Types of paid leave in Turkey 2026: marriage, paternity, bereavement, maternity and more

Last year you gave an employee whose wife had a baby five days’ leave. This week HR received a new question: “The news says paternity leave is 10 days now — does that apply to me too?” The same day, another employee who is about to get married asks how many days of marriage leave they are entitled to, and managers give different answers: three, five or seven days. An amendment to the Turkish Labour Law passed in April 2026 updated some of these periods. This article gathers the types of paid leave set out in the current text of Turkish legislation in one table and shows how to keep a record of each.

Paid leave is leave during which the employee can stay away from work without any deduction from their wage. The Labour Law lists some of these types, with their duration and conditions; where the law is silent, the duration is set by the employment contract, a collective agreement or company policy.

What changed in 2026?

Law No. 7578 of 22 April 2026 was published in the Official Gazette of 1 May 2026. Under its entry-into-force article, the relevant provisions took effect on the date of publication. Comparing the leave-related changes with the current text of the Labour Law on mevzuat.gov.tr, we can summarise them as follows:

• Paid leave when an employee’s spouse gives birth was increased from five to ten days (Additional Article 2).
• Postnatal maternity leave was extended from eight to sixteen weeks, and the total period from sixteen to twenty-four weeks (Art. 74).
• The period an employee may continue working at the workplace before the birth, with a doctor’s approval, was reduced from three weeks to two (Art. 74).
• Employees who become foster parents were given the right to ten days of unpaid leave at their request, from the date the child is placed with them (Art. 74).
• The start of the unpaid leave that can be requested after maternity leave was redefined on the basis of twenty-four weeks (Art. 74).

Table of paid leave types and durations

During maternity leave, instead of wages, the employee receives a temporary incapacity allowance from SGK, Turkey’s Social Security Institution; this requires at least ninety days of short-term insurance premiums to have been reported in the year before the birth (Art. 18 of Law No. 5510). Ask your accountant how this is reflected in the employer’s payroll.

Leave that is not in the table does not automatically mean a pay deduction, but it does not arise from the law either. For situations such as the death of a mother-in-law, moving house, a school meeting or the employee’s own medical appointment, your company decides the duration and whether it is paid. If these decisions are not written down, each manager applies a different practice, and two employees in the same situation are treated differently.

Three leave types people ask about most

How many days is marriage leave in the private sector?

Three days. The provision covers the employee’s own marriage; the marriage of a child or sibling is not included. The law says “three days” but does not specify whether these are working days or calendar days. State this clearly in your company policy and confirm the practice with your legal adviser.

How many days is paternity leave in the private sector?

When the employee’s spouse gives birth, ten days of paid leave are granted. Before 2026 this was five days. Because the amendment took effect on the date of publication, ask your legal adviser if it is unclear which period applies to births before that date. The provision does not separately regulate whether the leave is tied to the date of birth or whether the days can be split; your company rules should state this.

Who is bereavement leave granted for?

Three days of paid leave are granted on the death of a parent, spouse, sibling or child. Relatives such as grandparents or a mother-in-law are not listed in the provision. You may grant broader leave for them, but that comes from your own rules, not from the law.

Recording paid leave: a separate trail for each type

Paid leave should be recorded separately from annual leave: other paid leave granted by the employer during the year cannot be deducted from annual leave (Art. 56), and the leave periods in Additional Article 2 count as time worked when annual leave is calculated (Art. 55). Following this order for each request reduces errors:

1. Select the leave type and its basis (law, policy or agreement).
2. Obtain the document: a marriage certificate, death certificate, birth certificate or medical report, for example.
3. Verify the duration and enter the start and end dates.
4. Record the manager’s and HR’s approval.
5. Notify payroll of the effect on pay.
6. Check that the annual leave balance has not been affected.

What the policy should state for each leave type

• Name of the leave type and its basis (law, contract or company decision)
• Duration, and whether it is counted in working days or calendar days
• When to request it: notified in advance or after the event
• Document required and the deadline for submitting it
• Pay status and how payroll is notified
• Effect on the annual leave balance
• Who updates the policy, and when, if durations change

Managing leave types in Excel: where does it go wrong?

In a small team, a “leave type” column and coloured cells can do the job. The problem is that durations can change during the year: when a period such as paternity leave is updated, the old value stays in formulas or in managers’ memories. Documents are also tracked in email attachments rather than in the spreadsheet, and days that should not be deducted from annual leave can be forgotten. Keeping durations in a single rule and adding a dated note when they change greatly reduces errors.

An approval trail for every leave request in the portal

In YazSis KurumsalPortal’s Mobile Leave Management module, employees create leave requests from their phone’s browser, without installing an app. The request is checked against the remaining balance and goes first to the manager, then to HR; the leave is not final until the approval chain is complete, and every step stays on record. Approved leave is added to the team calendar. Leave records can also be exported as XLSX reports.

How the leave types above are set up in the portal, how documents are tracked and how durations are kept up to date are points to clarify in the pre-installation meeting; this article does not claim that the module manages leave types or durations on its own.

To see the request and approval trail for every leave type in one place, explore the modules on the KurumsalPortal page.