The Turkish subsidiary is registered and the first offer letter is about to go out to a country manager and two engineers. The parent’s HR team sends its standard template: at-will employment, a ninety-day probation, unlimited overtime for salaried staff and a two-year worldwide non-compete. Almost none of it survives contact with Turkish law. This article covers what a foreign-owned company needs before its first hires in Türkiye: the contract and fixed-term limits (Articles 8 and 11 of the Labour Law No. 4857), probation (Article 15), working time, overtime and leave (Articles 63, 41, 53), notice (Article 17), severance (Article 14 of the former Labour Law No. 1475), job security and dismissal formalities (Articles 18 to 21 and 109), confidentiality and non-compete (Articles 396 and 444 to 447 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098, TBK), remote work (Article 14) and the registrations that start with the first employee. It follows the company formation guide for foreign founders and the employment law practice page.
The contract: written form, fixed term and probation
Article 8(1) of the Labour Law defines the employment contract (iş sözleşmesi) as one under which the employee undertakes to work in dependence and the employer to pay a wage, and says it is not subject to any particular form unless the Law provides otherwise. Article 8(2) requires contracts “with a term of one year or more” to be made in writing and exempts them from stamp duty and fees, and Article 8(3) requires an employer without a written contract to hand the employee, within two months, a written statement of the working conditions, working time, wage, pay period, any fixed term and the termination provisions. A written contract in Turkish, signed before the start date, is therefore the practical rule.
The default is an indefinite term. Under Article 11(1) a fixed-term contract (belirli süreli iş sözleşmesi) is one made “in writing” for “work of a fixed duration or based on objective conditions such as the completion of a particular job or the occurrence of a particular event”; a term chosen to avoid severance fails that test. Article 11(2) prohibits successive fixed-term contracts without an essential reason, failing which the contract is indefinite from the outset. Probation is short: under Article 15 it may run for at most two months, extendable to four only by collective agreement; during probation either side may terminate without notice or compensation, the employee keeping wages for days worked.
Working time, overtime and annual leave
Article 63(1) fixes working time at a maximum of forty-five hours a week; Article 63(2) allows a different distribution provided no day exceeds eleven hours and the average over two months stays within the limit. Overtime (fazla çalışma) is work exceeding forty-five hours a week under Article 41(1), paid at the hourly wage increased by fifty per cent (Article 41(2)); where the contract sets a shorter week, hours above it up to forty-five carry a twenty-five per cent premium (Article 41(3)). Article 41 also offers time off in lieu, requires the employee’s consent to overtime and caps it at two hundred and seventy hours a year. There is no exempt-employee category: a salaried engineer is entitled to overtime pay unless a defined amount of overtime is lawfully built into the salary. Annual leave accrues after one year of service, probation included (Article 53(1)), cannot be waived (Article 53(2)) and runs to at least fourteen, twenty or twenty-six days by length of service.
| Item | Rule | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly working time | Maximum 45 hours; up to 11 hours a day with two-month equalisation | 4857 Art. 63 |
| Overtime | Above 45 hours; 150 per cent of hourly wage; consent; 270 hours a year | 4857 Art. 41 |
| Annual leave | 14 / 20 / 26 days by years of service; 20-day floor for employees aged 18 or under and 50 or over | 4857 Art. 53 |
| Probation | Maximum two months (four by collective agreement) | 4857 Art. 15 |
Wages, payroll and registrations
Under Article 32(2) wages, premiums and bonuses are paid as a rule in Turkish lira, at the workplace or into a bank account; a wage agreed in foreign currency may be paid in lira at the rate on the payment date, so a dollar reference is lawful but payroll runs in lira. Wages are paid at least monthly (Article 32(5)) and wage claims are time-barred after five years. Article 94(1) of the Income Tax Law No. 193 obliges the company to withhold income tax on wages and Article 98 requires a monthly withholding return, so payroll should be in place before the first salary. The company is also registered as an employer with the Social Security Institution when the first employee starts; contribution rates and deadlines are set by the social security legislation and are not covered here. A foreign national who will work in or manage the company from Türkiye needs a work permit under the International Labour Force Law No. 6735, which under Article 12 of that Law serves as a residence permit for its term; the Ministry’s criteria for sponsoring companies, as reported in 2026, include paid-in capital of at least 500,000 Turkish lira and the employment of Turkish nationals from the seventh month, and should be confirmed before the hire is planned around them.
Ending the relationship: notice and severance
Turkish law does not know at-will employment. Under Article 17(1) an indefinite-term contract may be terminated only after notice, and Article 17(2) sets minimum periods by length of service that contracts may lengthen but not shorten (Article 17(3)). The party that fails to give notice owes the wage for the period (Article 17(4)); the employer may terminate at once by paying it in advance (Article 17(5)). The last paragraph of Article 17 adds money-measurable contractual benefits to the base wage, and Article 17(6) imposes three times the notice pay where an employee outside the job security regime is dismissed in abuse of the right to terminate.
| Length of service | Minimum notice (4857 Art. 17) |
|---|---|
| Under six months | Two weeks |
| Six months to one and a half years | Four weeks |
| One and a half to three years | Six weeks |
| More than three years | Eight weeks |
Severance pay (kıdem tazminatı) rests on Article 14 of the former Labour Law No. 1475, the only provision of that Law kept alive by Article 120 of Law No. 4857. Under Article 14(1), when the contract ends in one of the listed ways the employer pays “severance pay in the amount of thirty days’ wage for each full year” from the start date, pro rata for fractions. The listed ways include termination by the employer other than for the conduct-based just causes (today Article 25/II of Law No. 4857), termination by the employee for just cause, military service, retirement and death; a resignation without just cause does not qualify, and the threshold is one year of service. The pay is computed on the last wage including money-measurable contractual and statutory benefits. There is a ceiling: under Article 14(13) the annual amount of severance cannot exceed the maximum retirement bonus payable for one year of service to the highest-ranking civil servant under the Civil Servants Law and Law No. 5434, a figure that moves with civil-servant pay coefficients and caps the thirty days’ wage for highly paid staff. Late payment attracts the highest deposit interest rate.
Job security and the form of a dismissal
Under Article 18(1) an employer with thirty or more employees must base the dismissal of an indefinite-term employee with at least six months’ seniority on a valid reason arising from the employee’s competence or conduct or from the requirements of the enterprise or work. Article 18(4) aggregates headcount across the employer’s workplaces in the same line of business, and Article 18(5) excludes the employer’s representative who manages the whole enterprise with authority to hire and dismiss, which will often cover the country manager. Form matters whatever the size. Article 19(1) requires written notice stating the reason clearly and precisely, and Article 19(2) prohibits dismissal for conduct or performance without first hearing the employee’s defence, save for immediate termination under Article 25/II. Article 109, as amended in 2025, requires notices to be in writing against signature or, with the employee’s written consent, by registered electronic mail (KEP); termination notices are always in writing. Within the regime, Article 20 sends the employee to a mediator within one month and then to court, with the burden of proof on the employer, and Article 21 obliges an employer that loses to reinstate within one month or pay four to eight months’ wage, plus up to four months’ wages for the idle period.
Loyalty, confidentiality, non-compete and IP
Article 396(1) of the TBK requires the employee to work with care and to act loyally in protecting the employer’s legitimate interests; Article 396(3) prohibits competing with the employer during the relationship; and Article 396(4) prohibits using or disclosing information learned at work, in particular production and business secrets, and extends secrecy beyond termination “to the extent necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate interests”. A confidentiality clause therefore restates a statutory duty.
A post-termination non-compete is different. Under Article 444(1) the employee may undertake “in writing” to refrain from competing after the contract ends, in particular from opening a competing business or working for a competitor. Article 444(2) makes the clause valid only if the employment gave access to the customer base, production secrets or the employer’s business and the use of that knowledge could cause significant harm. Article 445(1) prohibits limits on place, time and type of work that unfairly endanger the employee’s economic future and caps the duration at two years save in special circumstances; under Article 445(2) the court may narrow an excessive clause. Under Article 446 the employee in breach compensates the loss and, where a penalty is agreed, may free themselves by paying it unless the contract provides otherwise; Article 447(2) ends the non-compete where the employer terminates without just cause. A worldwide two-year clause for a junior engineer fails on scope; a one-year clause limited to the company’s actual market has a chance. The penalty needs care: Article 446(2) contemplates a penalty for breach of the non-compete, while Article 420(1) provides that a penalty clause in a service contract imposed only on the employee is void, so the clause should be drafted with both provisions in view. The glossary entry on the non-compete covers the drafting. IP is a separate workstream: the Turkish contract should assign software, inventions and know-how created in the course of employment, as the IP practice page and the PIIA entry describe; the parent’s foreign-law assignment does not by itself bind a Turkish employee.
Remote and hybrid work
Article 14(4) of the Labour Law defines remote work (uzaktan çalışma) as an employment relationship “established in writing” in which the employee performs the work at home or, through technological communication tools, outside the workplace, within the employer’s work organisation. Article 14(5) lists the mandatory content: the definition of the work, how it is performed, its duration and place, the wage, the equipment provided, how the employer communicates with the employee, and the working conditions. Under Article 14(6) remote employees may not be treated differently without an essential reason, and the employer must inform and train them on occupational health and safety. Article 14(7) leaves the procedure, data protection rules and excluded jobs to a regulation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. A hybrid arrangement is remote work for the remote days and must be documented in writing; a one-line “may work from home” does not satisfy Article 14.
Can we hire everyone on one-year fixed-term contracts to keep flexibility?
Only where Article 11(1) is met: the work is of a fixed duration or tied to the completion of a job or the occurrence of an event, and the contract is in writing. A term chosen for flexibility alone is indefinite, and a renewal without an essential reason is indefinite from the start under Article 11(2).
We have twelve employees. Do we need a reason to dismiss someone?
Articles 18 to 21 apply from thirty employees, so no valid reason in that technical sense is required. The dismissal must still be in writing under Articles 19 and 109, notice and severance are owed where earned, and an abusive dismissal costs three times the notice pay under Article 17(6).
Our parent’s template has a two-year global non-compete. Can we use it?
Not as drafted. Article 445(1) requires reasonable limits of place, time and type of work, and Article 444(2) requires real access to customers or secrets and a risk of significant harm. A narrow written clause, with a penalty drafted in view of Articles 446(2) and 420(1), is enforceable; the global version will be cut down or fail.
Related: employment law · company formation for foreign founders · non-compete · startup law guide.
Sources. Labour Law No. 4857 (Articles 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17-21, 25, 32, 41, 53, 63, 109, 120); Labour Law No. 1475 (Article 14); Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (Articles 396, 420, 444-447); Income Tax Law No. 193 (Articles 94, 98); International Labour Force Law No. 6735 (Article 12). Statute links open the official Turkish texts on mevzuat.gov.tr.
This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Please seek legal support for an assessment of any specific matter.
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