This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Sigortasız Çalıştırıldım: Hizmet Tespiti Davası.
If you were employed without social security registration, or with fewer days declared than you actually worked, you can bring an action before the labour court to have that past employment established. The action is subject to a five-year forfeiture period running from the end of the year in which the work was done; this is not a limitation period and the court applies it of its own motion. The Social Security Institution is a necessary party.
You worked for years, but those years never appeared in your retirement record. Either no registration was made at all, or ten days a month were declared instead of thirty.
The way to make that good is the action to establish insured employment. This article sets out the conditions, the critical five-year period and how the work is proved.
What Does the Action Achieve?
The action has unregistered or under-declared employment established by a court judgment and entered on the records of the Social Security Institution.
The periods established are added to your number of contribution days. That brings the date of retirement forward, increases the monthly pension, and affects access to benefits such as unemployment allowance.
The action is available where no declaration was made at all, where the start date was shown late, where the leaving date was shown early, where fewer days than worked were declared in a month, and where the wage was declared below its real level.
The court with jurisdiction is the labour court. The employer is the defendant, and the Social Security Institution must also be joined — this is compulsory, since otherwise the judgment cannot be relied on against the Institution.
Within How Many Years Must the Action Be Brought?
The period is the most critical feature of this action. Under the relevant provision of Law no. 5510, an insured person whose service was not declared to the Institution must bring the action within five years from the end of the year in which the work was done.
This is a forfeiture period: once missed, the right is lost entirely, and the court applies it of its own motion.
There is, however, an important exception: the period does not apply where documents of a kind from which the Institution could itself establish the employment exist. If an employment commencement notification was filed but no contributions declared, or if an official document such as an inspector's report or a payroll reached the Institution's records, the period does not run.
In practice this exception applies often. Even where five years have passed, it is worth having the file examined if you hold a document.
How Is the Employment Proved?
Proof is not restricted in these cases, but the courts are exacting, because the judgment has a direct effect on public funds.
The evidence to gather:
- Workplace records. Attendance records, transport lists, meal card records, turnstile entry and exit logs.
- Bank records. Periods in which the wage was paid through a bank.
- Correspondence. Assignment letters, e-mails, messages.
- Witnesses. People who worked as registered employees at the same workplace in the same period are the strongest witnesses; employees of neighbouring businesses may also be heard.
- Official records. Trade chamber records, tax office records, social security inspectors' reports.
The court will usually enquire of its own motion of the owners of neighbouring businesses and of witnesses named on the payroll for the period. It will also have the police or municipal officers establish whether the workplace was in operation at the time.
| Matter | Detail |
|---|---|
| Court with subject-matter jurisdiction | Labour court |
| Venue | The place of the workplace or the residence of the defendant employer |
| Defendants | The employer and the Social Security Institution (compulsory) |
| Period | 5 years from the end of the year in which the work was done (forfeiture) |
| When the period does not run | Where the employment was notified to the Institution by any document |
| Mediation | Not required; the action is brought directly |
| Proof | Official records take priority; witness evidence alone is as a rule insufficient |
Because the matter concerns public order, the parties cannot withdraw from the action or settle it.
What Should You Watch For?
- Claim the whole period in one action. Splitting the claim is both costly and risky as regards the period.
- Ask for the wage to be established as well. Not only the number of days but the real wage affects the pension directly.
- No mediation requirement applies. Because the matter concerns public order, this action falls outside mediation as a condition of the action; it is brought directly.
- Waivers and releases have no effect. A release given to the employer does not extinguish the right to have the employment established.
- It is separate from employment claims. Severance, notice pay and overtime are the subject of a separate action, and mediation is a condition of that action.
Where the action succeeds, the Institution collects the unpaid contributions from the employer with a late-payment surcharge; they are not sought from the insured person.
The action must be brought within five years of the end of the year in which the work was done, and that period is a forfeiture period. But it does not apply where a document exists from which the Institution could establish the employment — so have your file examined even if five years have passed.