In its decision dated 3 February 2026 and numbered 2025/9525 E., 2026/757 K. (“Decision”), the 9th Civil Chamber of the Court of Appeal published in the Official Gazette No. 33275 dated 9 June 2026 assessed whether weekly rest days falling within an annual paid leave period may be counted as part of the employee’s annual leave entitlement.
In the case subject to the Decision, the employee claimed his annual paid leave receivables among others.
Although the Court of First Instance acknowledged that the claimant was entitled to annual paid leave based on his length of service, it rejected the claim for annual leave pay on the grounds that, according to the annual leave records contained in the case file, the annual leave had been duly taken and the claimant had no outstanding annual leave entitlement.
Following an appeal in the interest of the law filed by the Ministry of Justice, it was argued that the employee was entitled to a total of 28 days of annual paid leave based on length of service, that the weekly rest days falling within the periods during which annual leave was used should not have been counted as annual leave days, and that the employee therefore had an outstanding annual leave entitlement.
The Court of Appeal emphasized that, pursuant to Article 56 of the Turkish Labour Law No. 4857, national holidays, weekly rest days, and public holidays falling within a period of annual paid leave cannot be counted as part of the annual leave period. In the present case, although the claimant was entitled to a total of 28 days of annual paid leave and the annual leave records indicated that 28 days of leave had been taken, it was determined that these leave periods included a total of four weekly rest days and the claimant had an outstanding entitlement to four days of annual paid leave.
However, the Decision does not contain any assessment or legal finding as to whether Saturday should be regarded as a weekly rest day. In the case at hand, the calculation was made on the basis of one weekly rest day for each week of annual leave taken. Accordingly, it cannot be said that the decision introduces a new approach to the interpretation of the law with respect to the ongoing debate regarding the treatment of Saturdays in the calculation of annual leave entitlements. Rather, the decision merely reaffirms the established principle that weekly rest days, irrespective of the day on which they fall, cannot be deducted from the period of annual paid leave.
The key principles set forth in the Decision may be summarized as follows:
- Weekly rest days and national and public holidays falling within annual leave periods cannot be deducted from annual leave entitlement
If weekly rest days fall within the period during which an employee is on annual leave, such days should not be deducted from the employee’s annual leave balance.
- The burden of proving that annual leave was duly granted rests with the employer
The Court of Appeal reiterated that the employer bears the burden of proving that annual paid leave has been granted to the employee. The employer must prove this through signed annual leave records or equivalent written documents.
- Annual leave entitlement converts into a monetary receivable upon termination of employment
The manner in which the employment contract is terminated, or whether the termination is based on just cause, is irrelevant for annual leave pay. If the employee has unused annual leave entitlement, such entitlement converts into a monetary receivable upon termination.
- Indicating only the total number of leave days in annual leave records may not be sufficient
In the present case, the annual leave documents showed that the employee had used a total of 28 days of annual leave. However, since 4 weekly rest days fell within these leave periods, the Court of Appeal held that the employee had in fact not used 4 days of annual leave. The start and end dates of the leave period, the weekly rest days, national holidays and public holidays falling within that period, and the actual number of days to be deducted from the annual leave balance should be separately reviewed.
