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an employee who makes a living from his or her labor would not release
the employer for no reason, it is not right to value a release which does
not contain an amount, and the principle of interpretation in favor of the
employee in labor law requires that. The precedents of the Court of Appeals
do not value releases which do not contain an amount.
Against the objection that the release does not reflect the truth, the
employer should prove the accuracy of the release by written proof. In the
contrary case, as the validity of the release is not proven, the employee is
entitled to rights whose amount is undisclosed.
As a result, considering the fact that the employee is always protected
in labor law and in view of the consistently strict interpretation of release
agreements by the Court of Appeals, a number of issues that should be
taken into consideration by the employer while issuing a release are stated
below:
-
Releases should be in hand-written form, in other words
handwritten by the employee; and “date, amount, name-surname”
blanks should be filled in by the employee in releases written by
typewriter, handwritten by another person, or printout releases, and
there should not be an empty space between the release text and the
signature.
-
Debts subject to release should be included clearly in the release,
and matters which are not the subject of the release should be
excluded. The inclusion of clauses in releases issued for employees
who have resigned such as “I received my severance and notice
compensation” which are considered as contradiction, in practice,
and which can result in invalidity of the release, should be avoided.
-
The amount should be stated in the releases obtained concerning
claims arising from the employee’s services (such as wages,
overtime, bonus, vacation payment, social aid, etc.)
-
In case the employee does not wish to receive payment of his or
her rights directly from the employer, these rights and receivables
should be sent via wire transfer to the bank account in which the
employee’s wage is deposited, or in cash on delivery form
via
PTT,
as of the date of termination of the employment relationship.