One of the rights of the workers in accordance to the Turkish Labour Code is “severance pay” which is to be paid to workers with at least one year seniority.
Severance pay is entitled in the following cases:
– Dismissal of the employee by the employer without a just cause.
– The employee’s termination of the employment contract with a just cause, in accordance with the conditions defined in the Labour Code No. 4857
– The employee’s retirement
– Death of the worker
– Female worker quitting her job within one year from the date of the marriage,
– Male worker leaving his job due to compulsory military service,
– The employee leaves the job voluntarily by fulfilling the retirement conditions other than the age requirement.
In such cases, the employer pays the employee a 30-day severance pay for each full-year during the continuation of the service contract, starting from the date of employment of the employee whose employment contract is terminated. Payments are made at the same rate for periods longer than one year. Severance pay is paid over the last clad wage of the worker. On the other hand, severance pay payments have a legally determined ceiling. The severance pay ceiling for the second half of the calendar year of 2022 is TRL 15,371.40.
In the Labour Code No. 1475, the issue of when the severance pay should be paid to the employee is not clearly defined. However, severance pay must be paid in advance at the end of the employment contract.
The Turkish Court of Cassation accepts that severance pay becomes due as of entitlement date. In other words, the amount of severance pay must be paid in full, immediately and in advance, on the date the employment contract ends so that the worker deserves severance pay.
On the other hand, since the Code No. 1475 does not make a clear determination, a reasonable time or installment payment option can be determined for the payment according to the agreement to be made between the employee and the employer. In so far, in the event that the periods specified in this protocol to be arranged by the employer are exceeded, the employee will be able to demand the full severance pay immediately.
If the severance pay is not paid on time, the highest interest applied to the deposit according to the unpaid period must be paid for the delay period. Other rights of the worker arising from the legislation and the contract are reserved.
