Hiring seasonal staff at a hotel: contracts, social security entry and the end of the season

A seasonal worker is hired on a fixed-term contract for work that by nature lasts less than a year. The employer files the SGK employment entry notice before the first working day, sends staff identity notifications to law enforcement within 24 hours, and annual leave rules do not apply to seasonal work under a year.

For example, the season opens in three weeks and the front desk needs eleven people. Two start on Monday, one has worked the last four summers, and no contract has been written for any of them. This article sets out what Türkiye's labour law requires for seasonal workers at each step: the type of contract, the social security entry before work starts, the staff identity notification, the annual leave rule, and how the season ends. After reading, you will be able to build one hiring and closing routine and run it for every hire.

What counts as seasonal work in Turkish labour law?#

Turkish labour law has no separate seasonal contract. Seasonal work is a fixed-term employment relationship, and it is valid only when the fixed term rests on writing or on an objective condition such as the completion of a job or a specific event.

Article 11 of Labour Law 4857 (Resmî Gazete, 10 June 2003, No. 25134) sets the default: a contract is deemed indefinite unless the relationship is made for a set period. The burden therefore sits on the employer to document the term. A fixed-term contract is one made in writing for fixed-term work, or tied to objective conditions such as completing a specific job or a specific event occurring. The end of the season is the objective condition most hotels rely on; whether it holds in a particular case is a legal question, not a formatting one.

The same article deals with chained contracts. A fixed-term contract may not be made several times in a row without an essential reason, otherwise it is deemed indefinite from the start. Chained contracts that rest on an essential reason keep their fixed-term status. Article 12 adds an equal treatment rule: a fixed-term worker may not be treated differently from a comparable indefinite-term worker solely because the contract is fixed-term, unless there is a justifying reason. Pay, meals, transport and shift treatment are the usual places where this shows up.

The label in the contract does not decide the type. A year-round role described as seasonal stays a year-round role, and the file should show why the work itself ends. Write the start date, the expected end date and the reason for the term into the contract before the person works a single shift. A verbal fixed term is difficult to prove later.

Fixed term, indefinite term and the difference that matters at season end#

When must the SGK entry notice be filed?#

Before the person's first working day. The insured employment entry notice (sigortalı işe giriş bildirgesi) must reach the Social Security Institution before the insurance start date, and insurance starts on the day work starts.

Under Article 8 of Law 5510, the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law (consolidated text, mevzuat.gov.tr) (opens in a new tab), employers must notify the Social Security Institution of employees insured under Article 4(1)(a) with an entry notice before the insurance start date. Article 7(1)(a) fixes the start of insurance on the day the person starts work, which is why the notice is due before day one.

The law lists three cases where a notice still counts as given in time. Construction, fishing and agricultural workplaces may notify on the day work starts. A workplace filing its first registration with SGK may notify staff who start within one month by the end of that month. Certain public-sector staff have one month. A hotel fits none of these.

A late or missing notice carries an administrative fine under Article 102. The amount is set by law; take the current figure from your accountant. An SGK regulation sets the form, content and submission methods; in practice the accountant files it through SGK's system, which means the hire is not complete until the accountant confirms the filing.

The employee also has a duty to notify SGK within one month of starting work, but if they do not, that is not evidence against them. The employer's duty stands on its own. Make the routine mechanical: the offer is accepted, the ID and start date go to the accountant the same hour, the filing is confirmed, and only then does the person appear on the roster.

What is Form 2 and when is it due?#

Form 2 is the Employee Identity Notification Form (Çalışanlara Ait Kimlik Bildirme Belgesi). A lodging facility writes the identity of everyone it employs, permanently or temporarily, on two copies and delivers them to the nearest competent general law enforcement unit within 24 hours.

The duty comes from Article 8 of the Regulation on the Implementation of the Identity Notification Law (Resmî Gazete, 13 July 1974, No. 14944), which covers people who work at a lodging facility. The 24-hour limit is specific to lodging. Other commercial workplaces have three days, so a template copied from another sector will carry the three-day limit: check the lodging rule before you reuse it.

The phrase that matters for a seasonal hotel is "permanently or temporarily". It covers the summer receptionist, the banquet extras and the person who starts on Saturday morning. An amending regulation published on 17 June 2022 (Resmî Gazete No. 31869) (opens in a new tab), in force the same day, replaced Form 1 and Form 2 with new versions, repealed Form 5, and added to Article 8 that these notifications may also be made electronically, within the same time limits, by connecting to the general law enforcement's computer terminals.

Which unit receives your forms depends on where the facility sits; confirm with the nearest competent general law enforcement unit. Confirm with the unit that actually receives them, and confirm whether it accepts the electronic route. Keep the delivery date and the reference in the personnel file. At season end the file is the only thing that shows the notification was made on time. The same duty sits next to the guest identity notification, which we cover in KBS staff notification: identity reporting for the people who work at a hotel.

Does a seasonal worker get annual leave?#

Under Article 53 of Labour Law 4857, the annual paid leave provisions do not apply to people in seasonal or campaign work that by its nature lasts less than a year. The exclusion follows the nature of the work, not the wording of the contract.

The general rule in the same article: a worker who has completed at least one year from the start date, probation included, is entitled to paid annual leave. The leave lengths the exclusion switches off are 14 days for 1 to 5 years of service (5 included), 20 days for more than 5 and less than 15 years, and 26 days for 15 years or more. Workers aged 18 or under, and those aged 50 or over, get at least 20 days.

Because the test is the nature of the work, a role that actually runs all year does not become seasonal because the contract says so. Write the reason for the term, and make sure the roster matches it. If a relationship runs past a year, or is deemed indefinite under Article 11, the leave rules come back into play. Whether that has happened in your case is a question for your adviser, not for a template.

Record start and end dates for every person, including the ones who leave in October. The file is what answers the question two years later. Do not assume the answer is the same for every worker in the building. A seasonal hire and a year-round hire can sit at the same desk in August.

Do hours and rest rules change during the season?#

No. Seasonal status changes the term of the contract, not the working time rules. The weekly limit, the balancing period, rest breaks and night work limits apply in August exactly as they do in January.

The statutory weekly limit and balancing period are the frame for planning the desk, the floors and the night shift. Plan the season against them rather than around them. Overtime needs the worker's consent and is either paid or balanced within the rules. A verbal "we will sort it out in October" is how disputes start.

Records are the employer's evidence: entry and exit times per person per day, kept through the whole season, including the weeks when the hotel is full and the timesheets are the first thing to slip. Assign one person to check the timesheets weekly. A weekly check catches a missing day while people still remember it. Peak weeks are also when rest breaks disappear, so put the break into the shift plan and make it a plan, not a hope. The details are set out in Working hours in hotels: the weekly limit, the balancing period and night shifts.

How does the season end cleanly?#

The contract ends when the fixed term ends, but the exit still needs documents, a final pay statement and a closed file. Article 29 only removes end-of-season dismissals from the collective dismissal rules; it says nothing about notice, severance or final pay.

Article 29 of Labour Law 4857 states that the collective dismissal rules do not apply when seasonal or campaign workers are dismissed because of the nature of that work. Read it narrowly: it is a rule about collective dismissal, not a rule about money. Notice, severance and final pay depend on the individual contract and the facts. Take the file to your accountant or labour lawyer rather than applying a rule you read online.

Give each leaver a written end-of-contract notice that names the fixed term and its end date. It closes the loop on the reason for the term. Prepare a final pay statement: wages to the last day, overtime, and any balance the contract creates. Handle leave separately with the adviser, since the Article 53 exclusion may or may not cover the person in front of you.

Close the SGK record for each leaver through your accountant on the last working day, and collect keys, uniform and equipment the same day. Remove system access on the last day, not the following week. A shared login outliving the contract is a data problem, not an HR one. The wider closing routine is covered in Closing a seasonal hotel for winter: an operations checklist.

What should we ask before rehiring the same people next year?#

Ask whether repeating the same fixed-term contract each season creates a chain that makes the contract indefinite from the start, and what your file must show for the season to count as an essential reason.

Article 11 allows chained fixed-term contracts only where an essential reason exists; otherwise the relationship is deemed indefinite from the start. A person returning for a fifth summer is exactly the case that sentence was written for. Ask what changes if the person works part of the winter, or covers the closure period. A few weeks of work outside the season can change how the relationship is read.

Ask whether leave entitlements accumulate across seasons in your situation, and what the record should show. Ask what the offer letter and contract must say so the fixed term is documented from the first day, including the objective condition and the expected end date. Ask what happens if a role becomes year-round: a new contract, a change document, or both.

Bring the actual contracts and rosters to the meeting, not a description of them. The answer depends on the paperwork you already have. Before the season opens, the first-week plan in Seasonal staff onboarding: a first-week training checklist by department picks up where this routine ends.

What to do next#

Build one routine and run it every season: contract signed with a written term, SGK entry notice filed before day one, Form 2 delivered within 24 hours, hours recorded weekly, and an exit file closed on the last working day. Then take the returning-staff questions to your adviser before the next season opens, with the contracts in hand.