Employees may have different jobs, each established with new employment contracts, in one or different workplaces with the same employer. If the employee starts working again for the same employer after a while, the concept of “intermittent work” will come up. The legal regulation regarding the effect of intermittent work on severance pay is included in Article 14 of the Labor Law No. 1475, which is still in effect.
What is the severance pay ?
The severance pay, if the employment contract of the worker who has completed the minimum seniority period determined in the law is terminated for one of the reasons specified in the law; It is paid by the employer to the employee or, in the event of the employee’s death, to his/her heirs in proportion to the time the employee worked.
However, the start date in calculating the seniority period of the worker is the date the worker actually started working at the workplace. Although there is no legal regulation stating that the starting date of the seniority period will be the date when the employee “actually” starts to work, there are established precedents of the Supreme Court on the subject. In its decision dated 01.02.2010, the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals stated that “Instead of the signing date of the employment contract, the date of the actual establishment of the employment relationship will start the period that should be taken into account in terms of entitlement to severance pay and accountability.” 1 made its assessment.
The end of the seniority period is the date of termination of the employment contract, as well as, since the employment contract will continue with all the rights and obligations of the parties from the arrival of the termination notice to the expiry of the notification period, if the employment contract is terminated in accordance with the notification periods, the end of the seniority period will be the date when the notification period expires.
What is the effect of Intermittent Work on seniority?
In the second paragraph of the 14th article of the abrogated Labor Law No. 1475, which is still in effect; the worker has the same depending on the employer, if he works in one or different workplaces, in terms of seniority accountit is stipulated that the working periods will be combined. At this point it is necessary to note that in order for the periods to be combined, in such a way as to qualify for severance pay for each study it must be terminated. So, for example, the termination of the employment contract with resignation or according to the 25/2 paragraph of the labor code in case of termination by the employer due to non-compliance with the rules of morality and goodwill;
previous studies will not be taken into account in the calculation of severance pay, and working periods cannot be combined.
While examining the effect of intermittent work on the seniority period, a distinction should be made according to whether a severance payment is made for the first period of employment. If payment has been made for the first period of employment, the employer will not pay severance pay again, as no severance pay or bonus will be paid more than once for the same seniority period, pursuant to paragraph 8 of Article 14 of the Labor Law No: 1475. If severance pay is not paid for the first term worked, it has been applied in the Supreme Court’s precedents that the first working period will be added to the next service period at the same employer and the severance pay will be calculated over the last wage.
However, in cases that the period between intermittent working periods exceeds the period of limitations, the previous working period will not be taken into account in the calculation of the severance pay, and the calculation of severance pay will not be made in terms of the first working period have become valid with the precedents of the Supreme Court.
İpek Güney
