How should the distinction between full-time and part-time personnel working in R&D/Design Centers be made?
Whether the personnel working in the R&D/Design Center is full-time or part-time, there are the following differences in the application of the Law No. 5746 legislation:
- The wages of part-time personnel for earned week holidays, annual paid leave periods and holidays specified in the Law on National Holidays and General Holidays dated 17/3/1981 and numbered 2429 are not covered by the incentive.
- Working hours of part-time R&D/design personnel are not taken into account in the calculation of minimum full-time equivalent.
However, there is no regulation regarding the definition of full-time and part-time personnel working in R&D/Design Centers in the Law No. 5746 and the Regulations and Communiqués published based on this Law. Accordingly, the distinction between full-time and part-time personnel will be explained by taking into account the general provisions of the Labor Law No. 4857 to which the private sector is subject.
Article 13 of the Labor Law No. 4857 stipulates as follows:
“A contract is a part-time employment contract if the normal weekly working hours of the employee are determined to be significantly less than the equivalent employee working with a full-time employment contract. An equivalent worker is a full-time worker employed in the same or similar job in the workplace. If there is no such worker in the workplace, the worker employed with a full-time employment contract who undertakes the same or similar work in the workplace that meets the conditions in that line of business shall be taken as basis.”
On the other hand, the Regulation on Working Hours Regarding the Labor Law “part-time work”Article 6 states that work performed up to two-thirds of the equivalent work performed with a full-time employment contract in the workplace is part-time work.
Accordingly, it will be possible to determine whether an employee working in an R&D/Design Center is full-time or part-time by determining the weekly normal working time determined by the employment contract between the parties. Article 63 of the Labor Law No. 4857 states that the maximum weekly working time is 45 hours and Article 41 states that the normal weekly working time can be determined below 45 hours between the parties. In this framework, considering that the maximum weekly working time in a workplace is 45 hours, two thirds (2/3) of 45 hours is 30 hours. According to the employment contract, an employee working over 30 hours per week will be considered a full-time employee in any case.
30 The determination of whether an employee working less than 30 hours is full-time or part-time should be determined by taking into account the normal weekly working hours of the full-time equivalent employee as in the example below.
Example:The normal weekly working hours of some personnel working in the R&D/Design Center are as follows:
| R&D/ Design Staff | Weekly Normal Working Hours | Comparable Staff | 2/3 of Comparable Staff’s Working Hours | Full-time/ Part-time |
| Researcher/ Designer (A) | 40 | – | – | Full-time |
| Researcher/ Designer (B) | 28 | Researcher/ Designer (A) | 26.66 Hours (=40* 2/3) | Full-time |
| Technician (C) | 45 | – | – | Full-time |
| Technician (D) | 28 | Technician (C) | 30 Hours (=45* 2/3) | Part-time |
According to this example;
Researcher/Designer (A) and Technician (C) working in the R&D/Design Center will be considered full-time since their normal weekly working hours are not less than 30 hours.
Although the weekly working time of Researcher/Designer (B) is below 30 hours, since it exceeds two-thirds (26.66 hours) of the weekly working time of Researcher/Designer (A), who is a peer staff, Researcher/Designer (B) will be considered as full-time staff.
Since the weekly working hours of Technician (D) is less than two-thirds of the weekly working hours of Technician (C), who is the equivalent personnel, Technician (D) will be considered as part-time personnel. As can be seen, although Researcher/Designer (B) and Technician (D) have the same normal weekly working hours (28 hours), Researcher/Designer (B) will be considered a full-time employee and Technician (D) will be considered a part-time employee due to the criterion of two-thirds of the equivalent working hours in Article 6 of the Working Hours Regulation on Labor Law
Sincerely,
BİLGENER
