A journalist's severance pay and pay in lieu of notice in Turkey are not calculated the way they are under Labour Act No. 4857, the general employment statute. Article 6 of the Press Labour Act No. 5953 — the Act regulating relations between employees and employers in the press profession — diverges radically on two points: seniority is calculated on time spent in the profession, not with the same employer, and severance pay amounts to one month's salary for each year of service. On top of that, the notice period is tied to a different yardstick from seniority. This article sets out the formulas and worked examples based on the currently applicable text of the provision.

First, the Provision as It Stands Today

The first paragraph of Article 6 was annulled by the Constitutional Court in its judgment of 4/5/2023, case no. E.2021/62, decision no. K.2023/89 (effective 14/6/2023). The same judgment also annulled one sentence in the paragraph governing the amount of severance pay. The load-bearing provisions of the text in force today are these:

  • "The right to seniority is calculated from the journalist's date of first entry into the profession."
  • "Where the contract is terminated, the journalist becomes entitled to compensation calculated according to that period."
  • Notice period where the employer terminates: three months if the employment relationship with the same employer has lasted uninterruptedly for at least five years; one month for those with less than five years' service.
  • "...compensation shall be paid in the amount of one month's salary for each year, taking the last monthly salary as the basis, for each year of service or fraction thereof."
  • "This amount is not calculated in the first contract year."
  • The last day of the notice period is taken as the basis for the compensation and is not counted against annual leave.
  • Pay for untaken annual leave is paid in full on termination.

Two Different Periods, Two Different Yardsticks

The most expensive mistake in applying Act No. 5953 is calculating severance and notice from the same period. In fact the provision uses two separate yardsticks:

Severance payNotice period
Which period is looked atTotal service in the professionUninterrupted service with the same employer
Start dateDate of first entry into the professionDate of joining this workplace
Previous employersCountedNot counted
Result1 month's salary per year of service or fraction thereof5 years and above: 3 months — below: 1 month

The Formulas

text
SEVERANCE PAY  (Act No. 5953, Art. 6)

  Severance = years of service in the profession (and fractions)
              x last gross monthly salary

  - The period runs from the DATE OF FIRST ENTRY INTO THE PROFESSION
    to the date of termination
  - The "last monthly salary" is the basis (salary at termination)
  - This amount is not calculated in the first contract year


PAY IN LIEU OF NOTICE  (Act No. 5953, Art. 6, Art. 5)

  Notice period:
    5 years or more of uninterrupted service
    with the same employer                  ->  3 months
    less than 5 years                       ->  1 month

  Pay in lieu of notice = notice period (months)
                          x gross monthly salary

  Note: the employer may terminate the contract with immediate
  effect by paying the salary corresponding to the notice
  period IN ADVANCE (Art. 5).


UNTAKEN ANNUAL LEAVE  (Art. 6, Art. 21)

  1 year+ seniority at a daily periodical        : 4 weeks
  More than 10 years' seniority in the profession: 6 weeks
  Each 6 months at a non-daily periodical        : 2 weeks

  Pay for untaken leave is paid IN FULL on termination.

Worked Examples

Example 1 — Senior in the profession, new at the workplace

text
First entry into the profession : 2014
Joined this newspaper           : 2024
Date of termination             : 2026  (by the employer)
Last gross monthly salary       : TRY 60,000

Seniority in the profession     : 12 years
Seniority at the workplace      : 2 years  -> less than 5 years

NOTICE    = 1 month x 60,000  =    60,000 TRY
SEVERANCE = 12      x 60,000  =   720,000 TRY
Annual leave: 10+ years in the profession -> 6-week entitlement;
             pay for the untaken portion is paid in full.

NOTE: notice is 1 month but seniority is 12 years.
      They are not the same figure.

Example 2 — Seniority in the profession and at the workplace are the same

text
First entry into the profession : 2020
Joined this newspaper           : 2020
Date of termination             : 2026  (by the employer)
Last gross monthly salary       : TRY 45,000

Seniority in the profession     : 6 years
Seniority at the workplace      : 6 years -> 5 years and above

NOTICE    = 3 months x 45,000  =   135,000 TRY
SEVERANCE = 6        x 45,000  =   270,000 TRY

Here notice rises to 3 months because five uninterrupted
years with the same employer have been completed.

Example 3 — Termination within the first contract year

text
First entry into the profession : January 2026
Date of termination             : September 2026  (by the employer)
Last gross monthly salary       : TRY 40,000

Seniority at the workplace      : 8 months -> less than 5 years

NOTICE    = 1 month x 40,000  =   40,000 TRY
SEVERANCE = FIRST CONTRACT YEAR -> not calculated  =  0 TRY

Also: for those entering the profession for the first time the
probationary period is at most 3 months (Art. 10); termination
within that period gives rise to no notice and no compensation.

Other Items That Enter the Calculation

Annual Bonus

The final paragraph of Article 14: "At the end of each year of service journalists shall receive a bonus in the amount of at least one month's salary, as the proportionate return on their labour of the profit obtained by the employer." This is a guaranteed minimum of one month's salary at year-end and is a separate claim that must be assessed in its own right in the termination calculation.

Death Compensation

Article 18: where the contract ends with the journalist's death, death compensation is paid to the spouse and children, or failing them to the family members dependent on the journalist for their livelihood, in the amount of the seniority entitlement but not less than three times the monthly salary. In other words, even where the seniority calculation comes out below three months' salary, three months' salary is the floor.

Where Publication Is Suspended

The final paragraph of Article 17: employees of a periodical whose publication is suspended, for whatever reason, continue to receive their salaries for two months from the date of suspension, and their statutory compensation is paid in preference to other claims. Where a newspaper closes, this means the claim ranks in priority.

Payment, Instalments and Sanctions

Article 6 allows the employer to pay the compensation in instalments where it is financially unable to pay, but the conditions are onerous: at most four instalments, the instalments in total may not run for more than one year, and this splitting may be done only on a decision of the tax office that assesses the workplace's tax, to the effect that the undertaking is operating at a loss. Instalment payment is therefore not something the employer can decide unilaterally.

The final paragraph of Article 6 also provides that Articles 18, 19, 20, 21 and 29 of the Labour Act apply by analogy. This means that the job security regime — valid grounds for dismissal, the termination procedure, the limitation period for bringing a claim, and the consequences of an invalid dismissal — operates for journalists as well.

Four Points to Watch

  • The bar on double seniority, and its exception. Where a journalist has once received severance pay, seniority is calculated from the date of entry into the new job. But Article 6 expressly continues: "However, an agreement concluded between the employer and the journalist to the contrary is valid." The parties may therefore depart from the rule in the journalist's favour by contract.
  • The Act contains no severance pay ceiling. The text of Act No. 5953 does not lay down a severance pay ceiling of the kind found in the general Labour Act. Whether a ceiling applies is a question to be assessed in the individual case; have the calculation confirmed by a lawyer.
  • The periods are minimums. Article 8 provides that notice periods may be increased by contract. They may not be reduced. If your contract provides for a longer period, that period applies — see the journalist employment contract template.
  • Proving seniority in the profession. Because seniority rests on total time in the profession, the social security (SGK) service record covering previous employers and the earlier contracts are critical documents. Writing the "date of first entry into the profession" into the contract makes this proof easier.

Termination by the Journalist, and Other Situations

Under Article 7 the journalist may terminate the contract at any time by giving written notice at least one month in advance. Article 11 governs a particular situation: where there is a manifest change in the orientation and character of the periodical that infringes the journalist's honour, reputation or moral interests, the journalist may terminate without waiting out the notice period and may claim the compensation payable where the employer terminates at fault.

Under Article 12 the employer may not terminate the contract on the ground of the journalist's illness; if the illness extends beyond six months the contract may be terminated with compensation paid, and if the journalist recovers within one year he or she is taken back into the former job in preference to others. For calculating overtime claims see calculating journalist overtime pay, and for which body of legislation governs a given dispute see which law applies to which type of media.