# Pay in Lieu of Notice in Turkey (2026): Who Gets It, How Many Weeks, How It Is Calculated

> Notice periods under Turkish Labor Law art. 17, a worked 60,000 TL example, 'dressed' wage, income and stamp tax, SGK treatment and the 5-year limit.

Source: https://sinemyavuz.com.tr/en/blog/pay-in-lieu-of-notice-turkey-2026
Category: Payroll & Social Security
Published: 2026-09-24
Updated: 2026-09-24
Author: Sinem Yavuz, Certified Public Accountant (SMMM) — SMMM Sinem Yavuz: Finance, Accounting & Advisory Office

## Key Takeaways

- Whoever ends an open-ended employment contract without observing the notice period owes the wages for that period (Labor Law No. 4857, art. 17); the periods are 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks and can be extended by contract.
- The calculation uses more than the bare wage: regular cash and cash-measurable benefits count too, so a 112,000 TL result on a 60,000 TL salary is only the starting point.
- Pay in lieu of notice is excluded from SGK premium-basis earnings (Law No. 5510, art. 80) but is subject to income and stamp tax, which is where it differs from severance pay.

Pay in lieu of notice (ihbar tazminatı) is the amount a party owes when it ends an open-ended employment contract without observing the statutory notice period. Article 17 of Labor Law No. 4857 sets the rule, and it works in both directions: an employer who dismisses an employee on the spot pays it, and an employee who walks out without notice can be asked to pay it to the employer.

## Do Not Confuse It With Severance Pay

Pay in lieu of notice and severance pay (kıdem tazminatı) are two separate payments with different triggers. Severance pay rewards past service and depends on conditions in article 14 of Law No. 1475, including at least one year of service and a qualifying reason for termination. Pay in lieu of notice depends only on the notice period being skipped, with no minimum service.

## Who Is Entitled?

An employee on an open-ended contract who is dismissed without notice, or without being paid the notice-period wages in advance, is entitled. The employer may either allow the notice period to run or pay its wages up front and end the contract immediately (art. 17).

The payment does not arise in these cases:

- **Termination for cause:** If the employer terminates for a reason listed in article 25 (health, morality and good-faith grounds), no notice or compensation is due. For the employee, the equivalent grounds sit in article 24.
- **Probation:** During a probation period either party may end the contract without notice and without compensation. Probation lasts up to two months, or up to four if a collective agreement says so (art. 15).
- **Fixed-term contracts:** These end automatically on their end date, so no notice period applies.

## How Many Weeks of Notice?

The notice period depends on length of service and is set in four steps. These are minimums: a contract can lengthen them but cannot shorten them.

| Length of service | Notice period | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Under 6 months | 2 weeks | 14 |
| 6 months – 1.5 years | 4 weeks | 28 |
| 1.5 – 3 years | 6 weeks | 42 |
| Over 3 years | 8 weeks | 56 |

During the notice period the employer must grant the employee at least two hours of job-search leave per working day, within working hours and without any pay deduction. If the employer makes the employee work during that leave, it pays for those hours at 100 percent extra (art. 27).

## How Is It Calculated?

The amount is the daily wage multiplied by the number of notice days, with the daily wage taken as the monthly wage divided by 30.

Example: an employee with four years of service earns 60,000 TL gross per month.

- Daily wage: 60,000 ÷ 30 = 2,000 TL
- Notice period: 8 weeks = 56 days
- Pay in lieu of notice: 2,000 × 56 = **112,000 TL gross**

This figure is simple because it uses only the bare wage. The law also requires that cash and cash-measurable benefits arising from the contract or from legislation be taken into account on top of the base wage (art. 17, last paragraph). This is the "dressed" wage (giydirilmiş ücret). As a hypothetical, if 6,000 TL of regular meal and commuting support were added to the 60,000 TL salary, the dressed wage becomes 66,000 TL, the daily rate 2,200 TL, and the payment 2,200 × 56 = 123,200 TL gross. Which items count depends on the contract and on how regularly they were paid.

## Tax and Social Security Treatment

Under article 61 of the Income Tax Code, pay in lieu of notice counts as wages, so income tax and stamp tax are withheld. This differs from severance pay, which enjoys an income tax exemption up to a ceiling (Income Tax Code art. 25/7). How the minimum-wage income and stamp tax exemption applies to such a payment turns on amounts that change every year, so we work it out in the payroll with current figures.

For social security, the payment is not part of the premium-basis earnings; Law No. 5510, article 80 lists it among the excluded items, so no SGK premium is deducted. The termination notification to SGK is still filed on time; see our article on [SGK registration and termination deadlines](/en/blog/sgk-employee-registration-termination-deadlines). Our piece on [minimum labor cost and SGK incentives](/en/blog/minimum-labor-cost-sgk-incentives-turkey) covers the monthly return.

## Time Limit and Mediation

Claims for pay in lieu of notice expire after five years (Labor Law, additional art. 3). Before suing over such a claim, applying to a mediator is a mandatory precondition (Law No. 7036, art. 3); the mediator concludes the process within three weeks, extendable by one week in necessary cases. This is general information, not legal advice.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Does an employee who leaves without serving notice owe anything?

Yes. A party that fails to observe the notice requirement pays compensation equal to the wages for the notice period (art. 17/4), and the rule applies to employees as well as employers. Leaving for a justified reason does not trigger it.

### Which applies if the contract has a longer notice period?

The contract period applies, because article 17 sets minimums that a contract may extend. A shorter contractual period is overridden by the statutory one.

### Is it paid gross or net?

It is calculated gross, and the employee receives the net amount after income and stamp tax. No SGK premium is deducted, since the payment sits outside premium-basis earnings (Law No. 5510, art. 80).

### Can fixed-term employees claim it?

No. A fixed-term contract expires on its end date without any notice period, so no pay in lieu of notice arises at expiry.

## Reflecting the Notice Pay Calculation in Payroll
We prepare payroll, termination and compensation calculations item by item, including the dressed wage, and reflect the deductions correctly in the payroll. See our [Payroll](/en/services/payroll) and [Personnel Records](/en/services/personnel-records) service pages, or get in touch.

## Legal Basis and Sources

Current official texts of the laws cited in this article, from the Legislation Information System (in Turkish). Regulation, circular and Official Gazette references are given where they appear in the text.

- [Law No. 5510: Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law](https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=5510&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5)
- [Law No. 4857: Labor Law](https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=4857&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5)
- [Law No. 1475: Labor Law (art. 14, severance pay)](https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=1475&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5)
- [Law No. 7036: Labor Courts Law](https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=7036&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5)