Antalya Employment Lawyer
Dismissal, severance, wages and work accidents: advice for employees and employers, in English
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Antalya’s economy runs on tourism, construction, agriculture and services, much of it seasonal and much of it involving foreign staff and foreign-owned businesses. Dismissals at the end of the season, unpaid wages and overtime, work accidents and unregistered work are therefore among the most common disputes. Employment rights in Turkey are tied to short deadlines and to procedural rules such as compulsory mediation, so acting quickly matters.
Ozturk Law Office advises both employees and employers on employment and social security law across Antalya from our office in Muratpaşa, in English and Turkish. This page explains the main rules of Turkish employment law, with each statement linked to the official text of the relevant law. It is general information; the outcome of a particular case depends on the contract, the workplace and the evidence.
Job Security and Reinstatement
At workplaces with thirty or more employees, an employer who terminates the indefinite contract of an employee with at least six months’ service must rely on a valid reason relating to the employee’s capacity or conduct, or to the needs of the business, workplace or work (Labour Law art. 18).
- Procedure: notice of termination must be in writing and state the reason clearly and precisely. A contract may not be terminated for reasons relating to the employee’s conduct or performance without first hearing their defence, except in cases of just cause under the law (Labour Law art. 19).
- Deadline: an employee who challenges the termination must apply to a mediator within one month of receiving the notice. If no agreement is reached, a case may be filed at the labour court within two weeks of the final mediation report (Labour Law art. 20).
- Burden of proof: the employer must prove that the termination was based on a valid reason (Labour Law art. 20).
- Outcome: if the termination is found invalid, the employer must take the employee back within one month; if not, the employer pays compensation for not reinstating and, within statutory limits, wages and other rights for the period the employee was not working until the judgment became final (Labour Law art. 21).
Read our detailed article on reinstatement ›
Severance Pay and Notice Pay
Severance Pay
Severance pay is still governed by Article 14 of the old Labour Law No. 1475, which remained in force after the current Labour Law was enacted. The employee receives thirty days’ wages for each full year of service, with partial years paid proportionately; the law sets an annual ceiling on severance pay (Law No. 1475 art. 14).
Severance pay guide ›When Severance Is Due
- Termination by the employer, except for conduct contrary to morality and good faith;
- termination by the employee for just cause;
- compulsory military service;
- leaving on retirement, or after completing the conditions for retirement other than age;
- a female employee leaving voluntarily within one year of marriage;
- the employee’s death, in which case it is paid to the legal heirs (Law No. 1475 art. 14).
Notice Periods
Before an indefinite contract is terminated, notice must be given: two weeks for employees with less than six months’ service, four weeks from six months to eighteen months, six weeks from eighteen months to three years, and eight weeks for more than three years (Labour Law art. 17).
Notice Pay
The party that does not respect the notice requirement must pay compensation equal to the wages for the notice period. The employer may also terminate by paying the wages for the notice period in advance (Labour Law art. 17).
Immediate Termination for Just Cause
Employee’s Right
An employee may terminate immediately, without notice, for health reasons arising from the work; for the employer’s conduct contrary to morality and good faith, such as insulting remarks, sexual harassment, assault or threats, or wages not being calculated or paid in accordance with the law and the contract; and for force majeure stopping work for more than a week (Labour Law art. 24).
Employer’s Right
An employer may terminate immediately for the health reasons set out in the law, for the employee’s conduct contrary to morality and good faith, such as abuse of trust, theft at work or unauthorised absence, and for force majeure (Labour Law art. 25). Just cause must be proven with concrete facts.
Special Rules for the Tourism Sector
A large part of Antalya’s workforce is employed in hotels, restaurants and tour businesses, often seasonally. The Labour Law contains some rules for tourism that differ from the general ones, so which rule applies must be checked in each dispute.
Weekly Hours and Averaging
As a rule, working time is at most forty-five hours a week. By agreement it may be distributed differently, up to eleven hours a day, provided the weekly average is not exceeded over two months. In tourism the averaging period is four months and may be extended to six months by collective agreement (Labour Law art. 63).
Night Work
“Night” starts at the latest at 20:00, ends at the earliest at 06:00 and lasts at most eleven hours. Night work may not exceed seven and a half hours, but in tourism, private security and health services, it may be longer with the employee’s written consent (Labour Law art. 69).
Weekly Rest Day
Employees are entitled to at least twenty-four hours’ uninterrupted rest within each seven-day period. Since a 2025 amendment, in licensed accommodation establishments the weekly rest day may, at the employee’s written request or with their consent, be given within the following four days; the employee may withdraw that consent with thirty days’ written notice (Labour Law art. 46).
Breaks
Breaks of fifteen minutes for work of up to four hours, thirty minutes for more than four and up to seven and a half hours, and one hour for longer work must be given; breaks do not count as working time (Labour Law art. 68). Deducting them correctly matters in overtime calculations.
Fixed-Term (Seasonal) Contracts and Probation
If an employment relationship is not tied to a fixed period, the contract is indefinite. A fixed-term contract is one made in writing for fixed-term work or based on objective conditions such as completing a particular job or the occurrence of a particular event. A fixed-term contract may not be renewed repeatedly without a substantial reason; otherwise it is treated as indefinite from the start (Labour Law art. 11). For seasonal staff who sign a new contract each year, the nature of the contract can be decisive for severance pay and job security.
A probationary period, if agreed, may be at most two months, extendable to four months by collective agreement. During probation, either party may terminate without notice or compensation, but the employee’s wages and other rights for the days worked remain due (Labour Law art. 15).
Unpaid Wages and Deductions
Wages, bonuses and similar entitlements are, as a rule, paid in Turkish currency at the workplace or into a dedicated bank account (Labour Law art. 32). An employee whose wages have not been paid within twenty days of the payment date, other than for force majeure, may refuse to work; the contract cannot be terminated for that reason and no one may be hired in their place. Unpaid wages carry the highest interest rate applied to deposits (Labour Law art. 34).
An employer may not impose wage deductions as a penalty except for reasons set out in the collective or individual contract; deductions must be notified to the employee immediately with the reasons and may not exceed two days’ wages a month (Labour Law art. 38). Since non-payment can also give the employee just cause to terminate, payslips and bank records should be kept.
Overtime, Annual Leave and Limitation
Overtime
Work exceeding forty-five hours a week is overtime. Each hour of overtime is paid at the normal hourly rate increased by fifty percent, or, if the employee prefers, compensated with one and a half hours of free time. Total overtime may not exceed two hundred and seventy hours a year (Labour Law art. 41).
Annual Paid Leave
Employees with at least one year’s service are entitled to paid leave of at least fourteen days for one to five years’ service, twenty days for more than five and less than fifteen years, and twenty-six days for fifteen years or more. Employees aged eighteen or under, or fifty or over, receive at least twenty days. The right to annual leave cannot be waived (Labour Law art. 53).
Limitation Period
The limitation period for annual leave pay and for severance, notice, bad-faith and equal-treatment compensation arising from the employment contract is five years (Labour Law additional art. 3).
Equal Treatment and Workplace Harassment
No discrimination based on language, race, colour, sex, disability, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion, sect or similar grounds is allowed in the employment relationship. Without substantial reasons, part-time and fixed-term employees may not be treated differently from full-time and indefinite-term employees, and lower pay may not be agreed for the same or equal work because of sex. If these rules are breached, the employee may claim appropriate compensation of up to four months’ wages in addition to the rights they were denied (Labour Law art. 5).
The employer must also protect and respect the employee’s personality, maintain order at work in line with good faith, and in particular take the necessary measures to prevent psychological and sexual harassment and further harm to those affected. Damages for violation of personality rights caused by the employer’s breach of these duties are governed by the rules on contractual liability (Code of Obligations art. 417). Proof of harassment usually depends on witnesses, messages and medical records taken together.
Releases and Non-Compete Clauses
Employees are often asked to sign a document saying they have received all their entitlements when they leave. A release concerning the employee’s claims is only valid if it is in writing, at least one month has passed since the contract ended, the type and amount of the claim are clearly stated, and payment is made in full through a bank. Releases that do not meet these conditions are void; documents that do not show payment of the actual amount are treated only as receipts for the amount stated. Penalty clauses in employment contracts that bind only the employee are also invalid (Code of Obligations art. 420).
Some contracts restrict the employee from working for a competitor after leaving. A non-compete clause must be in writing and is only valid if the job gave the employee access to customers, production secrets or the employer’s business and using that knowledge could cause the employer significant harm (Code of Obligations art. 444). It may not unfairly endanger the employee’s economic future through inappropriate restrictions of place, time or type of work, and except in special circumstances may not exceed two years; the judge may limit an excessive clause (Code of Obligations art. 445).
Unregistered Work: Proving Your Service
A frequent problem in seasonal work is that the employment was never, or only partly, reported to the Social Security Institution. Employees whose monthly contribution and service documents were not submitted by the employer, or whose work could not be established by the Institution, may prove their work by applying to the labour court within five years from the end of the year in which the work was done; the earnings and contribution days stated in the judgment are then taken into account (Social Insurance Law art. 86). In practice this period is treated as a strict time bar, so unregistered periods should be assessed without delay.
Foreign Employees and Work Permits
As a rule, foreign nationals need a work permit to work in Turkey unless an exemption applies. Under the Law on Foreigners, a removal decision is taken against foreigners found to be working without a work permit (Foreigners Law art. 54). For foreign employees, the status of their permit is therefore as important as their employment rights; for employers, checking permits is part of compliance. Where a foreign employee has a dispute with their employer, we assess the employment claims and the immigration position together.
Compulsory Mediation and the Labour Court
For cases concerning employee or employer claims and compensation based on the law or an individual or collective employment contract, and for reinstatement, applying to a mediator first is a condition of the case. Related cases to annul an objection, for a negative declaration or for restitution are also covered. Claims for material and moral damages arising from work accidents or occupational diseases, and related determination, objection and recourse cases, are outside this rule. From the mediation application until the final report, limitation periods are suspended and time bars do not run (Labour Courts Law art. 3).
Disputes arising from the employment relationship, and disputes to which the Social Security Institution is a party, are heard by the labour court (Labour Courts Law art. 5). The court of the defendant’s domicile is competent, and so is the court where the work was done; in compensation cases arising from work accidents, the court of the injured employee’s domicile is also competent (Labour Courts Law art. 6). An employee who worked in Antalya can therefore sue in Antalya even after moving to another city or country.
First Steps After a Dismissal
- Keep the termination notice: it must be in writing and state the reason clearly (Labour Law art. 19). The date you received it starts the period for applying to mediation for reinstatement (Labour Law art. 20).
- Calculate the deadline: you have one month to apply to a mediator for reinstatement; if missed, the reinstatement route may be closed (Labour Law art. 20).
- Collect documents: the contract, payslips, bank records, timesheets, messages and the names of colleagues who could be witnesses.
- Check your social security record: the service record shows whether your working periods and severance calculation are correct.
- Be careful with releases: review any document you are asked to sign when leaving before you sign it (Code of Obligations art. 420).
- Prepare for mediation: calculating severance, notice, overtime and leave claims in advance lets you assess settlement offers properly (Labour Courts Law art. 3).
Work Accidents
A work accident is an event that occurs while the insured is at the workplace, because of work carried out by the employer, during time spent away from the workplace on assignment, during time allowed to a breastfeeding employee to feed her child, or while travelling to and from work in a vehicle provided by the employer, and that immediately or later disables the insured physically or mentally. The employer must report it to the police immediately and to the Social Security Institution within three working days (Social Insurance Law art. 13).
If the event is not accepted as a work accident, a case for determination of a work accident may be needed, and claims for material and moral damages may follow. These cases are outside compulsory mediation (Labour Courts Law art. 3). Traffic accidents on the way to or from work may also be work accidents; see our car accident lawyer page.
Read our article on work accident determination ›
How We Help
For Employees
We assess and pursue reinstatement, severance, notice, overtime, leave and wage claims.
For Employers
We advise on terminations, contracts, releases and compliance, including staff from abroad.
Mediation
We represent you in compulsory mediation and prepare the calculations behind a settlement.
Work Accidents
We handle work accident determination and damages claims.
Seasonal Work
We assess seasonal contracts in tourism for working time, overtime and severance.
Social Security
We bring service determination cases for unregistered periods and other disputes with the Institution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s review your case together
Call us on 0534 340 95 40, visit our office in Muratpaşa, Antalya by appointment, or request an online consultation by video or phone from anywhere in the world.