The Court of Appeal, in its decision dated 11.02.2026 and numbered 2025/9709 E., 2026/1098 K., ruled that an employee may benefit from an increase in the severance pay ceiling occurring within the statutory notice period; however, the employee is not entitled to claim annual leave accruals that he would have been entitled to if the notice period had been observed.
In the case at hand, the employee’s employment agreement was terminated 10 days before the completion of his 7th year of service, and no notice period was granted. The employee claimed compensation primarily regarding the collection of severance pay, notice pay, and annual paid leave entitlements on the grounds that, had the statutory notice period been duly observed, he would have become entitled to 20 days of annual leave and his severance pay should have been calculated based on 7 years of service.
In the Regional Court of Appeal decision amended and upheld by the Court of Appeal, it was first determined that the termination was unjustified and that the employee was entitled to severance pay and notice pay. Since the employment contract was terminated without observing the notice period and no payment as notice compensation was made, it was held that the employee should benefit from the increase in the severance pay ceiling that occurred during the notice period. Accordingly, it was held that the severance pay should be calculated based on the increased ceiling that came into effect during the notice period.
The relevant part of the decision reads as follows: “…despite the termination of the claimant employee’s employment agreement by the defendant employer without granting a notice period, no notice compensation was paid; therefore, the claimant employee may benefit from the increase in the severance pay ceiling occurring within the notice period. Considering that the severance pay ceiling increased to TRY 15,371.40 during the notice period (…) the claimant’s wage forming the basis of compensation should be taken as TRY 13,409.85 and the severance pay should be calculated accordingly…”
However, since there is no explicit legal provision granting the employee entitlement to 20 days of annual leave under such circumstances, this particular claim was rejected by the court. It was ruled that no differential claim would arise with respect to the annual leave entitlement; however, the employee would be entitled to benefit from the increase in the severance pay ceiling.
