Maternity leave of 24 weeks since 2026: what changes for a hotel’s rosters and records

In Türkiye, maternity leave and the unpaid leave that can follow it are set by the Labor Law, and the rules differ by birth order and by whether the leave is paid or unpaid. Because the figures and conditions change, confirm the current weeks, days and eligibility rules for your own case with a legal adviser or your accountant before you build them into a roster or a payroll plan.

A housekeeping supervisor tells you in March that she is pregnant and expects to stop work in June. Your season peaks in July and August. Under article 74 as amended in April 2026, she is away for sixteen weeks after the birth, and may then ask for half-time unpaid leave on top of that. This article reads the rule, shows how the weeks fall on a hotel calendar, and lists what the file must hold. After reading, you can draw the leave on your season plan, name a deputy, and answer a half-time request in writing.

What does article 74 of the Labor Law say now, in plain words?#

Article 74 now provides that women workers are in principle not employed for a total of 24 weeks: eight weeks before birth and sixteen weeks after (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, "4857 sayılı İş Kanunu, madde 74", 14.11.2026). The change came with Law 7578 of 22 April 2026, which amended article 74 of the Labor Law, Law 4857.

"In principle not employed" is the operative phrase. The hotel does not schedule her for those weeks. It is not a benefit the hotel grants, and it cannot be traded against a busy period. The 24 weeks is one total, split into two blocks of eight and sixteen. It is not 24 weeks added on top of the post-birth period.

The same article carries the half-time unpaid leave that follows the post-birth block, with its own day counts for first, second and later births. It also deals with the nursing break, which is a separate right with separate rules and its own record; we cover that in a separate article. What the article does not do is set any payment. Payments by the insurance institution sit outside this text and outside this article.

How do the weeks fall before and after birth?#

The eight weeks sit immediately before the expected birth and the sixteen immediately after it, so the leave straddles the birth rather than starting on it. Count from the expected birth date first, then correct the post-birth block once the actual birth date is known. That is the block that moves.

Multiple pregnancy and birth before the expected date are dealt with in the article's own paragraphs. Read them on mevzuat.gov.tr before you plan those cases, rather than working from memory. Whether she can keep working in the last weeks before birth turns on the article's wording and a doctor's report; if such a report exists, it belongs in the file.

The weeks are a floor set by law, not a target the hotel can negotiate down because the peak is close. Put all three blocks, before birth, after birth and half-time, on one calendar line, so the season plan, the annual leave plan and the roster see the same dates.

What is the half-time unpaid leave and who may ask for it?#

After the post-birth leave, the worker may ask for half-time unpaid leave: 60 days for a first birth, 120 for a second and 180 for later births (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, "4857 sayılı İş Kanunu, madde 74", 14.11.2026). It is unpaid, and it is hers to request. The hotel's job is to answer the request and set the pattern, not to offer it as a favor or shorten it.

It is half-time, so she stays on the roster for part of the week. What changes is the shift pattern and the cover for the other half, not the headcount. The counts are in days, so the calendar length depends on how the half-time weeks are laid out. Agree the pattern in writing, with a start and an end date.

Treat a spoken request as a request: put it in writing the same week, and answer in writing. The nursing break after the return is a separate right and runs on its own rules; see the milk break, shifts and the record it needs.

Why does a 24-week leave break a season, and how do you cover it?#

Because a leave that begins before the season opens and ends after it closes takes a person off the roster for the whole peak, cover is a hiring and handover decision taken months ahead, not a roster edit. A 24-week maternity leave in Türkiye turns an employer question into a planning question: which shifts, which sections and which weeks.

Draw the leave on the season calendar first: which peak weeks lose a supervisor, a cook, a receptionist, and which shifts that person actually held. There are three cover routes. Promote or rotate someone already on the team, hire a fixed-term replacement for the leave period, or redistribute the shift and accept a thinner service. Each has a cost you can name before you choose.

For example, a housekeeping team of twelve loses its supervisor from June to October: the deputy takes the room-section assignments in May, and a replacement covers the floor shifts through the peak. Write the handover down: room sections, key and card handling, supplier contacts, the daily room-status routine, the closing checklist. A handover that lives in one person's head leaves with her.

Train the deputy before the leave starts. The first week of the leave is the worst week to discover that nobody else has closed the day. Keep her on the distribution list for schedule and policy changes, so the return in the autumn is not a cold start. Plan the return at the same time as the cover: the half-time pattern needs a place in the shift plan, and the working-time rules still apply to it, as covered in the 45-hour week and how shifts are balanced. If the leave runs into a winter closure, that raises its own questions, covered in when a hotel closes for the winter.

What goes in the personnel file?#

The file holds the dates, the basis for them and every written request: the leave start and end, the doctor's report if she works before birth, and the half-time request with its agreed pattern. Record the expected birth date and the actual one. The post-birth block is counted from the birth, so the file must show both.

Keep the doctor's report if she continues working in the pre-birth weeks. Keep the written half-time request, the agreed pattern and its end date, and the hotel's written answer. Note the return date and any shift change agreed at the return, so the roster and the file agree.

Keep all of it with the contract and the payroll records, so one file answers a question that arrives years later. The annual leave plan is a separate record and runs alongside the leave, with its own dates and approvals; see who sets annual leave dates and how the leave plan is recorded.

What does this article not cover?#

Payments by the insurance institution are outside this article: SGK's own pages are the source for what is paid, to whom and when. No amounts, no payment rules and no eligibility tests appear here.

Medical questions about an individual pregnancy belong with her doctor, not with the roster or the file. The paragraphs on multiple pregnancy and on birth before the expected date should be read on the primary text, the Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi's text of Law 4857 (opens in a new tab), not summarized from memory. Where a case is unusual, a leave that starts mid-season or a return that lands on a closure, take the dates to your legal adviser and ask about that case.

What to do next#

Put the leave on the season calendar this week: count eight weeks back from the expected birth and sixteen forward, name the deputy, and decide what the file will hold. The roster, the cover plan and the record are one decision made three times, and the earliest of the three is the cheapest.