Makale

Termination Of Employment in Turkey

Overview

Turkish law distinguishes among

(i) termination without cause,
(ii) termination for valid cause,
iii) termination for just cause, and
(iv) collective dismissal. An employment agreement can be terminated

(i) by the employer without any cause or for valid cause, or
(ii) by either the employer or the employee for just cause, or
(iii) by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee.

Notice Periods

Notice periods shall be calculated in accordance with the duration of the employee’s service as set forth below (unless a longer notice period is provided for in the individual or collective employment agreement:

DURATION OF EMPLOYMENT	NOTICE PERIOD
Up to 6 months	2 weeks
From 6 months to 18 months	4 weeks
From 18 months to 36 months	6 weeks
36 months or more	8 weeks

Employment Protection

The provisions under the Labour Law relating to the termination of employment contracts are mandatory provisions and it is not possible to include any provisions in the employment agreements which are more detrimental to the employees’ rights in this respect. Turkish law provides employees with extensive protection against unilateral termination of the employment agreement by the employer. Therefore, any termination in contradiction of these provisions shall be deemed invalid and employers shall be obliged to pay compensation to the employees.

In this respect, the employer must have a valid cause to terminate the employment agreement if:

(i) the employer is employing thirty or more employees,
(ii) the employee has been employed for at least 6 months, and
(iii) the employment agreement has an indeinite term.

If the foregoing conditions exist, the employer may not terminate an employment agreement without a valid cause which must relate to the competence or behaviour of the employee or the special conditions of the enterprise, workplace or work. The Labour Law does not speciically list what constitutes a valid cause for termination.

If a valid cause exists, the employer shall serve a written termination notice on the employee by observing the notice periods above. The reason for termination must be included in the notice. Upon termination, the employer shall pay all monetary rights and entitlements that the employee has earned during the term of his/her employment (e.g. salary, vacation payments, notice payment, severance indemniication).

Immediate Termination without Notice

In the event the employer wishes to immediately terminate an employee’s employment, it can do so by paying the relevant notice payment in lieu of waiting until the end of the notice period. Notice payment is equivalent to the monthly salary (unless a higher notice payment is provided for in the individual or collective employment agreement) of the employee corresponding to the relevant notice period.

Moreover, pursuant to Articles 24 and 25 of Labour Law, both the employer and the employee are entitled to terminate an employment agreement for a just cause.

In case of a termination of the employment agreement for just cause, neither the employer nor the employee is required to observe notice periods and can terminate immediately by serving a written notiication to the other party. However, the employer is required to pay the severance indemniication, save where termination is based on the non-ethical conduct of the employee.

Collective Dismissal/Collective Redundancies

Collective dismissal will be deemed to have occurred if the following numbers of employees’ employment has been terminated:

TERMINATED EMPLOYEES	TOTAL EMPLOYEES
10	20 to 100
11 to 30	101 to 300
30	301 or more

In case of collective dismissal, compelling reasons such as technological or organisational reasons relating to the enterprise, workplace or work must exist. In the event the employer wishes to recruit new personnel within six months following the date of collective dismissal, it must preferably recruit the former personnel whose qualiications match those the employer then seeks to employ. In case of a collective dismissal, the employer is also required to give notice to the relevant regional directorate of Social Security Institution 30 days prior to the collective dismissal.

Severance Payment

Severance payment is a type of tax-free compensation payable upon termination of the employment to employees who have at least 1 year of service, save where termination has occurred due to an unethical conduct or resignation of the employee.

Severance indemniication shall be calculated by multiplying the total sum of the employee’s last monthly salary by the number of years he/she has worked in the same workplace. There is a ceiling in the determination of the employee’s last 30 days salary, which is determined each year by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services (currently TRY 6017,60 to be applied for the irst half of 2019).