Nine workers forced to retire by Ataşehir Municipality

In İstanbul’s Ataşehir District Municipality, nine workers who had met the retirement eligibility conditions were involuntarily retired.

Hasan Karaçay, an employee of Ataşehir Municipality Personnel Services Ltd. (ATAPER), learned that he was laid off when he went to work early in the morning today.

Karaçay, speaking to bianet, said, "I went to work in the morning, and my card wouldn't read on the machine. I called SGK (Social Security Institution), and I learned that I was laid off with Reason Code 8. In the last two days, eight more colleagues were laid off for the same reason."

Karaçay, who said that he was called by the company on September 13 and faced with mandatory retirement, stated, "I asked them under which law they wanted to lay me off. They said, 'We are laying you off with Reason Code 8.' I know what Reason Code 8 means. However, I neither wanted to retire nor signed anything for retirement."

Karaçay, saying, "We will not remain indifferent to this injustice," stated that he would exercise his right to protest in front of the municipality on Monday, October 2.

We were unable to obtain any comments from ATAPER when we reached out to them by phone regarding the issue.

What is Code 8?

This is the job termination code titled "Retirement (old age) or lump-sum payment reasons" by SGK. If an employee leaves their job in a way that qualifies them for a retirement pension or lump-sum payment from social security institutions, this code is selected. When leaving with this code, the person is entitled to their seniority-based rights, but unemployment benefits are not paid.

Lawyer Ünder: A worker cannot be retired involuntarily

Lawyer Mürsel Ünder, who provides legal support to Ataşehir Municipality workers, described the involuntary retirement of workers as an "unlawful practice."

"By Article 127 of Decree Law No. 696 and Articles 23 and 24 added to Decree Law No. 375, workers in public institutions could be involuntarily retired," said Lawyer Ünder, adding that this practice was abolished with a regulation made in March 2023.

Lawyer Ünder continued his statement as follows:

“With this regulation, it was guaranteed that a worker could not be retired without their request. In other words, if a worker is eligible for retirement, they can receive their severance pay and leave after making a request. However, employers continue to act as if this regulation never existed and continue to retire workers involuntarily. This is an unlawful practice not only in Ataşehir Municipality but also in many other places.”

Drawing attention to the financial difficulties that retired workers will face, Lawyer Ünder said, "Workers with higher seniority will not be able to receive the wages they earned while working when they retire." (VC/VK)