Page 8 - VEGU_Haziran2017

Vergide Gündem

English Translation

Implementations on social security for
international staff assignments

Mobility, as an implementation adopted by multi-national companies, contributes
to professional and individual progress of the employees meeting particular
performance criteria through intra-company global exchange programs while
requiring a cost planning for those multi-nationals’ international assignment
policies. Just at that stage, the question on where social security premiums would
be paid accounts for a significant part within this cost planning.

The first to be taken into account in terms of the social security implementations
is whether a convention on social security exists between the country of origin/
assignment and Turkey or not.

The employee’s being subject to the social security legislation of the country in
which the employment occurs stands as the fundamental rule within the social
security contracts. However, within the social security contracts, staff members
temporarily sent to a contracting country by their employers have been excluded
from that primary principle of the contract. In other words, in the circumstance
that a worker of an employer resident in one of the contracting countries with its
headquarters is sent to the other contracting country temporarily for the execution
of a particular task or to work on behalf of his/her employer; it’s indicated that
the legislation of the contracting party where the headquarters exist would be
implemented as if he/she works within the first contracting party, as long as the
employee works for the secondary contracting country. Through this, pursuant to
the principle of integrity in social security, prevention of being insured repeatedly
is aimed. So, the worker would be subject to the social security legislation of the
contracting country in which the employer actually employing him/her is resident
and on the other hand will be exempt of the social security legislation of the other
contracting country where he/she has worked temporarily for a period as indicated
in the contract.

At the time that period of exemption identified within the social security contracts
expires, pursuant to the principle of integrity in social security, the employee’s state
of being insured mandatorily in the country in which he/she is actually employed
should be terminated and start to be existing under the social security legislation of
the country temporarily worked.

Since each social security contract contains different terms, it would be appropriate
to implement an exemption by taking the terms of the local legislation applicable in
the concerning countries into account.

Although any clear regulation does not exist in the legislation concerning the
principles on “temporary assignment” and “working on behalf of the actual
employer” aforementioned in the Law no.5510 and international social security
contracts, Social Security Institute of Turkey accepts the temporary assignment
period as 6 months (maximum 1 year) in practice. At the same time, it’s indicated
that the employee could only be assigned at a group company abroad for the
execution of a particular and specialty job, indicating that the employee should
remain under the hierarchical formation of the employer in Turkey during that
period; in other words handling the employee-employer affairs in Turkey. However,
under these circumstances, submitting social security notifications for an employee

8 Haziran 2017