I Was Dismissed. What Should I Do?

In short

When you are dismissed, the first decision is the door of the service, the document, and mediation. The amount of severance and of notice pay is in separate articles.

The reinstatement calendar is in the article on reinstatement.

The service of the termination can be looked at from the workplace address in Ankara.

Related articles: severance; reinstatement.

The first practical order

1. Archive the termination notice, the payroll, and the release on the same day.
2. In a dispute within the scope, put the mediation application at the start of the calculation of the period.
3. A signature on a release does not erase every item. Note the date and the fact of payment.

At the moment you learn that you were dismissed, you do not have to resolve everything within the same day. You do need to protect some records at once, and to notice the short application periods. When and how the termination notice was given to you, which ground the employer explained, and on which day the employment relation ended in fact determine the later legal route.

Signing a blank document with the first reaction, deleting the workplace correspondence, or relying only on oral promises can make the proof harder later. The sounder approach is to draw the chronology of the event and to separate reinstatement from the money receivables. This text is for general information. The type of termination, the working period, and the structure of the workplace should be examined separately in the concrete event.

The records that should be protected in the first 24 hours

The first step is to take a copy of the termination notice, the minute, or the service document the employer gave. If a document was not given, note by whom, on which date, and with which words the information of the dismissal was conveyed. Before the corporate email access is closed, determine, without copying personal data or trade secrets, which records belonging to your own working relation you can access lawfully.

The following documents form the basic starting set in most files:

• The employment contract, the job description, and the additional protocols
• The wage payrolls of the last period, and the bank-account movements
• The termination notice, the requests for a defence, and the disciplinary minutes
• The annual-leave forms, and the shift or time-sheet records
• The performance assessments, and the workplace correspondence
• The social-security notifications of starting work and of leaving work

If you are asked to sign a document, read the text as a whole. A signature only of receipt, and a statement that accepts the content, are not the same thing. If there is a resignation contrary to the truth, a statement that all rights have been paid, or a blank space that can be filled in later, a reservation should be assessed before the signature. Signing a document of which a copy is not given can also create a problem of proof.

Why is the cause of the termination determining?

The employer can rest the employment contract on different legal bases, such as a termination with notice, a claim of a valid cause, or an immediate termination for just cause. The heading that is used does not determine the result on its own. In the assessment of the court or of the mediation, whether the event really happened, whether the ground is open, and whether the procedure was complied with are examined.

For example, if a fall in performance is raised, measurable targets, the earlier assessments, and whether a possibility of development was given to the worker gain importance. In a disciplinary claim, the date of the event, the minutes, the defence process, and the method applied to similar workers can be compared. When the requirements of the work or of the enterprise are shown as the ground, whether the position really disappeared, and whether the termination was looked at as a last resort, can be argued.

The expression of a just cause is a claim of ending without waiting for the notice period. The basis of this heavy result should be made concrete. The writing of a number that points to a just termination in the leaving code can be a record that supports the employer’s account. It does not take the place of all the evidence on its own.

The worker’s receivables should be set out item by item

After the termination, a single calculation of “compensation” is not made. Each receivable is assessed separately, taking into account the worker’s way of working and the reason the relation ended. Wages, severance, and notice pay are not tied to the same legal conditions.

The main items that can come onto the agenda in the file are these:

• Unpaid bare wages, and the regular wage supplements
• Severance pay, if the conditions exist
• Notice pay, if the notice period was not complied with
• The wage belonging to unused annual-leave periods
• Overtime, the weekly rest, and receivables for national and general holidays
• A bonus, a premium, or other payments that arose by the contract
• Special claims tied to a claim of discrimination or of bad faith

In the severance calculation, not only the last bare wage, but also some benefits in money, and benefits measurable in money, that have continuity can come onto the agenda. To see this distinction in detail, the calculation of severance pay can be taken up. An approximate amount trial stands in the severance calculation tool. The tool does not give a binding result. For the notice band, the notice calculation can be looked at. Showing the item, the period, and the deduction information, rather than a single total being written on the calculation slip, makes the check easier.

The ending of a fixed-term contract before its term is not a copy of a termination of an indefinite term. The chain of renewal, successive fixed terms, and the ground of ending are read separately. Severance or notice pay does not arise of itself on every early ending. Reinstatement is also not the same door in every fixed-term file.

The possibility of reinstatement should be assessed without delay

Not every dismissed worker can benefit from the reinstatement route. The job-security conditions, such as the number of workers at the workplace, the worker’s seniority, whether the contract is for an indefinite term, and the position of an employer’s representative, are examined together. If these conditions exist, whether the termination rests on a valid cause is argued separately.

As to reinstatement, the most important point is the application period. An application to the mediator is required within one month from the service of the termination notice. If an agreement cannot be reached in mediation, the bringing of the action within two weeks from the date the final minute is drawn up is provided. Because these periods extinguish the right, waiting for the other payments to be made is risky.

If the termination was made orally, the service and the start date can be debatable. The day of not being admitted to the workplace, the date of the message, or the time the access was closed can become evidence. For the conditions of reinstatement and the continuation of the process, the guide how is a reinstatement action brought? completes the related frame.

How is the mandatory mediation application prepared?

In an important part of claims for a worker’s receivables and for compensation, mediation before the action is mandatory. The application should not be left only with the sentence “I have a receivable from the employer.” Items such as severance, notice pay, wages, leave, and overtime should be written separately according to the data in hand.

Before the application the following preparations can be made:

• Verifying the termination date and the method of service
• Listing the claim items with their periods
• Gathering the wage and fringe-benefit documents for an approximate calculation
• Determining the employer’s correct trade name and address
• Separating a reinstatement claim openly, if there is one

In the meeting it should be understood whether the payment offer that is submitted is gross or net, which items it closes, and on which date the payment will be made. If a partial agreement will be made, the claims that remain open should be stated one by one. For the effect of the document drawn up in the case of no agreement, the final mediation minute can be examined separately.

How should the evidence plan be built?

In an employment dispute the payroll and the employer’s records are important, but they are not the only type of evidence. Bank payments can show the real wage level. Shift messages can show the working order. Corporate correspondence can show the duty and the performance process. Witness accounts also play a role especially as to the actual way of working.

Filing the evidence chronologically is useful. Starting work, changes of duty, wage increases, warnings, the termination, and the later payments can be kept under separate headings. Records whose source and context can be understood should be preferred, rather than screenshots created later whose date cannot be verified.

Unlawful access, taking personal data that belong to another worker, or unauthorised entry into the company system can give birth to new problems. The purpose of protecting evidence does not give an unlimited authority to collect data. Correspondence of which the worker is a party, and the secret records of third persons, are not assessed in the same way.

The social-security exit code and the unemployment benefit are separate processes

The leaving code the employer notified to the social-security institution is important as to the account of the termination and the examination of the unemployment benefit. Whether the code fits the termination document should be checked from the e-Devlet record. If there is a code contrary to the truth, asking the employer for a correction, and assessing the other routes according to the dispute, is possible.

The code does not prevent the court from examining the real event. For example, if there is a code of “resignation,” but there are strong records showing that the worker was not admitted to the workplace, the argument of termination continues. The reverse is also valid. Only the writing of an employer-termination code does not show that every receivable has arisen.

For the unemployment benefit, the premium and working conditions, and the time of the application, should be checked separately. This application does not start the reinstatement mediation, or the receivable claims, of itself. Keeping a separate date chart for each process prevents the mistake that one application takes the place of the other.

The payment, the calculation slip, and the release should be read carefully

The employer can make a lump-sum payment on the day of the termination, or afterwards. The explanation of the amount deposited in the bank should be compared with the items on the payroll or on the calculation slip. Joining the severance, notice, leave, and wage items under a single figure can make incomplete calculations invisible.

A release is a document stating that some receivables of the worker have been paid and that the worker releases the employer. The validity of a release relating to a worker’s receivables is tied to strict conditions. Elements such as written form, the period that needs to pass after the employment relation ends, the type and the amount of the receivable being shown openly, and the payment being made through the bank and without a shortfall are examined.

For this reason, that a document written “I received all my rights” was signed does not remove all the claims in every event. The payment and the content of the document should be compared. Pressure on the will, the date, and the bank record should be taken up separately. On the other hand, a valid mediation agreement document can give birth to legal results different from an ordinary release.

Mistakes often made

The mistakes that make the seeking of a right harder after dismissal are often made in the first days. The following in particular should be avoided:

• Not recording the service date of the termination notice
• Mixing the reinstatement period with the payment of the receivable
• Waiting by relying on the employer’s oral explanation “we will pay later”
• Signing a blank document, a document without a date, or a document whose content is contrary to the truth
• Leaving the claim items incomplete in mediation
• Taking company data without authority
• Not checking the social-security code
• Not examining the distinction of a gross and a net payment

Making a post on social media in anger, containing personal data about the company, a manager, or colleagues, can also give birth to separate disputes. The seeking of a right should be conducted by protecting the evidence and with measured written communication.

From where the leaving document is read

The termination document, the exit record, and the mediation minute are read side by side. A hearing day that is not written in the file is not added. A compensation amount is not written before it is read from the file. The office in Çankaya does not choose the competent court.

The authority of the mediation office and of the court is determined according to statutory connections such as the place where the work was done and the employer’s place of residence. For a person working in Ankara, the relevant mediation office and the labour court can come onto the agenda. If there is remote work, more than one branch, or a head-office address, the venue should be examined separately.

The volume of the local court can affect the trial calendar. It does not extend statutory thresholds such as the period of one month in the reinstatement application. For this reason postponing the application with the thought “files proceed late in Ankara” is not correct.

A usable plan of the next step

The order that can be followed after being dismissed is, in summary, as follows:

• Protect the termination and service documents.
• Verify the actual last working day and the social-security exit record.
• Calculate the wages, the leave, the severance, and the other receivables separately. For the amount, look at the articles on severance and notice pay.
• Examine the reinstatement conditions, before the period of one month ends, within the frame of reinstatement.
• File the evidence chronologically, in a lawful way.
• Prepare the mediation application for the necessary claims.
• Follow the period of the action separately after the final minute.

The wider conceptual frame is on the employment law page. The correct route after the termination is not found only with the question “how much payment do I receive?” The period, the cause of the termination, job security, and the state of proof are assessed together. Arranging the documents early reduces the contradictions that can appear later.

Each employment relation carries its own conditions. This content does not take the place of a legal opinion particular to a person. The assessment should be made over the current legislation and the concrete records. The frame is read with the leaving document under the Labour Act No. 4857.

Conclusion

This article is for general information. The document, the time, and the procedure of the concrete event should be read separately. There is no promise of a result by heart.

On leaving employment, a compensation amount that does not stand in the file is not written.