They Are Not Paying My Wage. What Should I Do?

In short

An unpaid wage is a discussion of an employment claim and of mediation. Attachment is not the first step of this note.

An unpaid wage is a discussion of an employment claim and of mediation. Attachment is not the first step.

Enforcement comes afterwards, with a judgment or with a document.

The time sheet and the bank statement are the face of the proof.

Related notes: proof of overtime.

The first practical order

1. Mark the periods of the short wage against the payroll.
2. While the employment contract continues, enforcement should not skip the condition of mediation.
3. If there is no termination, do not open the door of reinstatement. Choose the door of the claim.

If the day for paying the wage has passed and the wage has not been deposited in your account, first make clear which period and which amount is short. The employer's saying "we will pay soon" does not remove the wage debt. Not going to work suddenly, or resigning without a ground, can also make the pursuit of the right harder.

The problem needs to be taken up on two separate planes. The first is the collection of the wage that has arisen. The second is whether the employment relationship will continue. Asking for the claim while continuing to work, refraining from working in the statutory conditions, and termination for just cause because the wage was not paid have different legal results. This content offers a general map. The payroll, the payment day, and the conditions of the contract should be examined according to the file.

First determine which wage was not paid

The expression "my wage was not deposited" sometimes tells that the bare monthly wage was not paid, sometimes the bonus, and sometimes the counterpart of overtime. The legal basis and the time of earning of these heads may not be the same. Building a table of payment first makes the problem visible.

This information can take a place in the table:

• The relevant month and the ordinary payment day
• The gross or net wage in the contract
• The amount deposited in the bank
• If there is an allegation of a cash payment, the date and the document
• Additions such as a bonus, a meal, transport, or a gratuity
• The deductions the employer made, and their explanations
• The remaining claim

If the payroll and the bank record do not match, both should be kept. Showing a full payment on the payroll and depositing a lower amount in the bank is an important contradiction. Conversely, an unexplained payment in the bank can also give rise to a discussion of which month, or which head of claim, it belongs to.

The contract, the payroll, and the bank record should be read together

The employment contract can show the starting wage. The actual wage may have changed because of later increases, the workplace practice, or regular side benefits. Looking only at a contract of years ago can cause the current claim to be calculated short. The payrolls and the bank movements bring out the course of the wage over time.

Signed payrolls have an effect in proof. The existence of the signature may not, in every situation, show that the payment was made. The falsity of the payroll, a reservation, a contradiction with the bank record, or the separation of accrual and of payment is assessed in the concrete event. If a digital payroll system is used, the records of access and of approval can also matter.

If a part of the wage is given in cash, dated notes the worker kept themselves, lawful correspondence that contains the conversations about the wage, research on a comparable wage, and witnesses can be supporting. The set of evidence should not be rested on a single screenshot. The reliability of records whose source is uncertain, or that appear altered, falls.

Sending a written request for payment to the employer

When the delay of the wage is noticed, a written notification to human resources or to the employer enters the date and the scope of the problem on the record. The notification should, without carrying an aggressive language, ask which payment belonging to which month is short, and should ask for an explanation of the payment.

Which of the methods, such as e-mail, the institutional request system, registered post, or a notarial notice, is suitable can be chosen according to the seriousness of the event. The records in a messaging application can also be used. The identity of the other party, and the integrity of the correspondence, should be understood.

The written request serves these three functions:

• It shows whether the employer accepts the delay.
• It records the promise given about the date of payment.
• It provides a chronology in a later assessment of refraining from work, or of termination.

Rather than writing a figure that does not in fact exist as if it were a settled claim, a calculation based on the payroll and the bank records in hand should be presented. The calculation can change later with an expert examination.

The delay of twenty days, and the right to refrain from working

In the Labour Code, if the wage is not paid within twenty days from the payment day, outside a cause of force majeure, the worker is given the right to refrain from performing the duty to work. This special right should not be mixed with being absent without giving notice, in order to protest the delay of the wage.

When the conditions have arisen, the worker can explain in writing that they are not offering the performance of work because the wage was not paid. The calculation of the days, the payment day, and the allegation of force majeure should be examined carefully. Not going to work before the twenty days have yet passed, or while the debt is disputed, can lead the employer to draw up minutes of absence.

That workers who refrain from working use this right collectively, relying on their personal decisions, is not characterised in the statute as a strike. The communication at the workplace, and the actual practice, should still be evidenced. If the employer notifies that they have made the payment, the bank account should be checked, and the return to the working arrangement should not be delayed.

Can the non-payment of the wage be a ground of termination for just cause?

That the wage is not calculated in accordance with the statute or the contract, or is not paid, can, if the conditions exist, give the worker the possibility of immediate termination for a just cause. Termination for just cause is different from an ordinary resignation. The worker ends the contract for a certain legal ground, and may need to prove the ground.

Before the termination, these questions should be answered:

• Which head of wage has not been paid, and since when?
• Does the employer accept the debt?
• Is the delay a single occasion, or regular?
• What do the bank and payroll records show?
• Was a partial payment made?
• Did the worker notify a reservation while continuing to work?

Termination for just cause, in the correct conditions, can bring a claim for severance pay onto the agenda. In a termination for just cause made by the worker, notice pay does not, as a rule, arise. This separation should not be missed while the text of the termination is prepared. A ready petition in the form "I am leaving of my own wish" can conflict with the narration of ending because of the wage.

The effect on severance and on the other claims

When the employment relationship ends because the wage was not paid, not only the wage that remains behind is claimed. If the conditions exist, severance pay, the wage for unused annual leave, overtime, the weekly rest, and the other claims that have arisen are also calculated. Each head can rest on different evidence.

In severance pay, the period of work and the concept of the wage with the regular extras included matter. A regular meal, transport, or some side benefits can be effective in the calculation. The logic of the detailed calculation is explained in the content how is severance pay calculated?.

In the wage claim, the months requested need to be shown apart. Which month the partial payments the employer made afterwards were set off against should be determined. An unexplained payment can give rise to a discussion of set-off between the parties. Mixing the gross and net figures in the calculation also prevents a sound comparison of the proposals in mediation.

The stage of mandatory mediation

Before bringing an action for a wage claim, the worker, as a rule, completes the mediation process. In the application, the employer's correct title, the period worked, and the kinds of claim should be stated. If there are different companies appearing at the same workplace, a subcontractor relationship, or a transfer of the workplace, determining the addressees can require a technical examination.

Preparing a simple calculation sheet before the meeting is useful. In the sheet, the principal wage, the periods of delay, the partial payments, and, if any, the basis of a request for interest can be shown apart. If the parties settle, these points should be clear:

• The net or gross amount to be paid
• Which months and heads it covers
• The date of payment and the bank account
• If there are instalments, each due date
• How the tax and social-security deductions will be handled
• The requests left open

If there is no settlement, the final minutes show that the condition of the action was completed. The scope of the document and the requests in the action need to be consistent. The details of this stage are taken up in the guide the final minutes of mediation.

An action, or an enforcement proceeding?

If the unpaid wage is determined and due, an enforcement proceeding can be considered. If the employer objects to the payment order in time, the proceeding can stop. The path to be followed for the removal or the setting aside of the objection changes according to the character of the document in hand and to the scope of the dispute. The options that appear after an objection to an enforcement proceeding explain this intersection.

If the amount of the wage, the period of work, or the identity of the employer is seriously disputed, the labour court examines the evidence more extensively. A witness, the payroll, the bank records, and an expert calculation can come onto the agenda. The duty of mediation as a condition of the action should be planned together with the kind of action chosen and with the enforcement process.

When the path of collection is chosen, not only speed should be thought of. Bringing a proceeding against the wrong company, claiming a bonus that is not yet due, or requesting again the months that were paid gives rise to an objection and to cost. The table of the debt needs to be cleaned first.

The employer's defence of economic difficulty

The employer can say that they could not pay the wage because of an economic crisis, the delay of customers' payments, or a bank problem. These explanations can tell the actual situation. They do not of themselves erase the wage debt that has arisen. The worker's right to the wage is protected separately from the employer's commercial risk.

If a payment plan is proposed, it should not be left oral. Which month will be paid on which date, and how the partial payments will be set off against the claim, should be written. The worker should not be counted as having waived the whole claim only by accepting one instalment. The language of the document is examined accordingly.

If the company is in a process of concordat, of bankruptcy, or of liquidation, the ordinary methods of collecting a claim can change. Institutional mechanisms of security directed at wage claims can come onto the agenda in certain conditions. The scope and the current conditions of applications to institutions should be verified apart. If there is a sign of financial difficulty, collecting the records early gains importance.

Problems of a deduction and of a short payment

A short payment gives rise to a dispute as much as the wage not being paid at all. There can be different explanations, such as a disciplinary deduction, the set-off of an advance, an attachment, tax, the Social Security Institution premium, or an allegation of damage. The legal basis and the limit of every deduction are not the same.

The employer's reducing the wage unilaterally is examined as to the rules on a substantial change in the working conditions. A lasting reduction made without the worker's written acceptance can be the subject of an objection. Changing the bonus system is also assessed according to whether the bonus rests on the contract or on the workplace practice.

When the payroll is received, these checks can be made:

• The gross wage is compared with the previous month.
• The days worked, and the cause of a missing day, are checked.
• The name and the amount of the deductions are determined.
• A matching is made with the net figure that passed to the bank.
• If there is a shortfall, a dated written objection is sent.

Staying silent does not, in every situation, mean acceptance. A regular and dated objection strengthens the narration that will be built afterwards.

Limitation, and the effect of waiting on proof

Wage claims are not without a period. For each periodical claim, limitation can run apart, and the transitional rules in the current legislation can matter. For this reason, waiting for months for an oral promise creates a risk both as to the period and as to the evidence.

As one waits, access to the bank statements can become harder, colleagues can leave, and digital correspondence can be deleted. Asking for the right while the employment relationship continues can be psychologically hard. At least the personal records and the payrolls need to be kept regularly. Asking the employer in writing shows both the expectation of payment and whether the debt is accepted.

The effect of an application for mediation on limitation, and how the calculation will continue after the process ends, should be checked according to the current procedure. It should not be assumed that an application made for one head of claim also protects another head automatically.

How does the process move in Ankara?

For workers working in Ankara, the competent mediation office and the labour court are determined according to connections such as the place where the work is done and the employer's place of residence. Even if the employer's centre is in another city, if the place of actual work is Ankara, this connection can matter. For those who work remotely or in a hybrid way, the contract and the arrangement of actual work are examined apart.

Local density can affect the calendar of the meeting and of the hearing. It does not change the date on which the wage arose, or the conditions of the application. When the documents are complete, the yield of the mediation meeting increases. Presenting a table by month, rather than only saying a general total, makes the area of resolution of the dispute clear.

A lawyer in the employment field separates the wage line on the payroll from the bank movement. A lawyer in the employment field separates a short payment from a wage that was not paid at all. A lawyer in the employment field separates refraining from working from the notice of termination for just cause. A lawyer in Ankara reads, from the place of work, that the office in Çankaya does not choose the competent labour court.

A plan of action, step by step

The measured map for a worker whose wage is not paid can be built in this way:

• Compare the contract, the payroll, and the bank records.
• Set the short months and heads out in a table.
• Ask the employer for a written explanation and a date of payment.
• Examine apart the threshold of twenty days and the conditions of refraining from working.
• If termination for just cause is considered, do not use an ordinary text of resignation.
• Calculate the severance and the other employment claims together.
• Make the mandatory application for mediation by stating the heads.
• If there is no settlement, choose the path of an action or of collection according to the state of the evidence.

The wider frame of the protection of the worker's wage, and of the connection with termination, is on the employment law page. Because not every delay gives rise to the same result, the payment day, the allegation of force majeure, the partial payment, and the method the worker followed should be taken up together.

This note is general information. A result particular to the person should not be drawn before the current legislation, the calculation of limitation, and the concrete documents are examined.

Conclusion

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