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agreements for an undetermined term may be terminated in some cases
being subject to some procedural requirements.
Valid Reason for Termination of the Agreement
The termination of the employment agreement for an undeter-
mined term by the employer is subject to existence of valid or just rea-
son. However, the employee may terminate the agreement without any
just or valid reason provided that the employee fulfills the legal proce-
dural requirements. The agreement may be terminated immediately in
case of a just reason whereas the termination for valid reason must be
notified to other party granting the time periods stipulated in LA. In
this concept, the termination for just reason is defined as “abrupt ter-
mination” and the termination for valid reason is defined as “termina-
tion by notice”. Hence, the party who wishes to terminate the agree-
ment shall notify the other party regarding the termination of the agree-
ment with reasonable period of notice.
The concept having effect on the legislation regarding the proper
process of termination of the employment agreement by the employer
for valid reason is the concept of “job security”, which is accepted in
Turkish Labor Act, with Act numbered 4773 and effected the LA. The
aim of the job security is to uphold the rights of employees and set
legal boundaries to how and in what circumstances an employer can
terminate the contract by giving notice. As an effect of the job securi-
ty concept, the employer shall respect the time periods and have a valid
reason for termination.
The LA does not determine what the valid reasons may be; how-
ever, it is stated in Article 18 of LA that the valid reasons shall arise
from the behaviors or the capacity of the employee or from operational
requirements of the enterprise, work place or work.
Even though the valid reason is not defined within the article, the
valid reason may be explained as the reasons, which have negative
effects on conduct of the work and work place and which are not as
serious as the reasons stated in Article 25 of LA.
Underperforming as a Valid Reason for Termination
One of the most prominent valid reasons for termination of the
employment agreement is incapacity of the employee. The incapacity of
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