Radiation Workers’ 35-Hour Weekly Limit, Overtime and Radiation Leave

Are the 35 Hours, Overtime and Radiation Leave the Same Right?

No. Although they may arise from the same radiation work, their legal purposes and calculation methods differ.

For example, a worker may have worked 42 hours a week in in-scope work and exceeded 1,500 hours in the controlled area that year. In that case:

• an overtime calculation for the 7-hour weekly excess,
• health leave of at most 30 days under the post-2023 system,
• dose exceedance and occupational health measures, if any,

are examined separately. The fact that health leave is capped at 30 days does not make the excess over 35 hours lawful; nor does payment of overtime remove the right to rest.

What Does Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 3153 Regulate?

Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 3153 establishes the following two layers of protection:

1. For places where diagnosis, treatment or research is carried out with ionizing radiation, and for personnel working in these jobs or procedures, the weekly working time is 35 hours.
2. Even within this time, the dose limits in the regulation are separately observed; the leave and measures to be applied to prevent a dose from being exceeded, or when it is exceeded, are determined by secondary legislation.

In its decision E.2010/29, K.2010/90, the Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi) explained that 35 hours is a maximum and that dose limits may require shorter working time. Therefore, neither the conclusion that “completing 35 hours is mandatory” nor the conclusion that “35 hours can be exceeded if the dose is low” can be drawn.

Who Is Subject to the Weekly 35-Hour Limit?

It is not enough on its own for a duty card to say “radiology,” “X-ray,” “technician,” “nurse” or “physician.” The following five questions must be answered together:

1. Does the device or source used produce or emit ionizing radiation?
2. In which physical area is the diagnosis, treatment or research procedure carried out?
3. Is the worker’s actual duty tied to this procedure directly or as a necessary part of the work?
4. What are the continuity, frequency and organization of the work?
5. What do the device, area, NDK/radiation safety, dosimetry and automation records show?

Typical Examples of Scope

• plain radiography and computed tomography,
• angiography and interventional radiology,
• mammography,
• nuclear medicine and radionuclide applications,
• radiation oncology,
• mobile X-ray, fluoroscopy or C-arm devices in the operating room,
• ionizing applications in oral, dental and maxillofacial radiology.

MRI and ultrasound devices, as a rule, do not produce ionizing radiation. However, where the worker also performs ionizing procedures such as CT, plain radiography, mammography or angiography on the same day, the duty must be examined as a whole and procedure by procedure.

Why Is the Court of Cassation Decision E.2024/361 Important?

In its decision E.2024/361, K.2024/3795, the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber found that a cardiologist spent most of his time in an outpatient clinic with no radiation source, and that angiography procedures were limited in days and duration. The Chamber concluded that the whole working time could not be placed under the 35-hour regime solely on the basis of the cardiologist title or the use of a dosimeter.

This decision does not say that “angiography workers can never benefit from the 35 hours.” The practical message of the decision is this: the number of procedures, the duration of procedures, the physical area, the actual duty, the work pattern and the technical records must be made concrete.

Does the Law Provide for 7 Hours or 7.5 Hours of Work a Day?

These two figures come from different norms:

• 35 hours: the special weekly limit in Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 3153.
• 7 hours: the mathematical result of distributing the weekly 35 hours equally over five working days. In its decision E.2021/12186, K.2022/528, the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber used 7 hours a day and a divisor of 210 hours a month in the hourly pay calculation.
• 7.5 hours: the daily upper limit in the Regulation on Jobs Requiring Work of a Maximum of Seven and a Half Hours a Day or Less in Terms of Health Rules, dated July 16, 2013. The Regulation separately reserves Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 3153 for work involving radioactive and radioionizing substances.

For this reason the following statement is more accurate: in radiation work, the weekly total cannot exceed 35 hours; and the working day must also not exceed the daily upper limit of 7.5 hours in terms of health rules. In an equal five-day plan, the daily time is 7 hours.

Sample Work Plans

Warning: It is not enough for the shift plan to say 35 hours on paper. Handover, equipment preparation, patient procedure, reporting, system approval, emergency calls and work records on days shown as leave may change the actual time.

Can a Radiation Worker Work Shifts or Duty Shifts?

Yes. Article 7 of the Regulation on Health Services Provided Using Ionizing Radiation and Radionuclides, dated April 13, 2023, states that the work pattern of radiation workers may be organized as shifts or duty shifts for the effectiveness and continuity of the service. The express condition, however, is that the 35-hour working time in the same article is not exceeded.

A shift or duty shift is a form of organization, while 35 hours is a protective upper limit. Calling a period a “duty shift” does not automatically produce these results:

• treating the entire duty shift as outside the scope,
• adding it on top of 35 hours,
• removing the daily 7.5-hour limit,
• ending pay and rest rights altogether through a single duty-shift payment.

How Is a Duty Shift Spent at the Workplace Assessed?

Where the worker is at the hospital, waiting ready for the employer’s instructions and unable to leave the place freely, that period strongly has the nature of general working time. For the special 35-hour radiation regime, however, it may be separately determined which work the worker did, and in which area, during the duty shift. In a mixed-duty shift, the following must be established through records:

• ionizing work in the controlled area,
• general work in a unit without radiation,
• an actual rest break,
• the opportunity for sleep/rest and actual interventions.

The employer cannot wipe out the entire duty shift in a single entry as “waiting,” and the worker cannot count the entire duty shift as controlled-area work without documents.

Is the Entire Period Waited at Home During On-Call Duty Added to the 35 Hours?

On-call duty gives rise to two separate questions:

1. The outcome, in terms of general duty-shift pay/working time, of the period waited at home or at a freely chosen place,
2. The calculation, for the 35 hours, of the actual time spent being called to the hospital and performing ionizing radiation work.

The repealed 2012 Regulation expressly provided that time actually worked during on-call duty was included in the weekly working time. Although the current 2023 Regulation does not repeat the same sentence, it states that a shift or duty shift cannot exceed 35 hours. For this reason, disregarding in-scope actual work performed at the hospital after a call under an “on-call” label is incompatible with the protective purpose of the Law.

Whether the entire time spent waiting at home will be treated as working time/duty-shift pay is assessed separately according to the personnel’s status, the restrictions imposed during waiting, the frequency of calls and the special legislation to be applied. Some Council of State (Danıştay) decisions concerning public personnel have accepted pay or leave consequences for on-call time spent at home; these cannot be carried over unchanged to every employee file or to the 35-hour calculation.

Is an Administrative Duty Shift the Same as a Clinical/Radiation Duty Shift?

No. What matters is the content of the duty shift, not its name. If the worker performs administrative duties and does not take part in ionizing procedures, the scope of the 35 hours may differ. On the other hand, if the worker has actually been called in for an emergency CT, angiography, fluoroscopy or nuclear medicine procedure, the procedure time and the necessary preparation/completion time must be counted through records.

Is Overtime Prohibited in Radiation Work?

The Regulation on daily maximum working time, issued on the basis of Law No. 6331, lists work involving radioactive and radioionizing substances among the jobs that may be performed for at most 7.5 hours a day. Under the same Regulation, a worker who completes this time cannot be employed in another job.

Article 7 of the Regulation on Overtime and Extra-Time Work under the Labor Law also provides that overtime cannot be required in jobs that must be performed for 7.5 hours or less a day in terms of health rules.

This prohibition is important for the following reasons:

• The worker’s written overtime consent does not lift the prohibition.
• A clause in the employment contract stating that “overtime is included in the pay” does not give the authority to require prohibited work.
• The general annual cap of 270 hours does not free up overtime of up to 270 hours in radiation work.
• Staff shortages, patient load, the bonus system or continuity of service do not legitimize a permanent exceedance of the limit.
• Payment of pay does not eliminate the occupational health and safety violation.

The special conditions of compelling reasons and extraordinary circumstances may be examined separately. However, the general and foreseeable personnel needs of a health service cannot be used as a permanent state of extraordinary circumstances.

If Overtime Is Prohibited, Can the Employee Still Claim Pay?

Yes. A violation of the protective prohibition does not give the employer the right to use the employee’s labor without compensation. According to the Court of Cassation’s general approach, working limits exist to protect the employee; prohibited work that was actually required is paid for.

In Court of Cassation decisions on radiation workers, work exceeding the following has been taken into the overtime calculation:

• 5 hours a day and 27.5 hours a week in the period before January 30, 2010,
• 35 hours a week in the period after January 30, 2010.

In its decision E.2016/972, K.2019/9865, the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber stated that prohibited work in the period before 2010 must also be accepted directly as overtime, and that the 35-hour limit will be used for the period after 2010.

Is the Range Between 35 and 45 Hours Paid at a 25% or a 50% Premium?

Under Article 41 of the Labor Law, work beyond the time set by contract below 45 hours, up to 45 hours, is generally “extra-time work (fazla sürelerle çalışma)” and carries a 25% premium. However, a radiation worker’s 35 hours arises not from a contract but from a special and protective statutory provision.

The Court of Cassation’s approach in radiation cases is to calculate the time exceeding 35 hours as overtime with a 50% premium. In its decision E.2021/12186, K.2022/528, the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber expressly used the 7-hour-a-day basis and the divisor of 210 hours a month, and required a multiplier of 1.5 for the guaranteed salary component.

For this reason, the direct calculation of the range between 35 and 45 hours at 25% in an expert report should be specifically questioned with regard to decisions concerning radiation workers.

Which Divisor Gives the Hourly Pay: 210 or 175?

Internet content may claim that the monthly equivalent of 35 weekly hours is 175 or 174.99 hours. This mathematical approach converts the weekly time into an average monthly number of weeks. However, in its decision E.2021/12186, K.2022/528, the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber accepted the radiation worker’s daily working time as 7 hours and determined the hourly pay by dividing the monthly basic pay by 210 hours.

Accordingly, in current litigation and expert review, 210 hours is the method with direct Court of Cassation support. Although the 175/174.99 approach may be an arguable calculation view in doctrine or practice, it should not be presented as settled case law. If a collective labor agreement or an individual contract provides for a higher hourly pay in the employee’s favor, it applies separately.

Basic Calculation Formula

For an employee subject to the Labor Law who is paid a fixed salary, taking the method in the Court of Cassation decision as the basis:

Hourly pay = Monthly gross basic pay / 210

Overtime pay = Excess hours × Hourly pay × 1.5

This is a gross example. Payroll accruals, bank payments, the type of bonus, the statute of limitations, interest, tax and social security deductions are applied separately.

How Do Guaranteed Salary, Performance Bonuses and Per-Task Payments Affect Overtime?

In private hospitals, the pay of physicians and health personnel often consists of a fixed guaranteed salary plus variable payments tied to procedures, reports, patients, points or entitlements. The sentence “I received a bonus” alone does not show that overtime has been paid in full.

In its decision E.2021/12186, K.2022/528, the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber distinguished between three separate models:

Numerical Bonus Example

Assumptions:

• Monthly guaranteed salary: 42,000 Turkish lira (TL) gross,
• Monthly per-task bonus/entitlement: 21,000 TL gross,
• Verified overtime in the month concerned: 14 hours.

Guaranteed salary portion:

(42,000 / 210) × 14 × 1.5 = 4,200 TL gross

Only the premium portion, if the hourly equivalent of the per-task bonus can be established according to the specific payment system and the hours in which the work was produced:

(21,000 / 210) × 14 × 0.5 = 700 TL gross

The total of the example is 4,900 TL gross. However, this formula cannot be applied automatically without determining whether the bonus is truly a per-task bonus or a quota bonus, how the same procedures are distributed between normal and overtime hours, the bonus period and the reliability of the records.

Is a Clause Stating “Overtime Pay Is Included in the Salary” Valid?

The Court of Cassation may, in general, assess such clauses under conditions such as a limit of 270 hours per year and the pay remaining above the minimum wage. However, radiation work is among the jobs in which overtime cannot be required in terms of health rules. For this reason, the contract clause:

• does not make overtime lawful,
• does not remove the 35-hour and daily 7.5-hour limits,
• does not prevent an investigation into how many hours were actually worked,
• does not remove the burden of proving which hour and which debt a payment made relates to.

If Radiation Leave and Overtime Are Claimed Together, Is There Double Payment?

As a rule, no. Overtime pay is the pay equivalent of the employee’s labor exceeding the 35-hour limit. Radiation/health leave, on the other hand, is an additional annual right aimed at reducing radiation exposure and at rest.

Duplication means the same pay element being paid twice for the same hour or day. Claiming together rights arising from different legal grounds is not, by itself, duplication.

Does Overtime Performed in the Controlled Area Enter the Health Leave Calculation?

Under Article 8 of the 2023 Regulation, health leave is determined from the Annex 2 table according to the time actually worked in the controlled area where ionizing radiation sources and radionuclides are used within a calendar year. Mobile devices such as mobile X-ray or fluoroscopy are subject to the same actual-time approach.

The Regulation does not say that “actual hours exceeding 35 hours are excluded from the health leave calculation.” Therefore, it is a strong interpretation that overtime proven to have actually been performed in the controlled area should not be made invisible in Annex 2 merely because it was required unlawfully. The opposite approach could allow the employer to benefit from its unlawful employment of the worker.

However, three limits must be preserved:

1. Only the verified actual time in the controlled area or within the scope of Article 8/2 of the Regulation is added.
2. The same procedure is not counted more than once merely because it appears in the HBYS, PACS, card and device log.
3. Under Annex 2, health leave does not exceed 30 days; the violation of 35 hours and overtime pay are addressed separately.

There is limited settled Court of Cassation case law applied directly to the 2023 Regulation on this interpretation. The specific case must be built on the relevant calendar year, the personnel status and the records.

A Short Calculation of Health Leave After 2023

Annex 2 ties actual time in the controlled area to leave of 1 to 30 days in steps of 50 hours. For example:

• 50 hours → 1 day,
• 740 hours → 15 days,
• 1451–1500 hours → 30 days.

The details of the radiation leave day calculation are in the article titled “How Many Days Is Radiation Leave? How Health Leave Is Calculated According to Actual Working Time in the Controlled Area.”

With Which Records Is Weekly Working Time Calculated?

The correct calculation must be built for each week with the following formula:

In-scope actual weekly work
= normal shift
+ actual duty-shift/on-call callout
+ preparation and necessary closing
- actual rest break
- duplicate records

If the duty is mixed, radiation work and general work are classified separately. Whether the 35-hour regime applies to the worker’s entire working time or to the in-scope portion is determined in light of the actual organization of duties and case law.

Evidence Map

Is the Physician’s First Patient Admission to the Last Procedure the Whole Working Time?

The time between the first patient admission and the last procedure is a strong working interval, especially in files where the hospital automation is complete and user-specific. In its decision of affirmation E.2024/8203, K.2024/11882, the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber accepted, in the specific file, a calculation based on the first patient admission–last procedure interval from the automation records.

However, this method is not an automatic and unchangeable rule of law. The following checks must be made:

• Is there device checking, calibration, case preparation or a meeting before the first procedure?
• Did reporting, approval, complication follow-up or device shutdown continue after the last procedure?
• Was there a rest break during the day that was actually used freely?
• Did the physician perform transactions on the same day in PACS, RIS, HBYS, Medula or other automation systems?
• Was a shared username or a later bulk approval used?
• Is the procedure time consistent with the server time, the device time and the card passage?
• Is reporting from home or remote approval part of the work pattern?

The first–last procedure interval should be used not as a minimum or maximum of work for the whole day, but as a digital time window that needs to be explained by other evidence.

How Are Rest Breaks Deducted?

Under Article 68 of the Labor Law, daily work requires a rest break of:

• at least 15 minutes if it is 4 hours or less,
• at least 30 minutes if it is more than 4 hours and up to 7.5 hours,
• at least 1 hour if it is more than 7.5 hours.

As a rule, a rest break is not counted as working time.

However, writing “lunch break” on paper is not enough for this time to be deducted automatically. If the worker:

• cannot leave the device,
• is waiting for a patient or an emergency call,
• is reporting/approving,
• is performing an automation transaction in the same time interval,

it must be investigated whether the rest was actually used. Conversely, a gap between two transactions in the automation system is not, on its own, proof of a rest break either; it may be preparation, patient waiting or device work.

How Is Work with Operating Room, Mobile Fluoroscopy and C-Arm Devices Proven?

Mobile fluoroscopy or C-arm X-ray procedures may not always be recorded in the fixed PACS system on a user basis and completely. For this reason:

• the operating room case register,
• surgical team and anesthesia records,
• device console/modality logs,
• the radiation safety and device use schedule,
• the operating room turnstile record,
• the duty-shift/shift list,
• dosimetry and mobile device allocation records

must be examined together. The absence of the personnel’s name in PACS does not, on its own, prove that the person never worked with a mobile device.

What Should Be Done Before Digital Evidence Disappears?

In hospital systems, old logs may become inaccessible because of retention policies, user authorization, system changes or data migration. The worker or the representative should consider the following sequence:

1. A written request to the employer for record preservation and a work statement,
2. The suitability of a personal data application under Article 11 of the Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK),
3. Pre-litigation preservation of evidence under Article 400 of the Code of Civil Procedure (HMK),
4. Document production during the case under HMK Articles 219–220,
5. When necessary, on-site examination under HMK Article 288 and a technical expert,
6. Ordering the production of records from third-party institutions and device providers.

Evidence Extraction Compliant with the KVKK

Special-category personal data such as patient name, Turkish identity number (T.C. kimlik numarası), diagnosis and images should not be copied unnecessarily or transferred to a personal device. In the evidence sample, where possible:

• the procedure type,
• the date and time,
• the user/personnel identity,
• the device or unit,
• technical fields showing record integrity

should be left visible, and patient identity and health data should be masked. The court should be asked to order the original data from the institution, with patient information masked and in an auditable form. It cannot be recommended that the employee resort to unauthorized data acquisition or breaching system security.

Sample Request Paragraph for HMK Articles 219–220

“We request that the defendant be given a firm deadline under HMK Article 219 to submit the plaintiff’s user sessions, procedure and approval times, DICOM/audit trail records, first patient admission–last procedure printouts, shift/duty-shift schedules and card passage data for the period [date range], held in the defendant employer’s HBYS, PACS, RIS, Medula integration and device console databases, with health and identity data of third persons masked and with the original system source and timestamp preserved; and that any refusal to submit be assessed within the framework of HMK Article 220.”

This paragraph is not a ready-made petition; it must be adapted to the specific system, party, period and subject of proof.

Why Should Working Time Be Calculated Week by Week and in Separate Periods?

Overtime is, as a rule, measured weekly. Dividing a month’s total hours by four or 4.33 may mask differences in leave, sick leave, holidays, shift changes and workload. For each week, the following:

1. working days,
2. start and end of work,
3. actual rest break,
4. duty shift and actual on-call callout,
5. the distinction between controlled-area work and general work,
6. hours and amount paid in the payroll

should be shown on a separate line.

Weekly Example

In this example, it matters whether the shift time includes the rest break. If “7 hours” is already net work, the rest cannot be deducted a second time. The schedule must state the definition of net/gross time expressly. If in-scope work of a net 37.5 hours is verified, the 2.5 hours above 35 hours enter the overtime calculation. The daily 7.5-hour limit has also been separately violated on Tuesday and Thursday.

Can Shorter Work in a Following Week Erase an Exceedance Through Averaging?

In general labor law, averaging (denkleştirme) can be applied if its conditions are met. However, the daily maximum time in terms of health rules and the special weekly 35 hours in Law No. 3153 are protective limits. Having a worker work 45 hours one week and 25 hours the next, to bring the average down to 35, does not retroactively remove the radiation exposure of the first week or the violation of the daily limit. The lawfulness of such a plan should not be assumed on the basis of general averaging logic.

To Which Dates Do the Old and New Legislation Apply?

The history of working time and the history of health leave are not the same. Two separate timelines must be used.

Timeline of Working Time and Overtime

The repeal of the 1939 Statute on June 25, 2021 did not abolish the weekly 35-hour rule in Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 3153, which has been in place since 2010.

Timeline of Health/Radiation Leave

For the overtime report, the 2010 limit should be used; for the radiation leave report, the 2021–2023 transition. Applying a single formula to the entire working period is wrong.

Is the Outcome the Same for Employees, Civil Servants and Contracted Personnel?

The substantive 35-hour protection may be shared across statuses; however, pay, application route, competent jurisdiction and time limits differ.

For a public official, the conclusion “35 hours were exceeded, so 50% pay under Labor Law Article 41” cannot be established automatically. Under the administrative personnel regime, which regulation gives rise to pay or leave for duty shifts and overtime, the date of application to the institution and the time limits under the Administrative Procedure Law (İYUK) must be determined separately.

What Should Be Done Before Litigation for Overtime, Radiation Leave and Bonuses?

Step-by-Step Roadmap for the Employee

1. Determine the status and the scope. Collect the employment contract, the Social Security Institution (SGK) records, the job description, and the device and area records.
2. Build a week-by-week table. Enter shifts, duty shifts, calls and actual rest breaks week by week.
3. Preserve the digital data. Make a written request so that HBYS/PACS/RIS/device logs are not deleted; do not copy patient data unnecessarily.
4. Compare payroll and bank records. Match the name, hours and amount of overtime, duty-shift and bonus accruals.
5. Calculate radiation leave separately. Calculate the four weeks or Annex 2 according to the relevant health leave period.
6. Consider a written request for correction. If the employment relationship continues, ask for the work plan to be brought into line with the 35-hour/daily limits and for accrued leave to be granted.
7. Name the claims separately in the mediation application. Overtime, radiation/health leave receivable, bonus, duty shift, annual leave and compensation should not be squeezed into the same wording.
8. Request the production of evidence in the labor court. Specify the employer’s system and pay records with concrete data fields.

Sample Mediation Request

“The request is for payment of overtime pay with premium, by separately examining the guaranteed salary, the per-task bonus/entitlement, the duty-shift accrual and previous payments, for actual work exceeding the weekly 35 hours and the daily health limit in ionizing radiation work within the scope of Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 3153; and for the pay for unused health/radiation leave to be calculated as an independent receivable.”

In the application, the date range, the employers and the claims should be made concrete. A general phrase such as “all employee claims” may create a dispute over the procedural prerequisite and the reservation of rights.

Which Errors Should Be Checked in the Expert Report?

• [ ] Are the periods before and after January 30, 2010 separated?
• [ ] After 2010, is the special threshold 35 hours, or mistakenly 45 hours?
• [ ] Are the exceedance of the daily 7.5 hours and the weekly exceedance shown separately?
• [ ] Has the same time been paid twice in the daily and the weekly calculation?
• [ ] Is the shift time net or gross; has the rest break been deducted a second time?
• [ ] Have duty-shift/on-call callouts been matched with telephone, card and system records?
• [ ] Has the first–last procedure interval been tested against preparation, reporting and actual rest?
• [ ] Have PACS/RIS/Medula and device logs been examined beyond the HBYS?
• [ ] Has the hourly pay been checked with the divisor of 210 in line with the Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber E.2021/12186?
• [ ] Has the distinction been made between 1.5 for the guaranteed salary and 0.5 for the premium portion of the per-task bonus?
• [ ] Has a quota bonus been mistakenly treated as a normal payment for work?
• [ ] Is the legal effect of a signed or unsigned payroll and of the bank payment correct?
• [ ] Has overtime paid been set off for the same period by amount?
• [ ] Have radiation leave days been mistakenly set off against overtime pay?
• [ ] After 2023, have the controlled-area hours been carried to Annex 2 after eliminating duplicate records?
• [ ] Has the witness been used only for the period of working together?
• [ ] In uncertain records, are the assumptions and the alternative calculations clear?

Compliance Checklist for the Employer and Hospital Management

• [ ] Are the lists of ionizing devices and controlled areas up to date?
• [ ] Has an employee-based duty and area matrix been created?
• [ ] Do the shift and duty-shift plans comply with the weekly 35-hour and daily 7.5-hour limits?
• [ ] Are the actual entry, procedure and exit times in on-call callouts being recorded?
• [ ] Are user accounts personal; have shared users been closed?
• [ ] Are the HBYS/PACS/RIS, device and card clocks synchronized?
• [ ] Can rest breaks actually be used?
• [ ] Are normal pay, overtime, duty-shift and bonus kept under separate codes in the payroll?
• [ ] Does the bonus system distinguish a quota bonus from a per-task bonus?
• [ ] At the end of the calendar year, are the actual hours in the controlled area calculated according to Annex 2?
• [ ] Is health leave granted as real rest, independent of the work plan?
• [ ] Are system access and patient procedures blocked on leave days?
• [ ] Do log retention periods meet litigation and audit needs?
• [ ] Have KVKK access authorizations been determined for patient data and employee data?
• [ ] Is regular reporting made to radiation safety, the workplace physician and the occupational health and safety board?

What Can the Worker Do If There Is a Health and Safety Risk?

Continuous exceedance of the 35-hour limit is not only a pay problem. If there is a serious and imminent danger with regard to personal dose, protective equipment, area classification or health monitoring, the procedure for refraining from work under Article 13 of Law No. 6331 may also be considered separately.

The worker should not choose to stop going to work directly and without documents. A written application to the occupational health and safety board, or to the employer if there is no board, the records of the workplace physician and radiation safety, the conditions of urgent and unavoidable danger, and the official inspection channels should be made concrete. The outcome of termination for cause or of absence from work is not automatic in every case.

Güneş & Güneş Law Firm’s Working Method in These Cases

In Güneş & Güneş Law Firm’s approach to legal assessment, a radiation working-time file is built on four separate schedules:

1. Scope schedule: device, area, duty, dosimetry and status,
2. Time schedule: week, day, shift, duty shift, on-call, procedure and rest,
3. Pay schedule: guaranteed salary, per-task bonus, quota bonus, duty shift and payroll set-off,
4. Leave schedule: the former four-week period, the 2022–2023 transition and the current Annex 2.

This method aims to prevent the same hospital records from being used incorrectly or in duplicate for different legal questions. Depending on the circumstances of the file, the work that can be offered includes:

• analysis of the worker’s status and of the scope of Law No. 3153,
• week-by-week working time and overtime calculation,
• audit of bonus and payroll accruals,
• an evidence plan for HBYS/PACS/RIS/device logs,
• separate construction of the radiation/health leave calculation,
• scope of the mediation request and litigation strategy,
• analysis of the application to the institution and the administrative court time limit for public officials,
• technical and legal objection to the expert report.

The period of work, status, device, area, record and pay system differ in every file; no guarantee of outcome can be given.

Common Errors and Legal Realities

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Maximum Number of Hours a Radiology Technician Works a Week?

If the technician actually works in places and jobs where diagnosis, treatment or research is carried out with ionizing radiation, the special weekly time is 35 hours. If the duty consists only of non-ionizing work such as MRI or ultrasound, the scope is assessed separately.

Can a Radiation Worker Take a 24-Hour Duty Shift?

A 24-hour duty-shift label does not by itself make the arrangement lawful. The daily 7.5-hour health limit, the weekly 35 hours, actual rest, in which part of the duty shift ionizing work is done, and status-specific rules must be examined together.

Is the Time I Go to the Hospital During On-Call Duty Added to the 35 Hours?

The time you actually spend doing in-scope work at the hospital after a call, together with preparation and necessary completion time, is assessed through records. The repealed 2012 Regulation expressly regulated this; under the current system, too, a duty shift cannot exceed the 35-hour limit.

Is the Entire Time I Wait at Home on Call Overtime?

Not automatically in every case. The intervention time, the frequency of calls, the restrictions on freedom of movement and the personnel status matter. Administrative court decisions concerning public personnel should not be carried over directly to an employee case.

Is Work Exceeding 35 Hours Calculated at a 50% Premium?

In the Court of Cassation’s decisions concerning radiation workers, work exceeding 35 hours is calculated as overtime with a 50% premium. If there is a guaranteed salary and bonus model, the components are addressed separately.

Is Hourly Pay Divided by 210?

The Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber decision E.2021/12186, K.2022/528 used the divisor of 210. Although the 175/174.99 view may be discussed on the internet and in doctrine, it should not be presented as if it had direct Court of Cassation support at the same level.

If I Receive a Bonus, Can I Not Claim Overtime?

You can; the purpose and calculation of the bonus are determined. If a per-task bonus includes the pay for normal work, only the 50% premium difference may come into question for the bonus component; for the guaranteed salary, a 1.5 calculation may come into question. A quota bonus is different.

If Overtime Pay Is Paid, Can 35 Hours Be Exceeded?

No. The obligation to pay and the prohibition of work for health reasons are different. Payment of pay does not remove the occupational health violation or the right to rest.

Are My Overtime Hours Added to Radiation Leave After 2023?

It is a strong interpretation that hours proven to have been actually worked in the controlled area or with a mobile ionizing device should be taken into the Annex 2 actual-hours calculation. The same records are deduplicated and the leave does not exceed 30 days. Directly settled case law after 2023 is limited.

Do the First and Last Patient Times Prove Overtime?

They are strong digital evidence, but alone they are not always sufficient. Preparation, reporting, other systems, a shared user, the rest break and clock synchronization must be checked.

Does a Signed Payroll Prevent an Overtime Claim?

A payroll signed without reservation is strong evidence. If the payroll contains a specific overtime accrual, anything more may, as a rule, have to be proven by written evidence. An unsigned payroll, bank payment and records are assessed together; the specific case law and period must be examined.

I Used Radiation Leave; Does My Overtime Claim End?

No. Radiation leave actually used satisfies the protective leave right. It does not by itself remove pay for work above 35 hours performed in earlier weeks.

Does a Civil Servant at a Public Hospital Go to the Labor Court?

As a rule, no. An application to the institution first and then the administrative court route come into question. An employee of a subcontracting employer, however, is under the mediation and labor court regime. Status is the first step.

Conclusion

In radiation work, 35 hours is not an ordinary contractual weekly time; it is a special statutory limit that protects worker health. Shifts, duty shifts, on-call duty, bonuses or patient load do not extend this limit. The daily 7.5-hour health limit also applies separately.

An employer’s requiring overtime despite the protective prohibition does not remove the pay debt. The Court of Cassation accepts work exceeding 35 hours after January 30, 2010 as overtime, and has the guaranteed salary, per-task bonus, quota bonus and previous payments calculated separately.

Radiation/health leave, on the other hand, is different from overtime. After 2023, actual hours in the controlled area give rise to 1–30 days of leave under Annex 2. The same actual work may affect both the exceedance of 35 hours and the hours for health leave; but each right must be calculated with its own purpose and formula.

A correct file is built not on the job title but on the chain of device–area–actual work–time–pay–leave. Although HBYS/PACS/RIS and first–last procedure records are important, they must be cross-checked against the actual rest break, mobile devices, call records and user reliability.

Final legal principle: First it is determined which work falls within Law No. 3153; then actual time for each week, each pay component and each health leave period are calculated separately. The protective working limit, overtime pay and radiation leave cannot be eliminated by setting them off against one another.

Confidentiality and Legal Notice

The working, pay and health records shared with Güneş & Güneş Law Firm are treated within the scope of attorney professional secrecy, confidentiality obligations and personal data protection legislation. Patient data should not be shared through insecure channels.

This article is for general legal information purposes. It does not constitute a legal opinion or a guarantee of outcome without an examination of the personnel status, work period, nature of the device, controlled area, shift, bonus system, payroll and digital records.

Sources and legal bases

Official Legislation and Institutional Sources

• Law No. 3153 — Ministry of Health
• Ionizing Radiation Regulation dated 13.04.2023
• Previous Regulation dated 26.04.2022
• Presidential Decision No. 4144 dated 25.06.2021
• Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331
• Ministry of Labor and Social Security (ÇSGB) — frequently asked questions on labor law
• Ministry of Labor and Social Security (ÇSGB) — frequently asked questions on occupational health and safety; 7.5 hours and the ban on overtime

Judicial Decisions

• Constitutional Court, E.2010/29, K.2010/90, 16.07.2010
• Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber, E.2016/972, K.2019/9865, 06.05.2019
• Court of Cassation 22nd Civil Chamber, E.2013/27399, K.2014/35490, 15.12.2014
• Court of Cassation 22nd Civil Chamber, E.2016/5319, K.2017/16656, 11.07.2017
• Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber, E.2021/12186, K.2022/528, 18.01.2022
• Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber, E.2024/361, K.2024/3795, 28.02.2024
• Court of Cassation 9th Civil Chamber, E.2024/8203, K.2024/11882, 17.09.2024; the full decision text submitted by the user and the index of decisions linked to Law No. 3153.

Academic Sources

• Miraç Şamil Pekşen, “Radiation Leave from the Labor Law Perspective,” Work and Society (Çalışma ve Toplum), 2025/4, No. 87, pp. 1913–1942, DOI and open text.
• Samet Can Olgaç, “A General Evaluation of the Radiation Leave Receivable in Labor Law in Light of Court of Cassation Decisions,” Journal of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB Dergisi), 2015/117, pp. 333–358.
• Seçil Barlaz Us, Okan Us, “The Rights of Radiation Workers in Türkiye Arising from Legislation,” Journal of Health and Nursing Management (Sağlık ve Hemşirelik Yönetimi Dergisi), 2020, open text.