with workers and then hire them out to whichever workplace they choose without consulting the workers.
This regulation was rejected by President Abdullah Gül, however. If this arrangement had been passed, finding home services staff would have been easier. In my opinion, these arrangements will be brought to Parliament’s agenda in the near future.
Hurriyet Daily News/15.01.2010
