The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has submitted a legislative proposal to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) to have internship and apprenticeship periods recognized as the start of insurance coverage. If the proposal is enacted, the retirement start date for many individuals who were in workplaces during their vocational training periods could be affected.
The proposal, which envisions amendments to the Vocational Training Law, the Unemployment Insurance Law, and the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law, was submitted to the Speaker of the TBMM with the signatures of DEM Party Group Deputy Chairs Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit and Sezai Temelli.
The justification for the proposal states that retirement conditions were made more stringent with social security regulations adopted in 1999 and 2006, and with key provisions entering into force in 2008. It was argued that the methods used to calculate retirement pensions have changed and that the protective nature of social security has weakened.
WHAT DOES THE PROPOSAL ENVISION?
The regulation aims to have periods spent under mandatory internships and apprenticeships evaluated in terms of disability, old-age, and death insurance. In this context, it is aimed for these dates of entry into work to be accepted as the start of insurance for retirement purposes.
The justification stated that ignoring these periods when determining retirement conditions for individuals who were in workplaces as part of vocational training and who contributed to economic life “does not align with the principle of social justice.”
The proposal also envisions a regulation requiring that social security premiums for interns, apprentices, trainees, and scholarship recipients, whose scope will be determined by law, be covered by the employers they actually work for, rather than through the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
The DEM Party explained the purpose of the proposal as addressing the loss of rights that emerged in past periods, reducing disparities between individuals in similar situations, and making the social security system more fair and inclusive.
News Source: 12punto
