The Turkish Labour Code No. 4857, which is the fundamental law of Turkish Labour Law, defines a period called “the notice period” for the termination of employment contracts. Both the employee and the employer are obliged to comply with the rules regarding the notice period and notify the other party within a certain period of time before terminating the employment contract.
Thanks to the notice rule applied in Turkish Labor Law, while the employer will search for a new employee during the notice period, the employee will have the opportunity to search for a new job during the notice period.
According to the Article 17 of the Code No. 4857, the notice period varies according to the employee’s seniority at the workplace. Accordingly, the minimum notice periods according to the law are as follows:
- For an employee whose job has lasted less than six months, two weeks starting from the date of notification to the other party.
- For an employee whose job has lasted from six months to one and a half years, four weeks starting from the date of notification to the other party.
- For an employee whose job has lasted from one and a half years to three years, six weeks starting from the date of notification to the other party.
- For an employee whose job has lasted more than three years, eight weeks starting from the date of notification.
The will to terminate the employment contracts of employees working with an indefinite-term employment contract shall become effective at the end of the above-mentioned notice periods.
These periods defined in the law are minimum and can be increased by contracts.
The party that does not comply with the notification requirement must pay compensation in the amount of the wage related to the notification period.
The employer is entitled to terminate the employment contract by paying the notice period fee in advance.
The employer’s failure to comply with the notice requirement or terminating the contract by paying the notice period compensation in advance does not prevent the implementation of the provisions regarding job security or the safeguards against abuse of the right to termination.
According to the law, in cases where the employment contract of employees outside the scope of application of job security is terminated by abuse of the right to termination, compensation must be paid to the employee in an amount three times the notice period. Failure to comply with the notice requirement for termination also requires payment of compensation in accordance with the fourth paragraph.
In the calculation of the notice compensation, in addition to the wage, the money provided to the employee or the benefits arising from the contract and the Law that can be measured in money are also taken into consideration.
