Employment Claims Guide: Severance, Notice, Overtime and Annual Leave

Employment claims have distinct conditions

Unpaid wages, overtime, weekly rest, public holidays, unused leave, severance and notice pay require separate assessment. Wage claims may accrue during employment; payment for unused annual leave arises when employment ends.

Severance and notice pay

Article 14 of Law No. 1475 requires at least one year of qualifying service and a statutory termination ground. Employer termination under Article 25/II of Law No. 4857 must be distinguished from other grounds. Retirement-related eligibility depends on insurance commencement and applicable rules; fifteen years and 3,600 contribution days are not universal. Notice pay concerns indefinite-term contracts, notice obligations and termination grounds; it does not arise on every termination.

Overtime and holidays

Overtime above forty-five weekly hours generally attracts a 50% hourly premium. Additional hours above a shorter contracted week up to forty-five attract 25%. Weekly-rest and public-holiday calculations differ and cannot be described by a single 100% premium rule. Failure to obtain overtime consent does not itself cancel payment for work performed.

Mediation and deadlines

Mandatory mediation precedes employment-receivable litigation. Failure to apply for mediation differs procedurally from failure to attach the final record. Wage due dates, termination dates for severance, notice and unused leave, and transitional provisions matter. A general five-year limitation period does not mean all claims start on the same day. Reinstatement instead requires mediation within one month of service of termination and litigation within two weeks of the final non-settlement record.

Preparing evidence

Preserve the contract, termination notice, social-security records, payrolls, bank statements, working-time logs and leave records. Witnesses and documents are assessed together; neither a single document nor missing employer records guarantees success.

Legal basis

1475, Article 14; 4857, Articles 17, 20, 32, 41, 46–47, 59, Additional Article 3; 7036, Article 3

Legal information: This article provides general information on Turkish law. The documents, dates and applicable rules of each case require individual assessment.