How to Calculate Sick Pay in Türkiye

Formula

daily earnings = earnings of the last 12 months on which premiums were paid / premium days

daily pay = daily earnings × 2/3 (outpatient) or × 1/2 (inpatient)

sick pay = paid days × daily pay

• Earnings of the last 12 months: the earnings reported to SGK in the 12 calendar months before the month of the report. For a work accident, the 12 months before the month of the accident; for a birth, before the month of the birth (since 21 December 2024, Law no. 7537). Each month is capped at that month’s SGK ceiling.
• Premium days: the days reported in the same 12 months, at most 30 a month.
• Paid days: for illness, the first 2 days of a new report come off; for a work accident, an occupational disease or a birth, every day is paid.

This rule applies since 22 April 2021 for illness and birth (Law no. 7316) and since 21 December 2024 for a work accident or an occupational disease (Law no. 7537). Before, the earnings of the last 3 months were used.

Step-by-step example

A worker with a gross wage of 60,000 TRY a month and 360 premium days in the last 12 months has a 14-day outpatient illness report from 5 to 18 October 2026:

1. Earnings of the 12 months: 12 × 60,000 = 720,000 TRY.
2. Daily earnings: 720,000 / 360 = 2,000 TRY.
3. Outpatient daily pay: 2,000 × 2/3 = 1,333.33 TRY.
4. Paid days: 14 − 2 = 12 days.
5. Sick pay: 12 × 1,333.33 = 15,999.96 TRY.

If the same report were inpatient, the daily pay would be 1,000 TRY and the total 12,000 TRY. For a work accident with 4 days in hospital and 10 at home, the same report is paid from the first day: 4 × 1,000 + 10 × 1,333.33 = 17,333.30 TRY.

What changes the result?

• Fewer than 180 premium days: the daily earnings cannot pass twice the daily SGK floor on the first day of the report. In 2026 the daily floor is 1,101 TRY; with 120 premium days on 90,000 TRY a month, the daily earnings are 2,202 TRY instead of 3,000 TRY.
• Low earnings: the daily earnings cannot be below the SGK floor of each paid day. In 2026 a minimum wage worker gets 734 TRY a day as an outpatient. When a report runs into a new year, the days of the new year are paid on the new floor.
• Continued report: when an illness report continues the previous one without a gap, the 2 days do not come off again.
• Mixed report: when you stay in hospital and then rest at home, the hospital days are paid at one half and the days at home at two thirds.

What are the conditions for sick pay?

For illness, you need at least 90 days of short-term insurance premium in the year before the report; for a birth, 90 days in the year before the birth. A work accident or an occupational disease needs no premium days. A self-employed 4/b (Bağ-Kur) insured gets no pay for illness; for a work accident or an occupational disease, only the hospital days and the rest after them are paid, and every premium debt must be paid. You must not work on the report days, and the employer reports them to SGK as not worked; days worked get no pay.

Does the employer pay wages during a sick report?

The law does not make the employer pay wages during the report; the report days are reported as missing days on the payslip. The employment contract or a collective agreement can give the full wage or the difference to the SGK pay. Workplaces with a collective agreement and public employers can pay the benefit for SGK and settle with SGK later (art. 18).