The sanction is one of the heaviest financial penalties in the Law. Under Additional Article 3 of Law No. 5953, an employer who does not pay or underpays the overtime pay set out in Additional Article 1 is subject to an administrative fine of five times the unpaid or underpaid amount.
How the Fine Works
| Element | Content |
|---|---|
| Conduct | Not paying or underpaying the overtime pay under Add. Art. 1 |
| Type of sanction | Administrative fine |
| Amount | Five times the unpaid or underpaid amount |
| Basis | Additional Article 3 |
| Imposed by | The regional director of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Art. 30) |
A Worked Example
Suppose a newsroom of ten people each work, on average, one hour of overtime after midnight in a month, and the employer pays those hours at 1.5 instead of 2. On an hourly rate of TRY 200 the shortfall is TRY 100 per person per hour.
| Item | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly shortfall per person | 200 × (2 − 1.5) × 1 hour | TRY 100 |
| Monthly shortfall for ten people | 100 × 10 | TRY 1,000 |
| Fine at five times | 1,000 × 5 | TRY 5,000 |
The figures are illustrative; the point is the mechanism. The fine is calculated on the shortfall, so it grows with the size of the newsroom and the length of the period.
Why Time-Band Records Matter
The Journalist's Own Routes
The administrative fine goes to the State, not to the journalist. Separately, the journalist may:
- Bring a claim for the unpaid overtime in the labour court — under Additional Article 4 disputes arising from this Law are heard by the labour courts
- Raise the question of termination for just cause on the specific facts
- Notify the Ministry of Labour, which under Article 24 carries out the monitoring, supervision and inspection of this Law
The Annulled Sentence
The second sentence of Additional Article 1 concerning the timing of overtime payment was annulled by the Constitutional Court in decision E.2019/48, K.2019/74 of 19/9/2019 (effective 19/11/2019). The annulment concerned payment timing; the obligation to pay and the premium rates remain in force, and so does the fine in Additional Article 3.
Bottom Line
An employer who does not pay or underpays journalist overtime is subject to an administrative fine of five times the shortfall under Additional Article 3. Because underpayment is enough to trigger it, the most common source of exposure is a payroll that ignores the after-midnight doubling.
The calculation itself is covered in the overtime pay article and the after-midnight article.