Is salary paid during annual leave in Turkey?

An employee on statutory annual leave keeps receiving pay with no deduction — Turkish law actually front-loads it. Under Article 57 of Labor Law No. 4857, the employer must pay the wage for the leave period before the leave begins, either in full upfront or as an advance. Paying it with the next regular payroll run, as many global employers would expect, technically comes later than the statute requires.

Leave pay is calculated on the employee's base gross salary (çıplak ücret) only: overtime pay, bonuses and premiums, and social benefits are excluded (Art. 57). Weekly rest days, national holidays and public holidays that fall inside the leave do not count as leave days (Art. 56) and are paid under the normal rules. Benefits tied to actual attendance, such as meal cards or commuting allowances, may pause during leave depending on the employment contract and workplace practice.

"Fully paid" does not mean deduction-free in the payroll sense: leave pay is treated as regular wages, so income tax withholding and social security (SGK) contributions apply as usual (Income Tax Law No. 193 Art. 61, Law No. 5510 Art. 80). For payroll purposes, leave pay runs through the same calculation as normal salary — a point worth confirming with any employer-of-record or local payroll provider.

Annual leave is a rest entitlement, so working for pay elsewhere during leave is prohibited (Art. 58 of Labor Law No. 4857). If an employee is found doing paid work during their leave, the employer may reclaim the leave pay for that period (Art. 58). For companies running distributed teams in Turkey, this rule is worth restating explicitly in the leave policy.

Unused leave does not expire during employment. When the employment contract ends — for any reason — the employer must pay out all accrued, unused leave days at the employee's final base gross salary (Art. 59), and the claim is subject to a 5-year limitation period. Every untaken day is therefore a growing liability on the employer's side, which makes accurate leave records matter to both parties.