What is a fixed-term employment contract?
Under 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu Article 11, a belirli süreli iş sözleşmesi (fixed-term employment contract) is one where the duration is determined by a specified period, a specific task to be completed, or an objective condition occurring. The default under Turkish labour law is indefinite-term (belirsiz süreli) — fixed-term contracts are exceptional and require an objective reason (“esaslı bir neden”) justifying the time limitation.
Statutory conditions (Article 11)
- Objective reason required: specific project, seasonal work, defined task, temporary replacement, or other objective time-limited need.
- Written form: required for contracts longer than one year.
- No chain abuse: consecutive fixed-term contracts without objective reason are deemed indefinite from inception.
- No discrimination: fixed-term workers cannot be discriminated against compared to indefinite-term peers in the same role.
Termination differences from indefinite-term
- No severance pay (kıdem tazminatı) on natural expiry: contract simply ends with the term.
- No notice pay (ihbar tazminatı) on natural expiry: the term itself is the notice.
- Early termination by employer without just cause: employer owes balance of fixed-term wages (Article 408 TBK) plus possible damages.
- No re-employment claim (işe iade davası): fixed-term workers are outside Article 18-21 job security regime.
Yargıtay practice — recharacterisation
Yargıtay 9. Hukuk Dairesi closely scrutinises whether the claimed objective reason is genuine. Common findings of disguised indefinite-term: routine office roles labelled “project basis,” repeated annual contracts in continuous business operations, lack of project-specific deliverables. When recharacterised, all indefinite-term protections (severance, notice, job security, re-employment) apply retroactively.
Comparison with indefinite-term contracts
Indefinite-term (belirsiz süreli) is the default and presumption; fixed-term must be justified each time. Employers often prefer fixed-term for flexibility but must accept the trade-off: no severance/notice protection on expiry only applies if the objective reason holds up to judicial scrutiny.
Do: document the objective reason in the contract preamble; align contract length with the project/task duration; renew only when the objective reason persists.
Don’t: use fixed-term contracts as a default flexibility tool — Yargıtay rebuts the form with substance and applies indefinite-term protections retroactively.