Severance, Notice and Overtime Claims in Turkey | İzmir

What we do in this area

The firm, based in Konak, İzmir, calculates the severance and notice pay of an employee whose employment relationship has ended, together with overtime, weekly rest day, national holiday and public holiday, annual leave and unpaid wage claims, and pursues them at the mediation stage and before the labour court. On the employer side, incoming claims are checked against payroll and timesheet records, calculation errors are weeded out and the mediation offer is built accordingly.

This page is a sub-topic of the employment law tree. A request to return to work after termination is a separate process: reinstatement action and mediation. For periods of work that were unregistered or under-declared, see the action for determination of employment page.

Common heads of claim

Item	Basis	Basis of calculation
Severance pay	Art. 14 Labour Code No. 1475	At least one year's seniority; thirty days' gross wage inclusive of regular benefits for each full year, subject to the statutory ceiling
Notice pay	Art. 17 Labour Code No. 4857	Two, four, six or eight weeks' wages depending on seniority
Overtime pay	Art. 41 Labour Code	Wage increased by fifty per cent for each hour exceeding forty-five hours per week
Weekly rest day pay	Art. 46 Labour Code	Where work is performed on the rest day, increased pay in addition to the rest day pay
National holiday and public holiday pay	Art. 47 Labour Code	One additional day's wage for each holiday worked
Annual leave pay	Art. 59 Labour Code	Payment for unused leave days at the final wage when the contract ends

The cases giving rise to severance pay are limited: termination by the employer for a reason other than breach of the rules of morality and good faith, termination by the employee for just cause (Art. 24 Labour Code), military service, retirement or fulfilment of the retirement conditions other than age, a female employee leaving within one year of the date of her marriage, and the death of the employee. As a rule, resignation does not give rise to severance pay; however, a termination for just cause such as non-payment of wages, failure to pay premiums on the actual wage or a fundamental change in working conditions is not a resignation but a termination by the employee, and it preserves the right to severance pay.

How the calculation is made

Severance and notice pay are calculated on the wage inclusive of regular benefits (giydirilmiş ücret): regular and continuing payments such as transport, meals and bonuses are added to the bare wage. The severance pay ceiling, which is updated periodically, may not be exceeded in the calculation. From the date of termination, severance pay bears interest at the highest rate applied to deposits.

Overtime is determined on a weekly basis; daily working time may not exceed eleven hours (Art. 63) and total annual overtime is limited to two hundred and seventy hours. Where the weekly working time has been set by contract below forty-five hours, work above that time and up to forty-five hours is work for extra hours and is paid at a rate increased by twenty-five per cent. If the employee so wishes, instead of increased pay, one hour and thirty minutes of free time may be used for each hour of overtime (Art. 41).

Evidence: who holds the records, what is the evidence

In the practice of the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay), the burden of proof is distributed by item. For severance and notice, the employee proves the period of employment and the wage, while the employer proves payment or the just cause for termination. The burden of proving overtime, weekly rest day and public holiday work lies with the employee; timesheets, electronic entry and exit records, shift schedules and correspondence are the principal evidence. Where there are no written records, witness testimony is relied upon; however, under the settled practice of the Court of Cassation, an equitable reduction is applied to an overtime claim proven solely by witnesses.

For months in which a signed payslip shows an overtime accrual and no reservation was recorded, a claim that more work was performed can be proven only by written evidence.

Time limits and points to note

The limitation period for severance, notice, annual leave and bad faith compensation and for wage claims is five years (Supplementary Art. 3 and Art. 32 Labour Code), subject to the transitional rules for claims arising before 25 October 2017.
Mediation is compulsory before filing an action; the limitation period is suspended from the application until the final report (Article 3 of Law No. 7036).
A release signed at termination is absolutely void unless it is in writing, at least one month has passed since termination, the heads of claim and their amounts are written separately and the full entitlement has been paid through a bank (Article 420 of the Turkish Code of Obligations (TBK) No. 6098).
If wages remain unpaid for twenty days after the payment date for reasons other than force majeure, the employee may refrain from performing the obligation to work (Art. 34 Labour Code).

How a file is handled at the firm is explained on the how we work page.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What people ask about this area

On which wage is severance pay calculated?

The final gross wage is taken as the basis, and regular and continuing payments such as transport, meals, fuel and bonuses are added to it to arrive at the wage inclusive of regular benefits (giydirilmiş ücret) (Article 14 of the Labour Code No. 1475). For those working on a piece-rate or premium basis, the average of the last year is taken. The calculation is limited by the severance pay ceiling, which is updated periodically.

If the payslip shows an overtime accrual and has been signed, can overtime still be claimed?

For months in which a signed payslip with no reservation recorded shows an overtime accrual, a claim that more work was performed can be proven only by written evidence; witness testimony is not considered sufficient for those months. Months with no accrual may be proven by any kind of evidence, including witnesses. The assessment changes if the payslip is unsigned or the accrual is merely token.

Can an employee refuse to work overtime?

The employee's consent is required for overtime; consent is obtained when the employment contract is concluded or when the need arises. An employee who has given consent may withdraw it by giving thirty days' written notice. Being compelled to work overtime without consent may give rise to an argument of termination for just cause on the employee's part.

Is there a difference between working through the notice period and being paid notice pay?

The employer may have the employee work through the notice period or may end the contract immediately by paying the wages for that period in advance (Article 17 of the Labour Code No. 4857). If the period is worked, the employee is given at least two hours a day of leave to look for a new job; if the leave is not given or is given only in part, the wages for that time are paid, and if the employee is made to work during the leave hours, the wages for the time worked are paid at a rate increased by one hundred per cent (Art. 27). If the notice period is not observed at all, notice pay arises.

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