Payment of wages and compensation in Turkey
According to Article 32 of the Labour Law, in case of termination of the employment contract, the employee is entitled to his/her wage and any other benefits arising from the law and contracts and all benefits that can be measured in money and money must be paid.
Accordingly, in the termination of the employment contract in Turkey, the employee’s wages, week holidays, national holidays and general holidays, overtime and similar wages, premiums, bonuses and similar payments that the employee has earned for his work up to that day, and the rights corresponding to that time should be given to him in advance.
Wages in Turkey : Payment of notice compensation
In order to be entitled to notice pay, the employment contract must first be terminated. However, there are certain conditions for this:
The first condition is related to the termination of the employment contract and the reason for termination. Accordingly, the termination must be on the employer’s side. Accordingly, in order to be entitled to notice pay, the termination of the employment contract must be made by the employer in accordance with Article 17 of the Law. On the contrary, in the terminations to be made by the employee, the notice indemnity will not be paid even if the employee has put forward a just cause. However, if the employee terminates the employment contract immediately by not complying with the special periods, it is possible for the employer to demand notice pay from the employee.
Again, the termination made by the employer must not be based on a justified reason and must not have been made in accordance with paragraphs I, III and IV of Article 25 of Law No. 4857. As mentioned above, in order to be entitled to notice pay, the termination must be based on Article 17. Apart from this, if the termination is not in accordance with Article 4857/25/II subparagraph or Articles 6356/68 and 70 (According to Article 68, in case of a legal strike and lockout, workers are prohibited from working in other jobs, and Article 70 stipulates the consequences of participating in an illegal strike. In both cases, contrary behavior gives the employer the right to terminate the employment contract for just cause) and if it can be proved, the notice pay will not be paid. However, if the just cause cannot be proved, the employment contract will be deemed to have been unfairly terminated and reinstatement or compensation payment may be in question.
Another condition may be related to duration. However, the law does not require a minimum working period as in the case of severance pay or annual leave. From this point of view, if a trial period is not stipulated in writing, the fact that the employee has worked even for one day may be sufficient to qualify for notice pay.
The weekly periods that should be taken as a basis when the termination is made within the meaning of Article 17 of the Law should be taken on a calendar basis, in other words, the principle of one week and 7 days should be applied. Accordingly, a period of two weeks corresponds to 14 days’ wages of the worker in Turkey, a period of four weeks corresponds to 28 days’ wages of the worker, a period of six weeks corresponds to 42 days’ wages of the worker and a period of eight weeks corresponds to 56 days’ wages of the worker.
In the payment of notice pay to be made in accordance with Article 17 of the Labour Law, the wages paid to the employee and the benefits arising from the contract and the law in Turkey, which can be measured in money and money, must be taken into account.
It is essential that the notice pay calculated in this way is paid in advance at the termination of the contract.
Income tax and stamp tax must be deducted from the calculated notice pay and paid to the relevant institutions. If the notice period is utilized, the relevant insurance premium deductions should also be made.
In the payment of notice pay, a payroll must be prepared and the signature of the employee must be obtained. If a release is to be given by the employee, care should be taken to ensure that it complies with the provision of Article 420 of the Code of Obligations. Because the releases that do not contain the content and form conditions listed in the aforementioned article are deemed null and void and therefore do not have evidential force.
A regulation on notice compensation is also included in Article 112 of the Law.
Accordingly, the revenues obtained from the seizure by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of the properties belonging to the companies operating underground mines and their partners within the framework of the Public Procurement Contracts Law No. 4735 and the companies operating companies No. 3213 and the royalty agreements, or from the sale of the properties belonging to the companies operating underground mines and their partners by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, shall be used primarily for the notice (and severance payments) of the employees who have worked in the said companies within the scope of these contracts, whose employment contracts have terminated in a way to deserve severance pay, overtime work and other wage receivables) and these payments will be made by the Fund by depositing them into the accounts of the relevant persons. The information and documents for such payments must be submitted to the Fund by the last employer of the employee.
