Who can receive severance pay?
An employee who has worked for the same employer for at least one year is entitled to severance pay in cases such as termination of the employment contract by the employer without just cause, termination by the employee for just cause, military service, retirement, and termination by female employees due to marriage.
How is it calculated?
For each full year, severance pay equal to thirty days' gross vested wage is paid; periods exceeding a full year are prorated. Vested wage also includes transportation, food, and regular bonuses — omitting these items is the most frequent reason for under-calculation of the claim.
Is there a time limit?
The statute of limitations for severance pay is five years. Furthermore, pre-litigation mediation is mandatory; collecting documents (payroll, employment entry-exit records, work schedules) before application is important for the healthy progress of the process.
Which Termination Cases Give Rise to Severance Entitlement?
Terminations made by the employer without just cause, and terminations made by the employee for just cause, give rise to severance entitlement. The main just causes from the employee's perspective are: non-payment or underpayment of wages, non-payment of insurance premiums based on the real wage, continuous non-payment of overtime claims, insult and mobbing, and substantial worsening of working conditions. Additionally, mandatory military service for male employees, retirement (or completion of conditions other than age with 15 years/3600 days of service), and termination by female employees within one year of the marriage date also entitle them to severance.
What Is Included in the Vested Wage?
The calculation is made based on the last gross vested wage: to the base wage; regular transportation and food allowances, fuel and clothing allowances, regular bonuses, and gratuities are added. Omitting these items is the primary reason for under-calculation of the claim in practice. The highest interest rate applied to deposits from the date of termination is applied to severance pay; furthermore, the amount to be paid for each full year is limited by the severance pay ceiling.
Mandatory Mediation Step
It is mandatory to apply to a mediator before filing a lawsuit for severance-notice pay and other labor claims. Knowing whether the amount offered by the employer during the meeting is correctly calculated determines your bargaining power; after the settlement agreement is signed, the same items cannot be claimed again. Therefore, we recommend a calculation and strategy study before the meeting — for details, you can refer to our labor law page. For workers at the industrial estates nearby, reviewing a severance calculation in Kepez before signing anything is often the decisive step.
Difference from Notice Pay
Notice pay arises in terminations made without observing notice periods and is independent of severance pay: it is equal to the wage for the notice period, which varies between two and eight weeks. An employee who terminates immediately for just cause can receive severance pay but cannot claim notice pay; if the employer terminates without just cause and without notice, both become relevant.
Statute of Limitations and Documents
The statute of limitations for claims such as severance, notice, annual leave, and overtime is five years. Documents to be compiled before application: employment contract, payrolls, SGK (Social Security Institution) service statement, bank salary transactions, work schedules, and if any, termination/warning letters. Even if documents are missing, proof by witness is possible; however, written records always expedite the process.
Practical Notes: Proof and Strategy
At the forefront of practical problems in severance disputes is the proof of the real wage: for employees whose payroll shows minimum wage but who receive payments in cash, bank records, witness testimonies, and professional association comparable wage research are evaluated together. The second frequent problem is release forms: release forms signed before termination or en masse, and not containing an amount, may be deemed invalid; the document you signed does not automatically eliminate your right. Third is the situation of workplace transfer and sub-employer: in a workplace transfer, severance is calculated integrally from the first employment start date; in subcontractor changes, if employment has continued uninterruptedly, severance accumulates. Finally, interest and litigation technique are important: the highest interest rate applied to deposits from the date of termination accrues to the severance claim; the correct use of procedural tools such as uncertain claim lawsuits (belirsiz alacak davası) and amendment (ıslah) significantly affects the amount to be collected. Therefore, we recommend that your file be analyzed as a whole before negotiating figures.
Calculation Logic Through an Example
The skeleton of the calculation is as follows: last gross vested wage × number of full years worked; months and days exceeding a full year are prorated. For example, for an employee with a gross vested wage of 60,000 TL and 4 years 6 months of seniority, the base calculation would be 60,000 × 4.5 = 270,000 TL; the amount cannot exceed the severance ceiling at the date of termination and is subject only to stamp tax deduction. Calculations made without adding items such as transportation, food, and regular bonuses to the gross wage are incomplete — therefore, always compare the employer's offer with an independent calculation.
Pre-Application Checklist
Before going to mediation, prepare the following:
- SGK (Social Security Institution) service statement (can be obtained from e-Devlet) and employment entry-exit dates
- Payrolls and bank salary statements for the last six months
- Records showing transportation, food, bonus, and gratuity payments
- Termination notice, resignation/warning correspondence, and if any, release form
- Shift schedules and witness names for overtime claim
Even if your documents are incomplete, you will not suffer a loss of rights; however, a complete file significantly expedites the process in both mediation and litigation.
Resources
- 1475 sayılı İş Kanunu m.14 (Labor Law No. 1475, Article 14) (current severance pay provision) — mevzuat.gov.tr
- 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu Ek m.3 (Labor Law No. 4857, Additional Article 3) (five-year statute of limitations)
- 7036 sayılı İş Mahkemeleri Kanunu m.3 (Labor Courts Law No. 7036, Article 3) (mandatory mediation for lawsuits)
You can access the current versions of legal texts via mevzuat.gov.tr.