COVID-19 and Employment: Turkey’s SGK Has Announced that Code-29 of Termination Will No Longer Be Applicable

Turkey’s Social Security Institution (“SGK”) has recently made certain changes in relation to termination notifications of labor contracts made to the SGK. In furtherance of the latest update, employers will have to notify SGK on how the employee acted in immoral, dishonorable, or malicious conduct or other similar behavior causing the termination of the labor contract, by entering the appropriate exit code in SGK’s official online system.

Background

Accordingly, if a labor contract is terminated, it should immediately be reported to SGK in Turkey. This notification must be made by the employer or the employer’s representative. When notifying SGK, the termination needs to be reported with the correct exit code stating in what reasons the labor contract has terminated. Thus, the exit code determines whether the labor contract is terminated by the employee or the employer and it shows the obligations of parties in terms of termination such as severance pay, notice pay and unemployment benefits.

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, a new provisional article 10 had been added to the Labor Law numbered 4857 (“Law №4857”) stating that the termination of any labor contract whether under the scope of the Law №4857 or not; is prohibited except for termination regarding immoral, dishonorable, or malicious conduct or other similar behavior which constitutes the exit code numbered 29 (“Code-29”) in SGK’s system. After a while, many filed numerous complaints, alleging that some employers were using this exception to dodge a government decision that bans layoffs.

With the announcement made by SGK on April 8, 2021, new codes have been defined for immoral, dishonorable, or malicious conduct or other similar behavior in order to prevent confusions and reveal the exact reason for the termination of the labor contract. Accordingly, new codes are announced as follows:

“Code-42” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that the employee misled the employer by falsely claiming to possess qualifications or to satisfy requirements which constitute an essential feature of the contract, or by giving false information or making false statements,

“Code-43” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that the employee is guilty of any speech or action constituting an offence against the honor or dignity of the employer or a member of his/her family, or levels groundless accusations against the employer in matters affecting the latter’s honor or dignity,

“Code-44” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that the employee sexually harassed another employee of the employer,

“Code-45” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that employee assaulted or threatened the employer, a member of his/her family or a fellow employee, or if he/she was under substance or drunk while working,

“Code-46” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that the employee committed a dishonest act against the employer, such as a breach of trust, theft or disclosure of the employer’s trade secrets,

“Code-47” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that the employee committed on offence in the workplace that is punished with more than seven days of imprisonment and whose sentence is not suspended,

“Code-48” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that without the employer’s permission or a good reason, the employee was absent from work for two consecutive days, or twice in one month on the working day following a rest day or on three working days in any month,

“Code-49” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that the employee refused, after being warned, to perform his/her duties,

“Code-50” will be entered if the labor contract is terminated relying on the reason that either willfully or through gross negligence the employee imperiled safety of the work or damaged machinery, equipment or other articles or materials in his/her care, whether these are the employer’s property or not, and the damage cannot be offset by his/her thirty days’ pay.

Ezgi Ceren Aydoğmuş