Concerns millions of employees: Supreme Court's decision on leave pay

The article of the law regarding the advance payment of paid annual leave, which is among the rights of workers in Türkiye that are unknown, is not being implemented correctly by employers.

The rules regarding annual leave pay are clearly stated in Article 57 of the Labor Law No. 4857.

The article states:

"The employer must pay the annual leave wage to each employee who uses his/her annual paid leave in advance or pay it in cash before the employee begins his/her leave."

In other words, if an employee goes on leave on 14/07/2025 and starts work on 21/07/2025, the employer must deposit the 7-day wage spent during the leave into the employee's salary account before the employee goes on leave.

“IF NOT GIVEN, THE WORKER IS ENTITLED TO SEVERANCE PAY”

Social Security Expert Prof. Dr. Cem Kılıç stated that "According to Article 57 of the Labor Law, the employer is obliged to pay the annual leave wage to each employee who uses their annual paid leave in advance or in cash before the employee begins their leave."

Kılıç said, "Since the employer who does not provide this will be considered to have underpaid the wage, the termination imposed by the employee will be considered justified and the employee will be entitled to severance pay."

THERE IS ALSO A SUPREME COURT DECISION

The 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, in its decision numbered 2025/2487, case numbered 2025/2024 (date of decision 10/03/2025), found the employee right in resolving the dispute and deemed it appropriate for the employee to leave the job with justified termination and compensation due to the fact that his wages were not paid in advance before he went on annual leave.

THE EMPLOYER MUST PAY BEFORE THE WORKER REQUIRES IT

In the Supreme Court’s decision, it was stated that “Considering the provision 57/1 and article 103 of Law No. 4857 and the relevant provisions of the Regulation, it is absolutely mandatory that the employer must pay the wages for the leave period in advance or in cash to every employee who uses annual paid leave before the leave begins, and there is no need for the employee to make a separate request for the payment of annual leave wages.”

IT IS ALSO USED FOR MALICIOUS PURPOSES

Employees who want to leave their jobs and have accrued severance pay are reluctant to resign. Therefore, they resort to justified termination because they are unable to receive their annual leave payments before taking leave. While the defendant companies argued that the employee had not been paid for the time spent on leave in previous years, the Supreme Court of Appeals, citing Article 57 of the Labor Law, ruled that there was no malicious intent and that the payment must be deposited into the employee's salary account without a request from the employer.

NTV

In the statement made on the Ministry's social media account, it was reminded that the General Directorate of Provincial Administration published a circular on June 25, 2025, on the occasion of July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day.

The statement included the following statements:

The claim on some social media accounts and news sites that the use of Atatürk's photographs is prohibited is a vile slander. Every circular regarding July 15th Democracy and National Unity Day, published by our Ministry of Interior since 2018, includes the statement that "care should be taken to ensure that only the Turkish flag is displayed at all events." The aim is to ensure that only the Turkish flag, not political parties, is used in events organized on July 15th, a day that symbolizes our nation's unity and solidarity.