One of the obligations of employers in terms of the Turkish Labour Code No. 4857 is to provide a document indicating the type of work the worker has done and the duration of the work in case of any worker leaving the job. This document is called a work document or work certificate.
The Article 28 of the Turkish Labour Code No. 4857 regulates the “Work Document”. Accordingly, a document indicating the type of work and the duration must be given to the worker who leaves the job by the employer. The worker who suffers damages due to the document not being provided on time or the document containing incorrect information or the new employer who employs the worker may request compensation from the former employer. These documents are exempt from all kinds of duties and fees.
The provision regarding the work document is also regulated in the Article 426 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098. Accordingly, the employer is always obliged to provide a service document indicating the type and duration of the work upon the worker’s request. If the worker explicitly requests so, the service document shall also indicate the worker’s skills in performing the job and their attitudes and behaviors.
The employee who suffers damages due to the failure to provide the service document on time or the incorrect information in the document, or the new employer who employs the employee, may request compensation from the previous employer.
As can be seen, the employment document is a document that is required to be provided under both the Labour Law and the Turkish Code of Obligations.
There are no requirements regarding the form of the employment document in the relevant laws. However, considering that the employee will provide the new employer with the work document in terms of its function and thus an opinion will be reached about him/her, information such as the title of the previous workplace, the employee’s identity information, the date of starting and finishing the job, the department he/she works in, his/her position, title and duration of employment must definitely be included in the content of the employment document.
In addition, the employment document must be issued by the employer for all employees who leave the job without the employee’s request and regardless of the reason for termination, and a copy bearing the employee’s signature must be kept in the employee’s personnel file.
In cases where the employment document is not provided to the employee who leaves the job or false information is written on the document, an administrative fine will be imposed for not issuing an employment document in his/her name, in accordance with the Article 99/1-d of the Labour Code No. 4857. The amount of the administrative fine in the calendar year of 2024 is 1,402 Turkish Liras.
