The Article 17 of the Turkish Labour Code No. 4857, which is the fundamental law of Turkish Labour Law, contains regulations regarding the termination of employment contracts. This article defines how long in advance the employer and employee must notify the other party of the termination of the employment contract and the sanctions to be applied in case of failure to notify.
Notification of Termination and Duration of Notification
The other party must be notified before termination of indefinite-term employment contracts.
The termination notification period varies depending on the employee’s employment period:
- For employments of 6 months or less: 2 weeks
- For employments of 6 months to 1.5 years: 4 weeks
- For employments of 1.5 years to 3 years: 6 weeks
- For employments of more than 3 years: 8 weeks
These periods are the minimum periods within which the terminating party must notify the other party of termination. As these periods are minimum they can be increased by contracts.
Notice Compensation
The party that does not comply with the notice requirement must pay compensation in the amount of the wage for the notice period.
This regulation does not only bind the employer. If the party that does not comply with the termination notice is an employee, the employee must also pay notice compensation to the employer.
The notice compensation varies between the employee’s 2 weeks’ wage and 8 weeks’ wage. In addition to the employee’s basic wage, the money provided to the employee or all benefits arising from the contract and the law that can be measured with money are also taken into account in the calculation of the notice compensation.
As a special regulation, the employer has the right to terminate the employment contract by paying the notice period wage in advance.
The Rights of the Parties After Termination
The employer’s failure to comply with the notice requirement or terminating the contract by paying the notice period wage in advance does not eliminate the requirement to comply with the just and valid termination rules of the Turkish Labour Code No. 4857.
If the employee thinks that the employment contract was terminated unfairly and is within the scope of “job security”, he/she has the right to file a reinstatement lawsuit. If the employer has violated the employee’s rights during termination, the employee may request compensation.
If an employee who is not within the scope of “job security”, and in cases where the right to termination is terminated by abuse, the employee is paid compensation in the amount of three times the notice period. Failure to comply with the notification requirement for termination also requires payment of notice compensation.
In summary, the Article 17 of the Labour Code No. 4857 contains important regulations regarding the termination of employment contracts with prior notice. Determining the rights and obligations between the employer and the employee is of great importance in terms of maintaining healthy employment relations. Respecting the rights of both parties is of critical importance in ensuring peace in the workplace.
