Employment Termination and Severance Pay in Turkey: Notice, Severance and Reinstatement

Turkish employment law, mainly Labour Law No. 4857, protects employees through severance pay, notice periods and, in larger workplaces, job security. For foreign employers the rules can be surprising: severance is not a matter of contract but of law, and most disputes must go to mediation before court.

Who is entitled to severance pay?

An employee with at least one year of service with the same employer is entitled to severance pay if:

• the employer terminates the contract other than for just cause related to the employee’s misconduct,
• the employee resigns for just cause — for example unpaid wages, unpaid overtime or harassment,
• the employee retires or meets the age and premium conditions for retirement,
• a female employee resigns within one year of marriage, or a male employee resigns to perform military service,
• the employee dies (payable to the heirs).

How is it calculated?

Severance pay equals thirty days’ gross wage for each full year of service, with partial years paid pro rata. The wage includes regular cash and in-kind benefits such as meal and transport allowances. The amount per year cannot exceed the ceiling set twice a year — TRY 73,729.84 for terminations from 1 July 2026. Only stamp duty is deducted.

Try our severance pay calculator for an estimate including notice pay.

Notice periods

The employer may pay the wage for the notice period in advance instead of working it. A party who terminates without observing the notice period owes notice pay to the other.

Job security and reinstatement

Employees with at least six months’ seniority in a workplace with thirty or more employees (and an indefinite contract) are protected by job security. The employer must give a written termination stating a valid reason related to the employee’s conduct, capacity or the operational needs of the business — and, for performance-related reasons, take the employee’s defence first.

The employee may apply to mediation within one month of the termination notice. If no settlement is reached, a reinstatement action must be filed within two weeks of the final mediation report. If the court finds the termination invalid and the employer refuses to reinstate, it must pay compensation of four to eight months’ wages plus up to four months’ wages for the idle period.

Mandatory mediation

Claims for wages, severance, notice pay and reinstatement must first go to a mediator. Settlements reached in mediation are final, so the employee should check that the agreement covers all claims they wish to settle — and only those.

See also our labour law page.