Unfair Dismissal and Reinstatement (İşe İade) Claims in Türkiye: A Guide for Foreign Employers

If you dismiss an employee in Türkiye without a "valid reason," they can sue to get their job back — and the financial exposure is significant. This claim is called işe iade (reinstatement), and it sits inside the "job security" (iş güvencesi) regime under the Turkish Labour Act (İş Kanunu No. 4857, Articles 18-21). For a foreign company operating or hiring in Türkiye, an işe iade claim is usually the single biggest litigation risk attached to a termination. This guide explains who is protected, the short deadline employees must meet, the mandatory mediation step, what counts as a valid reason, and what a losing employer typically has to pay.

What is an işe iade (reinstatement) claim?

An işe iade claim is a lawsuit in which a dismissed employee asks a Turkish labour court to rule that their termination was invalid and to order their reinstatement — putting them back in their job. It is the enforcement mechanism for the "job security" (iş güvencesi) protections set out in the Turkish Labour Act (İş Kanunu No. 4857), Articles 18 to 21.

The logic is simple: for employees who qualify, an employer cannot end an open-ended contract on a whim. The termination must rest on a valid reason (geçerli sebep) connected either to the employee's conduct or capacity, or to the genuine operational needs of the business. If the employer cannot show such a reason — and prove it — the dismissal can be declared invalid.

For foreign employers, two points matter most. First, this is not a small claim: the combined cost of losing can reach many months of salary. Second, the same protections apply to foreign employees working in Türkiye on a valid work permit under the International Labour Force Act (Uluslararası İşgücü Kanunu No. 6735), so hiring expatriate staff does not take you outside the regime.

Who is protected? The thresholds for the job-security regime

Not every dismissed employee can bring an işe iade claim. Under İş Kanunu No. 4857, the job-security regime applies only when several conditions are met at the same time:

• Workplace size: the employer must normally employ at least 30 employees at the workplace (where the employer has several workplaces in the same line of business, the total headcount is counted together).
• Employee seniority: the employee must have at least 6 months' seniority with that employer.
• Open-ended contract: the protection is built around indefinite-term employment contracts.
• Not a senior employer representative: certain top-level managers who run the whole business or a whole workplace and have authority to hire and dismiss are excluded.

If any threshold is not met, the employee is generally outside the işe iade regime. They may still have other claims — for example notice pay (ihbar tazminatı) or severance pay (kıdem tazminatı) under Article 14 of the former Labour Act No. 1475, which is still in force for severance — but they cannot demand reinstatement.

Practical point for foreign employers

The 30-employee threshold is counted across your operations in the same sector, not just one office. Foreign groups sometimes assume a small Turkish branch is "too small" to trigger job security, when in fact related workplaces push the headcount over the line. Confirm the count before treating a dismissal as outside the regime.

What counts as a "valid reason" for dismissal?

Under Article 18 of İş Kanunu No. 4857, an employer in the job-security regime must base the termination of an open-ended contract on a valid reason arising from one of two sources:

• The employee's capacity or conduct — for example genuine, documented underperformance, repeated unjustified absence, or behaviour that disrupts the workplace.
• The operational requirements of the business — for example a real reduction in the workload, restructuring, or economic necessity that genuinely removes the need for the role.

Several things are not valid reasons. The same article makes clear that matters such as trade-union membership or activity, filing a complaint against the employer, race, colour, sex, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, religion or similar grounds cannot justify dismissal. Termination on those grounds is invalid.

There is an important distinction here. A valid reason (geçerli sebep) is the standard that supports an ordinary dismissal with notice. It is a lower bar than a just cause (haklı sebep / haklı nedenle fesih) under Article 25 — the kind of serious misconduct that lets an employer dismiss immediately without notice. Mislabelling an ordinary performance issue as "just cause" to avoid notice pay is a common and costly mistake.

The deadline and the mandatory mediation step

Timing is where many employers — and employees — make or break a case.

The one-month application window

An employee who wants to challenge the dismissal must act within one month of being notified of the termination. If they miss this window, the right to bring an işe iade claim is generally lost. This short deadline cuts both ways: it means a dismissed employee must move quickly, and it means an employer can often tell within about a month whether a termination is going to be contested.

Mandatory mediation before court

Since the Labour Courts Act (İş Mahkemeleri Kanunu No. 7036) came into force, mandatory mediation (zorunlu arabuluculukArabuluculukMediationA structured negotiation before a registered mediator which, for several categories of dispute, must be attempted before a court case can be filed.Glossary →) is a precondition for an işe iade case. The employee must first apply to a mediator within the one-month period; only if mediation fails can the matter go to the labour court (and typically within a further short, statutory window after the mediation ends).

Mediation is not a formality to ignore. It is a genuine settlement opportunity, often concluded within weeks, where reinstatement and a negotiated payment can be agreed without a trial. For a foreign employer, a well-prepared mediation can convert an unpredictable multi-month lawsuit into a controlled, confidential settlement. Going in unprepared, on the other hand, simply moves the dispute to court.

What does the employer pay if the dismissal is invalid?

This is where işe iade becomes the foreign employer's biggest single termination risk. If the labour court finds the dismissal invalid, the consequences under İş Kanunu No. 4857 (Articles 20-21) are not just "take the person back." They stack:

• Reinstatement offer: the court orders that the employee be reinstated. The employee must apply to return to work within a set period, and the employer must decide whether to take them back.
• Back pay for the idle period: if reinstatement is ordered, the employer pays the employee's wages and benefits for the period they were out of work, capped at up to 4 months' salary (boşta geçen süre ücreti).
• Job-security compensation: if the employer chooses not to take the employee back, it must pay job-security / failure-to-reinstate compensation of generally 4 to 8 months' salary, set by the court within that range (often higher for longer-serving employees).

Crucially, these job-security amounts come on top of the separation payments the employee may already be owed — notice pay (ihbar tazminatı) and severance pay (kıdem tazminatı) under Article 14 of Law No. 1475. So a single contested dismissal can produce a layered liability running well into double-digit months of pay, plus interest and litigation costs.

The burden of proof sits with the employer. Article 20 of İş Kanunu No. 4857 places the obligation to prove the valid reason on the employer. In practice, cases are won or lost on the paper trail: written warnings, documented performance reviews, evidence of the operational need, and a properly drafted termination notice that actually states the reason.

How a foreign employer can reduce the risk

İşe iade exposure is largely manageable with discipline before the dismissal, not damage control after it. Practical steps:

• Decide the legal basis first. Is this a valid-reason dismissal with notice, or genuine just cause under Article 25? Match the process and paperwork to the right one.
• Build the file before you act. Keep written warnings, performance records, attendance data and, for redundancies, the business rationale. The employer carries the burden of proof.
• State the reason in writing. The termination notice should set out the concrete reason and follow the defence procedure required for conduct-based dismissals.
• Respect the headcount and seniority thresholds. Confirm whether the employee actually falls inside the regime before you treat the dismissal as low-risk.
• Prepare for mediation, don't just attend it. Go in with a clear settlement range and authority to decide.
• Coordinate work-permit timing for expatriates. For foreign staff under Law No. 6735, dismissal and permit cancellation should be handled together to avoid immigration complications.

Because the rules turn on specific thresholds, deadlines and figures that can be updated, you should confirm the current numbers and procedure for your specific situation before acting. Lexin Legal advises foreign employers and employees on terminations, işe iade defence and settlement strategy in Türkiye.

Frequently asked questions