Court rules that severance pay should be paid to employee who was forced to resign

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In a recent legal case in Gaziantep, an employee who submitted a resignation letter under pressure at a workplace in Gaziantep and later filed a lawsuit has been granted severance pay.

Anadolu Agency reported that S.Y, an employee at a children's clothing store in a shopping mall in Gaziantep, tearfully wrote a resignation letter under the pressure of the regional manager and subsequently left the job.

The Gaziantep 9th Labor Court did not rule in favor of S.Y, who pursued legal action to claim severance pay at the court.

In its detailed ruling announced on October 5, 2021, the court did not deem it appropriate to grant severance pay, stating that the entire resignation letter was handwritten and that it couldn't be proven that the letter had been written under pressure.

S.Y appealed the decision and won the case by taking it to a higher court.

According to the reasoned decision of the 14th Civil Chamber of the Gaziantep Regional Court of Justice, it was stated that S.Y went to the terrace to talk with the regional manager E.S.A. as per the testimony of neutral public witnesses, and later, tearfully descended downstairs to prepare the resignation letter.

The decision also mentioned that the unbiased public witness and other witnesses provided similar statements, indicating that the plaintiff signed the resignation letter under pressure and threat.

Considering that the plaintiff had a tenure of 4 years, 7 months, and 26 days, the decision emphasized that terminating the employment contract without valid cause through resignation would be contrary to the normal course of life. The resignation letter was deemed legally invalid.

Referring to higher judicial precedents, the decision stated that in such cases, "the acknowledgment of the unjust termination of the employment contract by the employer is necessary." Thus, the plaintiff was deemed entitled to severance pay based on these grounds.

The Chamber ruled that the employee, who had a tenure of 4 years, 7 months, and 26 days, should be paid 12,056 lira along with interest. This decision has now become final. (RT/PE)