Terminating an Employee in Türkiye Lawfully: A Foreign Employer's Guide

To dismiss an employee in Türkiye lawfully, you generally need a recognised reason, the correct procedure, and the right paperwork — get any of these wrong and you risk a reinstatement order plus back pay. Turkish labour law draws a sharp line between an ordinary, notice-based dismissal for a "valid reason" (geçerli sebep) under Article 18 of Labour Law No. 4857, and an immediate dismissal for "just cause" (haklı sebep) under Article 25. This guide explains both routes, the notice and severance you must pay, the duty to give written reasons, and how to avoid the costly mistakes that lead to reinstatement. Written for foreign companies employing staff in Türkiye, as of 2026.

The Two Ways to End an Employment Contract in Türkiye

Before you terminate anyone, you need to know which of two legal routes you are using, because they carry different procedures, costs, and risks. Turkish labour law, principally Labour Law No. 4857 (İş Kanunu), gives an employer two distinct ways to end an indefinite-term contract.

Route 1: Ordinary termination for a "valid reason" (geçerli sebep)

This is a normal, notice-based dismissal. You give the statutory notice period (or pay in lieu), you pay severance, and — crucially — for employees covered by job security you must have a valid reason connected to the employee's capability or conduct, or to the needs of the business. This route is governed mainly by Article 18 of Law No. 4857.

Route 2: Immediate termination for "just cause" (haklı sebep)

This is the serious, instant dismissal. Where the employee commits conduct serious enough to fall under Article 25 of Law No. 4857 — for example certain dishonesty, violence, or unjustified absence — you may end the contract on the spot, with no notice. In one specific group of cases (Article 25/II) you also do not owe severance.

Picking the wrong route is one of the most common — and expensive — mistakes foreign employers make. Dismiss for "just cause" when the facts only support a "valid reason", and you may end up owing notice pay, severance, and reinstatement on top.

When Job-Security Rules Apply (and Why They Matter)

Whether an employee can challenge their dismissal and seek reinstatement depends on whether they fall under Türkiye's job-security regime (iş güvencesi) in Articles 18 to 21 of Law No. 4857. This is the single most important threshold question for an employer.

The job-security rules generally apply only where all of the following are met:

• The workplace employs 30 or more employees (counted across all of the employer's workplaces in the same line of business in Türkiye);
• The employee has at least six months' service with you (some narrow exceptions aside); and
• The contract is indefinite-term, and the employee is not an employer's representative with the authority to manage the whole business and to hire and dismiss.

For employees outside the regime, an unfair dismissal can still trigger bad-faith compensation (kötüniyet tazminatı) under Article 17 — typically three times the notice period — so "no job security" does not mean "no risk". Counting your headcount correctly is the first thing to check before any dismissal.

Valid-Reason Termination Under Article 18

For employees covered by job security, an ordinary dismissal is lawful only if you can point to a valid reason (geçerli sebep). Article 18 of Law No. 4857 recognises three broad families of valid reason:

• The employee's capability (yeterlilik) — for example genuine, documented underperformance, or an inability to do the job that is not the employee's deliberate fault;
• The employee's conduct (davranış) — behaviour that disrupts the workplace or breaches duties but is not serious enough to be "just cause" (for example repeated lateness after warnings, or moderate misconduct); and
• Operational requirements of the business (işletme gerekleri) — genuine economic, technological, or structural needs, such as a real restructuring or redundancy.

What is NOT a valid reason

Article 18 expressly states that certain grounds can never be a valid reason. These include union membership or activity, filing a complaint against the employer, race, colour, sex, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, and being absent during legally protected maternity leave. A dismissal built on any of these is invalid regardless of headcount.

A valid-reason dismissal is still a notice-based dismissal: you owe notice (or pay in lieu) and severance. The "valid reason" requirement is about protecting the employee from reinstatement — it does not remove your duty to pay.

Just-Cause (Immediate) Termination Under Article 25

Article 25 of Law No. 4857 lets you end the contract immediately, without notice, where the employee's situation is serious enough. It mirrors the employee's own instant-termination right under Article 24. Article 25 groups employer just causes into four heads:

I. Health reasons

For example, where the employee's own fault or lifestyle causes an illness or disability keeping them off work for three consecutive days (or more than five working days in a month), or where an illness is found incurable and incompatible with the work — subject to the conditions in the Article.

II. Situations contradicting morality and good faith

This is the head that matters most in practice and the only one that also removes severance. It covers, among others: misleading the employer at hiring about qualifications; serious insults or assaults; sexual harassment of a colleague; committing a crime against the employer or breaching trust (theft, disclosing trade secrets); and unjustified absence — broadly, two consecutive working days off without permission or a valid excuse, or the patterns set out in the Article.

III. Force-majeure reasons

Where a compelling reason prevents the employee from working for more than one week.

IV. Detention or arrest

Where the employee's detention or arrest exceeds the relevant notice period for their seniority.

If you intend to use Article 25/II, the clock matters: under Article 26 you must exercise the right within six working days of learning of the misconduct, and in any event within one year of the act (the one-year cap does not apply where the employee gained a financial benefit). Sit on the misconduct beyond six working days and the just-cause right lapses — any later dismissal then has to run as an ordinary, notice-based termination, with notice pay and likely severance owing.

Notice (Ihbar) and Severance (Kıdem): What You Must Pay

Two separate payments sit at the heart of most lawful dismissals, and foreign employers routinely confuse them. Notice pay compensates for ending the contract without working the notice period; severance pay rewards length of service. They are calculated differently and owed in different situations.

Notice periods and notice pay under Article 17

If you dismiss for an ordinary valid reason rather than just cause, you must give advance notice (ihbar), or pay notice pay (ihbar tazminatı) in lieu. Article 17 of Law No. 4857 sets the statutory minimums by length of service:

• Less than 6 months' service — 2 weeks;
• 6 months to 1.5 years — 4 weeks;
• 1.5 years to 3 years — 6 weeks;
• More than 3 years — 8 weeks.

These are floors — a contract can set longer, not shorter. During notice the employee keeps working and is entitled to at least two hours per day of paid leave to look for a new job (Article 27). You can instead end the contract at once and pay the gross wage for the notice period. Note it cuts both ways: if an employee resigns without giving notice, they owe YOU notice pay. No notice (and no notice pay) is due for a genuine just-cause dismissal under Article 25.

Severance pay under Article 14 of Law No. 1475

Severance is a separate entitlement and, importantly, it is not governed by Law No. 4857 — it comes from Article 14 of the former Labour Law No. 1475, which Law No. 4857 expressly kept in force. As a general rule, an employee with at least one year of service is entitled to severance whenever the employment ends: an ordinary valid-reason dismissal, a just-cause dismissal under heads I, III, or IV, and even where the employee resigns for their own just cause (Article 24) or retires.

As a rule of thumb, severance is 30 days' gross wage for each completed year of service, pro-rated for partial years, based on broad gross pay (including regular add-ons such as fixed bonuses and the value of board or lodging), not just base salary. There is a statutory ceiling per year (the kıdem tazminatı tavanı) that the Treasury resets every six months, in January and July. Because the cap moves twice a year, last year's figure may already be wrong — see how the 2025-2026 severance ceiling is calculated before you budget a payout.

The Duty to Give Written Reasons and a Fair Procedure

Even with a good reason, a dismissal of a job-security-covered employee can be struck down purely on procedure. Article 19 of Law No. 4857 imposes form requirements that foreign employers often overlook.

• The termination must be in writing, and the reason must be stated clearly and specifically. A vague "we are letting you go" is not enough — the reason you state is the reason you will be held to in court.
• For dismissals based on the employee's conduct or performance, you must normally take the employee's defence (savunma) first. You cannot dismiss for behaviour or capability without giving them a genuine chance to respond — except where the facts fall under the Article 25/II good-faith head.

Good practice for a defensible file: written warnings where relevant, a written request for the employee's defence, the employee's response, and a written, specific, dated termination notice. If the matter later reaches mediation or court, this paper trail is what protects you. Building the right process up front is far cheaper than a reinstatement claim, and our team can help you put dismissal procedures and contracts in order.

Reinstatement Risk: What Happens If You Get It Wrong

The biggest financial risk in a Turkish dismissal is the reinstatement claim (işe iade davası). An employee covered by job security who believes they were dismissed without a valid reason, or without proper procedure, can challenge the dismissal.

The route, and the numbers, are set by Articles 20 and 21 of Law No. 4857:

• The employee must first apply to compulsory mediation within one month of the dismissal notice; only if mediation fails do they file in the labour court.
• In court, the burden is on the employer to prove the dismissal rested on a valid reason. If you cannot, the dismissal is declared invalid.
• If reinstatement is ordered, the employee asks to return to work within ten working days. You then either take them back or pay work-resumption compensation of 4 to 8 months' wages, PLUS up to 4 months' wages of back pay for the idle period — on top of the notice and severance already owing.

Added together, a botched dismissal can cost roughly a year's pay or more for a long-serving employee. That is why the calm, documented route — right reason, right procedure, right paperwork, inside the deadlines — is almost always cheaper than a fast one. For how these cases run, see how Turkish labour courts handle these claims, and to plan a specific exit you can speak to our English-speaking employment team.

Special Points for Foreign Employers

If your company is foreign-owned or you employ foreign staff in Türkiye, a few extra layers apply on top of the rules above.

• The same labour law protects everyone. Labour Law No. 4857, including reinstatement and severance, applies to staff working in Türkiye regardless of the employer's or employee's nationality. You cannot contract out of these protections, and a foreign-law clause will not displace Türkiye's mandatory labour rules for work performed here.
• Dismissing a foreign employee triggers a permit step. A work permit under the International Labour Force Law No. 6735 (Uluslararası İşgücü Kanunu) is employer-specific. When you end the employment, you must notify the Ministry, which cancels the permit — there are short statutory notification windows, and failing to report can carry administrative fines.
• SGK exit formalities. You must file the employee's exit (işten çıkış bildirgesi) with the Social Security Institution (SGK) within the statutory window and select the correct termination code, which feeds into the employee's unemployment-benefit eligibility. The wrong code can itself become evidence in a later dispute.