Employee Relations and Benefits at ÖzU
All Özyeğin University employees are employed with a contract. Contract lengths are also in compliance with Labor Law. For administrative staffs contracts are indefinite and for faculty there is an initial contract of 2/3 or 5 years depending on rank, in line with Higher Education appointment durations) after which contracts become indefinite. As the maximum length of work permit granted to foreign faculty by the Higher Education Board is 2 years, foreign faculty contracts are always 2 years long and are renewed at 2-year intervals along with the work permit. ÖzU carries out administrative work for work and residence permit application and renewal procedures for foreign employees.
The Labor Law defines working days and hours as Monday through Saturday and 45 hours. At ÖzU Saturday is not a work day and working hours are from 08:00 to 16:45 with 60 minutes of rest. Teaching hours vary for each discipline and are provisioned concerning the efficiency of teaching.
Labor Law stipulates that employees are entitled to 14 days of paid leave for each year worked. For academicals, ÖzU allows 20 work days of paid leave for each year worked. For admin staff, this is 15 work days of paid leave for each year worked.
In Turkey, there is government health insurance with universal coverage that can be used for all health issues including dental and maternity-related procedures. This government insurance covers all ÖzU employees and can use this insurance at all government health institutions. ÖzU also covers all employees with private health insurance that can be used at all health institutions including A-List private institutions as well. This private health insurance covers outpatient and inpatient procedures. This private health insurance does not cover non-traumatic dental and maternity-related procedures however ÖzU has a system where the outpatient limit can be given provisions to be used for maternity controls and so far everyone has been able to use this system. Since this does not cover the delivery expenses the university also supplies 5000 TL after the delivery towards this expense, which usually covers the entire delivery expense.
There is a medical center with a Doctor and ambulance on campus and a blood lab service one day a week.
Unpaid leave of absence has been left to the employer's discretion and after work-needs analysis can be approved by the manager. Unpaid leave is approved up to 6 months and all health insurance is suspended for this duration. However, the private health insurance can be continued if the employee wishes, provided the employee pays for the premiums.
Sickness leaves are granted with a report from government doctors. At ÖzU, employees can use a small number of sickness leaves with a report from a private practice as well however the university has a doctor on campus that the government authorizes and therefore employees are encouraged to use the university doctor. Labor Law states that the employer does not have to pay the employee on sickness leave and the government will make a deposit in the employee’s name at a government bank as salary payment for those days however it will be considerably less than the salary of the employee. ÖzU continues to make salary payments to employees on sickness leave, the employee is expected to transfer the amount paid by the government to ÖzU after the fact.
Maternity leaves are granted as 16 paid weeks by the Labor Law. Again the employer is not expected to continue paying the salary of the employee as the government will be making the salary payment but since this is considerably less than the employee’s normal salary, ÖzU continues the salary payment with the expectation that the government payment will be transferred to the university. There is an optional 6 months of unpaid leave after the 16 weeks of maternity leave and all those who apply for this are granted the leave. After maternity leave labor law states that the mother can have 1,5 hours of breastfeeding leave every day until the child is one year old. ÖzU offers the mother the choice to use this paid leave as 1,5 hours every day or because commute takes a lot of time to use it as one whole day every week.
ÖzU allows for 5 days of paid paternity leave, 5 days of marital leave, and 5 days of bereavement leave. There are also 2 days a year for leaves of a personal nature.
All employees are part of the government pension plan. All premiums for employees are paid via the employer and eligibility has an age limit and a minimum number of days worked. ÖzU also offers employees a Private Pension Plan which has the minimum amount of cost legally possible. For academicals above the rank of Assistant Professor who have worked for at least 1 year at ÖzU and Turkish national SCOLA instructors who have worked at ÖzU for at least 2 years, ÖzU also matches their Private Pension Plan contributions up to 3 % of their salaries.
Labor Law also defines severance pay and depending on how the termination happens may include severance compensation. All unused paid annual leaves are also compensated at the time of severance.
ÖzÜ also provides all employees with private life insurance that covers death and instances where the employee is rendered unable to work.
All employees are provided free lunch and a free service bus network for transport to and from work. Also, there is a minimum-pay shuttle service during the day.
There are several kindergartens with discounts to ÖzU employees and also for a certain pay level, the university offers support for kindergarten tuition. ÖzU also has discount agreements with other elementary schools.
There is a hairdresser, a grocery store, and a free sports center with a pool on campus.
There is also free and confidential Counseling via phone for all employees (Psychological, Child/Family, One-on-One, Medical, and Legal-Regulatory).
More detail is provided in the Human Resources Policy.