Unpaid Wages: How to Recover What You Are Owed

This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Ücret Alacağı Davası: Maaşınızı Almak İçin Ne Yapmalısınız?.

An employee whose wages are not paid has two basic rights: to withhold work where payment is more than twenty days late (Article 34 of the Labour Act), and to terminate for just cause (Article 24/II-e). A wage claim is subject to a five-year limitation period, and interest may be claimed at the highest deposit rate.

Wages are the most basic element of an employment contract for the employee and the employer's first obligation. Where wages are not paid, both a right to terminate for just cause and a claim for the money arise — yet many people work on for months without pay because they do not know where to turn.

Article 32 of the Labour Act requires wages to be paid at least once a month; a contract or collective agreement may shorten that to a week. Wages are as a rule paid in Turkish lira into a bank account opened for the purpose. Where payment is made in cash, a signed receipt is compulsory.

What Are Your Rights?

More than one route is open, and they can be used together or in sequence:

• Termination for just cause (Article 24/II-e). Non-payment of wages entitles the employee to terminate immediately, without waiting out the notice period, and to claim severance pay. But take care: continuing to work despite long non-payment can be read as tacit acceptance, so the decision should not be delayed.
• Withholding work (Article 34). Where wages are not paid within twenty days of the due date, the employee may decline to perform work. Doing so is not absence without leave, and the employer may not terminate on that ground.
• A claim in the labour court for the unpaid wages. It can be brought in a single petition together with severance pay, notice pay, overtime and annual leave claims.
• A complaint to the social security institution or the ministry. Where you believe the employer has under-declared or employed you without registration. This produces no compensation but starts an administrative inspection.
• Enforcement proceedings, where you hold a settled document such as the minutes of a mediation settlement.

Bringing the Claim

The claim is brought in the labour court. As to venue, the employee has two options:

• the labour court where the workplace is situated
• the labour court where the employee is domiciled

Choosing the more accessible court can speed matters up in practice.

Is Mediation Compulsory?

Under the Labour Courts Act (Law no. 7036), applying to a mediator before bringing an individual employment claim is compulsory. A case brought without doing so is dismissed on procedural grounds.

How it works:

• the employee applies to the mediation office of the Ministry of Justice or through the e-government portal
• the mediator calls the parties to a meeting within 3 weeks; that period can be extended by 1 week by agreement
• if the parties agree, the minutes they sign are enforceable like a court judgment
• if not, “final minutes” are drawn up and the employee may bring proceedings within 2 weeks

The advantage is speed: a resolution in weeks rather than months. The disadvantage is the pressure to settle for less than you are owed. Attending with a lawyer is strongly advisable.

“The limitation period for an employee's wage claims is five years.”

Labour Act, additional Article 3

Interest and Limitation

Two points make a substantial difference to the sum recovered:

• Interest. On wage claims, interest is not the ordinary statutory rate but the highest rate applied to deposits by banks. Over a long period the difference is significant, so the claim should ask for it expressly.
• Limitation. Five years, running from the date the employment contract ended for severance and notice pay, and from the date each item fell due for wages and overtime. Delay therefore costs the oldest months first.

Evidence

The employer bears the burden of proving that wages were paid, and must do so by written evidence: payslips, bank records or signed receipts. That works in the employee's favour — but the following still matter:

• bank records showing what actually reached your account, and when
• payslips, and any difference between the figure on them and the sum actually paid
• correspondence in which non-payment was raised with the employer
• witnesses — colleagues in the same position