According to the relevant provisions of the Code of Obligations and Article 32 of the Labour Law, as in general terms, the wages in the Labour Law, together with the wage supplements, are subject to a 5-year statute of limitations in Turkey.
The statute of limitations for wages shall commence from the date the wage is earned.
According to Article 3 of the Labour Law No. 4857, the statute of limitations in Turkey for annual leave pay and the following indemnities, regardless of which law they are subject to, provided that they arise from the employment contract, is determined as five years.
- Severance pay
- Compensation arising from the termination of the employment contract without complying with the notice requirement (notice pay).
- Bad faith compensation.
- Compensation arising from the termination of the employment contract without complying with the principle of equal treatment.
Additionally, according to the provisional Article 8, the 5-year limitation period to be applied for annual leave pay and compensation arising from the above-mentioned employment contracts will be applied for the rights arising after the entry into force of the article (25 October 2017).
The statute of limitations in Turkey for annual leave pay and indemnities that started to run before the entry into force of the article will continue to be subject to the provisions prior to the amendment. In other words, for terminations prior to 25 October 2017, the statute of limitations for annual leave pay, which commenced at the date of termination of the contract and was 5 years, and the statute of limitations for indemnities, which was 10 years, will continue to apply.
However, if the unexpired portion of the statute of limitations is longer than the period stipulated in Additional Article 3, the statute of limitations shall expire upon the expiration of the period stipulated in Additional Article 3. For example, if there is a severance indemnity and the statute of limitations has 4 years to expire on the date of publication of this article, the statute of limitations will expire with the expiration of 4 years. In the same case, if there are 7 years before the statute of limitations expires, the statute of limitations will expire with the expiration of 5 years.
The beginning of the statute of limitations in Turkey for damages should be accepted as the date of termination of the employment contract.
