Unofficial English translation for information only. In case of discrepancy, the Turkish text prevails. This translation is not legal advice.
Turkish source: Law No. 4857, Official Gazette 10/06/2003, No. 25134. Turkish text as published on mevzuat.gov.tr, checked on 26 October 2026: https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=4857&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5
CHAPTER NINE – Miscellaneous, Provisional and Final Provisions
Ek Madde 1 – Wages of persons with disabilities employed in sheltered workplaces
(Added: 6/2/2014-6518/59 art.)
The following portions of wages paid on time by employers to persons with intellectual or mental disabilities who are employed in sheltered workplaces and whose integration into the labour market is difficult:
a) for each person with a disability employed in a sheltered workplace, an amount equal to the monthly payment made under subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph of Article 2 of Law No. 2022 dated 1/7/1976 on the Monthly Allowance for Needy, Infirm Turkish Citizens Without Family Support Who Have Reached the Age of 65,
b) additionally, for each person with a disability employed in a sheltered workplace established in a province within the scope of Article 2 of Law No. 5084 dated 29/1/2004 on the Promotion of Investments and Employment and Amendments to Certain Laws, twenty per cent of the amount specified in subparagraph (a),
c) additionally, at workplaces employing more persons with disabilities than the number required by the relevant legislation to obtain sheltered workplace status, for each person with a disability employed above that required number, twenty per cent of the amount specified in subparagraph (a),
shall be paid to the employer by the Treasury, provided that the legal obligations relating to these wages have also been fully and timely met.
The procedures and principles for paying the wage portions determined in the first paragraph shall be prescribed by a regulation issued by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, after obtaining the favourable opinions of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Undersecretariat of the Treasury.
Ek Madde 2 – Leave for compelling reasons
(Added: 4/4/2015-6645/35 art.)
An employee shall be granted three days’ paid leave on marriage or adoption, or in the event of the death of the employee’s mother or father, spouse, sibling or child; and ten days’ paid leave if the employee’s spouse gives birth.[39]
Employees shall be granted up to ten days’ paid leave, in a single period or in parts during one year, for the treatment of their child who has a disability of at least seventy per cent or a chronic illness, on the basis of a medical report and provided that only one of the working parents uses the leave.
Ek Madde 3 – Limitation period
(Added: 12/10/2017-7036/15 art.)
The limitation period for annual leave pay and the following compensation claims arising from an employment contract, irrespective of which law applies, is five years.
a) Severance pay.
b) Compensation arising from termination of an employment contract without complying with the notice requirements.
c) Compensation for bad faith.
d) Compensation arising from termination of an employment contract in breach of the principle of equal treatment.
Geçici Madde 1
References in other legislation to the Labour Law No. 1475 shall be deemed to be references to this Law.
References in paragraph one, subparagraphs 1 and 2, and paragraph eleven of Article 14 of the Labour Law No. 1475, which remains in force under Article 120 of this Law, to Articles 16, 17 and 26 of that Law shall be deemed to be references to Articles 24, 25 and 32 of this Law.
Geçici Madde 2
(Repealed: 20/6/2012-6331/37 art.)
Geçici Madde 3
The minimum wage decision made under Law No. 1475 shall remain in force until a determination is made under Article 39 of this Law.
Geçici Madde 4
For persons to whom the provisions of Article 13 of the repealed Labour Law No. 3008 were not applied, the right to severance pay referred to in Provisional Article 6 of this Law shall commence on 12.8.1967.
For persons brought within the scope of this Law for the first time, the right to severance pay shall commence on the date this Law enters into force.
Geçici Madde 5
The rates set out in Article 25 of Law No. 1475 and paragraph (B) of Additional Article 1 of Law No. 3713 shall remain valid until they are re-determined by the Council of Ministers under Article 30 of this Law.
Geçici Madde 6
A severance pay fund shall be established. Until the Law relating to the severance pay fund enters into force, employees’ rights to severance pay based on their length of service under Article 14 of the Labour Law No. 1475 are reserved.
Geçici Madde 7
(Added: 6/5/2016-6715/5 art.)
Temporary employment relationships established pursuant to the first paragraph of Article 7 before the publication date of the Law introducing this article, by temporarily transferring an employee to another employer to perform their obligation to work, on condition that the employee is employed in work similar to that which they were performing, shall continue for the term of their contracts.
Geçici Madde 8
(Added: 12/10/2017-7036/16 art.)
Additional Article 3 shall apply to annual leave pay and compensation arising from employment contracts that end after the date this article enters into force.
Limitation periods that began to run before this article entered into force for annual leave pay and compensation specified in Additional Article 3 shall continue to be subject to the provisions in force before the amendment. However, if the unexpired portion of the limitation period is longer than the period prescribed in Additional Article 3, the limitation period shall expire when the period prescribed in Additional Article 3 has elapsed.
Geçici Madde 9
(Added:21/2/2019-7166/12 art.)
(First sentence annulled: by the Constitutional Court’s Decision dated 19/9/2019 and numbered E.:2019/42, K.:2019/73.) In enforcement proceedings, a decision shall be made to discontinue proceedings in respect of the portion for which no recourse shall be had, without levying any fee, and each party shall bear its own enforcement costs and lawyers’ fees. However, amounts pursued and collected by way of recourse against subcontractors within this scope shall in no way give rise to a right to claim in favour of subcontractors, and amounts collected shall not be refunded.
Geçici Madde 10
(Added:16/4/2020-7244/9 art.)[40][41]
For a period of three months from the date this article enters into force, any employment or service contract, whether or not it falls within the scope of this Law, may not be terminated by the employer, except in cases of circumstances contrary to the rules of morality and good faith and similar reasons set out in subparagraph (II) of paragraph one of Article 25 and the relevant provisions of other laws; expiry of the term in fixed-term employment or service contracts; closure of the workplace for any reason and cessation of its operations; and completion of work in any service procurement or construction works carried out under the relevant legislation.
For a period not exceeding three months from the date this article enters into force, the employer may place the employee on full or partial unpaid leave. Being placed on unpaid leave under this article does not give the employee the right to terminate the contract on the basis of just cause.
An administrative fine equal to the monthly gross minimum wage in force on the date of the act shall be imposed on an employer or employer’s representative who terminates an employment contract in breach of this article, for each employee whose contract is terminated.
The President of the Republic is authorised to extend the three-month periods set out in paragraphs one and two, each time by periods of up to three months, until 30/6/2021.
Geçici Madde 11
(Added:23/7/2020-7252/6 art.)
The severance pay and/or compensation arising from termination of an employment contract without complying with the notice requirements of employees who worked at the Işıklar, Atabacası and Geventepe mines in the Soma district of Manisa province under royalty agreements signed within the scope of Law No. 3213 to which the Turkish Coal Enterprises was a party, and whose employment contracts were terminated in a manner entitling them to severance pay (…)[42], shall be paid by the Institution within six months from the date of application, provided that those who have not received the severance pay and/or such compensation apply to the Institution within two months from the date this article enters into force. As a result of the payment, the Institution shall seek recourse against the relevant companies that were parties to the royalty agreement and, for amounts that have not been recovered from those companies or are understood to be unrecoverable, against the members of the boards of directors who served from the date on which the employment contracts ended in a manner entitling the employees to severance pay until the date this article enters into force.
Geçici Madde 12
(Added:23/1/2026-7573/6 art.)
Of the severance pay payments made by public institutions and organisations to employees employed by subcontractors under procurement contracts signed pursuant to subparagraph (e) of paragraph one of Article 62 of Law No. 4734 between 11/9/2014, the date on which Article 8 of the Law No. 6552 dated 10/9/2014 on the Amendment of the Labour Law and Certain Laws and Decree Laws and the Restructuring of Certain Receivables entered into force, and 15/10/2019 (including those dates), recovery from subcontractors shall be waived for the portion of the amounts subject to recourse that relates to the period covered by those procurement contracts.
In lawsuits pending as of the date this article enters into force in which public institutions or organisations seek recourse against a subcontractor within the scope of paragraph one, the court shall rule that no decision on the merits of the dispute is necessary in respect of the portion for which recovery is waived under paragraph one, and each party shall bear its own litigation costs and lawyers’ fees. In enforcement proceedings, a decision shall be made to discontinue proceedings in respect of the portion for which recovery is waived, without levying any fee, and each party shall bear its own enforcement costs and lawyers’ fees. However, amounts pursued and collected by way of recourse against the subcontractor within this scope shall in no way give rise to a right to claim in favour of subcontractors, and amounts collected shall not be refunded.
Madde 121 – Entry into force
This Law shall enter into force on the date of its publication.
Madde 122 – Execution
The Council of Ministers shall execute the provisions of this Act.
Notes
[39] By Article 16 of Law No. 7578 dated 22/4/2026, the word “five” in this paragraph was amended to read “ten”.
[40] By Presidential Decision No. 3592 published in the Official Gazette No. 31418 dated 9/3/2021, the periods specified in the first and second paragraphs of this article were extended by two months from 17/3/2021. Subsequently, by Presidential Decision No. 3930 published in the Official Gazette No. 31470 dated 30/4/2021, the periods specified in the first and second paragraphs of this article were extended from 17/5/2021 until 30/6/2021.
[41] By Article 5 of Law No. 7252 dated 23/7/2020, the phrase “, expiry of the term in fixed-term employment or service contracts, closure of the workplace and cessation of its operations for any reason, and completion of the work in any service procurement and construction works carried out under the relevant legislation” was added after the phrase “cases and similar reasons” in the first paragraph; and the phrase “for a period of up to six months” in the fourth paragraph was amended to read “for periods of up to three months each time, until 30/6/2021”.
[42] By Decision No. E.: 2020/75; K.: 2023/188 of the Constitutional Court dated 8/11/2023, the phrase “…following the mine accident that occurred on 13/5/2014…” in the first sentence of this paragraph was annulled.