Employee terminations will be considered to be collective dismissal in the following scenarios where the employees are terminated within one month of each other:

  • a minimum of 10 employees are terminated in a workplace employing between 20 and 100 employees
  • a minimum of 10 percent of employees are terminated in a workplace employing between 101 and 300 employees
  • a minimum of 30 employees are terminated in a workplace employing 301 and more employees

If collective dismissal takes place, the following procedure should be followed.

An employer which intends to collectively dismiss employees must give written notice of its intention to terminate to the representatives of the trade union at the workplace (if any) and to the Turkish Labour and Employment Institution. Such notice shall include information covering:

  • reasons for the dismissal of the employees;
  • the number and groups of employees to be affected; and
  • the period of time within which termination shall be realized.

Termination notices (to be submitted to the employees) will become effective 30 days after submission of this notice to Turkish Labour and Employment Institution.

If there is a trade union representative at the workplace, the notification will be followed by negotiations between the workplace trade union representatives and the employer. These negotiations will discuss ways in which the collective dismissal can be avoided or the number of employees to be laid off can be reduced, and how to minimize adverse effects of the dismissal on the employees. Feedback from the trade union representative is not binding however, but a document certifying and evidencing that this meeting was held should be prepared after the negotiations.

If the workplace will be closed completely and activities ceased indefinitely, then submission of the above mentioned notice to the Turkish Labour and Employment Institution and announcing this at the workplace is sufficient (i.e. union representative notice and subsequent meeting is not required).

Within 6 months following the collective dismissal, if the employer decides to employ people for any positions that were terminated within that collective dismissal, then those positions must be first offered to eligible employees that were terminated within the collective dismissal.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.