Supreme Court Ruling on Weekly Rest and Overtime Pay

In a precedent-setting decision concerning millions of private sector employees, the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that including 7.5 hours of work performed on a weekly rest day simultaneously in both weekly rest pay and overtime pay calculations constitutes a double payment.

Precedent-Setting Decision from the Supreme Court

The decision rendered by the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court brings forth an important regulation and approach regarding wage calculations in working life. With this ruling, a new application period in workers' entitlement processes has become clear.

Following disputes that arose regarding the remuneration of work performed on weekly rest days, the higher court put an end to the matter. The legal evaluation made aims to prevent duplicate payments.

Counted as Double Payment

In the dispute brought to court, the inclusion of 7.5 hours of work performed on the weekly rest day into both weekly rest pay and overtime pay calculations was examined. The Chamber certified that this practice means a double payment for the same work.

According to the new decision, a worker who works on their weekly rest day will only receive their daily wage and cannot claim additional overtime pay for the same work. This situation will directly affect calculation methods in similar lawsuits.

Litigation Process and Appeal

A master welder applied to the Labor Court claiming he was wrongfully dismissed and demanded the payment of his legal rights. He claimed that annual leaves were not used during his employment and certain receivables were not paid.

The worker requested the collection of severance pay, notice pay, annual leave, overtime, national holidays and general holidays, and weekly rest receivables. Following the local court process, the file was taken to the Supreme Court for appellate review.