Turkish Labor Law
Related Articles
In Turkey legislation there are number of conditions for entitling to severance pay, and one of them is marriage for female employees, who have the right to terminate the employment contract due to marriage and request severance payment.
Although Labor Law No.1475 has been abolished and replaced by Labor Law No.4857; article 14 of Labor Act no. 1475, which regulates severance pay, is still valid and reads as follows: “… Or in the case that the woman dissolves the contracts voluntarily within a year beginning from the date of marriage a severance pay equal to 30-day salary shall be paid to the employee by the employer for each full year which has passed during the period of the service contract beginning from the starting date of employment. For periods exceeding one year, the payment shall be made on the basis of the same proportion.”
APPLICATION FOR SEVEREANCE PAY
Female employee who wants to terminate her contract for reason of marriage must submit a written application to her employer within one year following the date of marriage. Marriage certificate should also be attached the application.
If it is considered that there may be a dispute with the employer, female employee should notify her employer via notary public.
Other requirements;
• One year duration starts as of the date of civil marriage; informal marriage or wedding date is not taken into consideration
• Employment contract must have been continuing, i.e. it should not have been terminated by other reasons before marriage,
• Female employee must have worked at least one year prior to termination of her contract for reason of marriage.
Otherwise she cannot be entitled to severance pay.
Also there will be no notice pay, as no notice period is needed for this type of termination.
CAN FEMALE EMPLOYE WORK IN ANOTHER WORKPLACE AFTER HAVING RECEIVED HER SEVERANCE PAY?
Yes, she can work in another workplace after she terminated her contract and received his severance pay, because this should be considered within the scope of right and freedom of work.
WOMAN WHO REMARRIED TO HER EX-HUSBAND?
That can be a controversial issue depending on the period between divorcement and remarrying, and whether this marriage is done in goodwill.
Under normal circumstances there is no provision to prevent female employee to marry her ex-husband and be entitled to terminate her contract and request severance pay.
In case of remarrying to ex-husband after a very short time of divorcement and demanding severance pay by terminating the employment contract this may be interpreted as an abuse of a right or a fraud against law. Then employer may refuse to pay severance payment, but in any case this may be a subject of a law suit before labor court.
CAN SHE BENEFITS FROM UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE?
No. As per Law on Unemployment Insurance No: 4447, employees who terminated their employment contracts voluntarily (resignation) cannot be entitled to unemployment insurance benefits. Termination by reason of marriage or moving should be considered in this scope, and female employee who terminated her contract for reason of marriage cannot qualify for above said benefits.
