Workplace Transfers in Turkey: Employee Service, Wages and New Employers

Does a business sale end employees’ rights in Turkey?

A qualifying workplace transfer under Article 6 of Labour Law No. 4857 transfers existing employment contracts with their rights and obligations to the new employer. It does not automatically restart service, erase wages already earned or require employees to resign. First establish that a workplace transfer occurred: a sale of company shares, an individual employee assignment and a sale of isolated assets are not necessarily the same legal event.

This guide addresses continuity and responsibility after a business transfer, not every consequence of a later dismissal. Our English legal services homepage explains Turkish-law work coordinated through our physical offices in Istanbul (Maslak/Sarıyer) and Mersin (Akdeniz).

Four distinctions that prevent a misleading final account

1. Identify the transaction before applying a transfer rule

Ask what changed: ownership of a company’s shares, ownership of the operating business, a department, management services or only the building. The same announcement that the company has been sold can describe very different arrangements. An employee should obtain the legal employer’s name before and after the event, the effective date and the written information supplied about the employment relationship.

A share sale ordinarily changes the company’s owners without itself changing the company’s identity as employer. A qualifying transfer of an undertaking or part of it to another employer is different. The analysis must examine the actual operation and legal transaction rather than assume that a new logo proves that every employment contract ended.

Asset sales require equal care. Buying a used machine does not automatically make the purchaser employer of everyone who once operated it. Conversely, describing a continuing operation as a collection of individual assets does not settle the legal classification. Preserve information about the activity, staff, premises and continuity so the relevant transaction can be assessed from facts rather than its promotional description.

2. Apply the correct employment framework and its exceptions

Labour Law No. 4857, Article 6, is the central starting point for employment within that legislation. It addresses transfer through a legal transaction of a workplace or part of a workplace and the contracts existing at the transfer date. The identity of the operation and the contracts connected to it must therefore be established.

The article contains specific treatment of certain corporate reorganisations and an exception concerning liquidation of assets in bankruptcy. Do not apply the ordinary joint-liability paragraph mechanically to every merger, insolvency sale or corporate conversion. Obtain the actual transaction documents and insolvency status where relevant.

Employees governed by a different employment statute or the general service-contract provisions need the corresponding legal framework examined. The purpose of identifying scope is to choose the right continuity and liability rules, not to assume that a worker outside one statute has no rights. A foreign employment document and a Turkish work location also require a governing-law analysis before a domestic transfer rule is treated as the entire answer.

3. Carry the actual employment history into the new records

For a qualifying Article 6 transfer, the incoming employer must use the employee’s commencement with the transferor when assessing service-based rights. The practical task is to preserve a coherent service chronology. Record the original start, relevant role changes, transfer date and continued work rather than treating the first payroll issued by the purchaser as the beginning of employment.

Check the leave ledger, contract record and personnel system after migration. Software can display a new administrative entry date that is not the legally relevant service commencement. Ask the employer to explain the field and correct any misleading record. A dashboard reset should not silently become the basis for reducing accrued rights.

The annual leave guide explains why earned days, days actually used and service bands need separate entries. A transfer account should preserve those entries and any more favourable contractual entitlement. Do not assume that every displayed difference is deliberate wrongdoing, but do not sign an inaccurate new-start statement simply because it was generated automatically.

4. Separate pre-transfer debts from later obligations

Article 6 addresses joint responsibility of the transferor and transferee for debts that arose before transfer and were payable at the transfer date, with a two-year limit on the transferor’s responsibility under that provision. The dates on which the obligation arose and became payable matter. Prepare a period-by-period schedule instead of attributing every later claim to both employers without analysis.

The two-year rule is not a universal statement that all employee rights expire two years after a business sale. It concerns the specified transferor responsibility. The underlying claim’s limitation, the incoming employer’s position and other special rules must be assessed separately. A creditor should not rely on a slogan about two years without identifying the particular claim.

For salary arrears, record the work period, due date, payments credited and transfer date. A payment received after transfer can settle a pre-transfer month; its banking date alone does not classify the obligation. The unpaid wages guide explains the supporting records needed for that reconciliation.

5. Do not treat the transfer itself as a mandatory severance payout

The Ministry of Labour’s guidance explains that a workplace transfer does not itself give the employee a justified reason to leave and demand severance. Continuing service is not automatically a termination event requiring every accumulated entitlement to be cashed out.

A later termination must be assessed separately. Its reason, date, qualifying service and applicable severance framework determine the relevant account. The specific allocation of severance responsibility should not be inferred solely from Article 6’s paragraph on debts already due at transfer. Identify the governing provisions and actual termination scenario before assigning an amount to each employer.

Where a payment was made at the time of transfer, obtain its description and calculation. It might be an advance, a genuine settlement of a separate ended relationship or another contractual payment. Credit established payments appropriately, but do not assume that an unexplained transfer labelled compensation lawfully erased all continuing service. The payment and the legal event must fit the same chronology.

6. Examine a request to resign and sign a new contract

An employee may be handed a resignation followed by a new employment offer and told that this is required for the sale. Do not treat those documents as merely administrative without reading them. A qualifying workplace transfer and a purported voluntary termination followed by fresh recruitment present different legal positions.

Ask what the forms are intended to change. Do they preserve original service, salary, leave and other terms, or declare that every earlier right has been paid? Obtain an accurate explanation or translation before signing. A genuine transfer should not be documented through false statements about an employee’s decision or money already received.

The employment release guide explains the separate requirements for an ordinary release of employee claims. A new employer’s wish for a clean personnel file does not decide whether an old release is valid. Preserve the complete package and any messages explaining why signatures were requested.

7. Distinguish a workplace transfer from an individual contract transfer

Article 429 of the Turkish Code of Obligations addresses permanent transfer of a service contract to another employer with the employee’s written consent. This is not the same mechanism as the passage of existing contracts with a qualifying workplace under Article 6. The label transfer should not conceal that distinction.

An employee sent alone from one group company to another needs an explanation of the legal arrangement. Identify whether the original employer remains responsible, whether the arrangement is temporary or permanent, and whether an undertaking actually moved. A group relationship does not automatically supply every required consent or establish continuity on whatever terms management prefers.

Where consent is sought, state which employer becomes the contractual party and what happens to service-based rights and existing obligations. Do not sign a blank acceptance or rely on an oral promise that the paperwork will be completed later. Accurate consent documents should make the real change understandable rather than describe a different transaction solely for convenience.

8. Assess later changes in pay, duties and location separately

A qualifying transfer carries the existing employment relationship; it does not give a purchaser an unrestricted power to reduce salary, remove benefits or move the employee to any location. A proposed substantial change within the Labour Law framework requires its own assessment, including Article 22 where applicable.

Compare the old and proposed terms in a short schedule. Identify salary, recurring benefits, duties, hours, workplace and reporting arrangements. A change in a manager’s name is different from a major reduction in remuneration. The employee’s response should identify the actual proposed change rather than simply state opposition to the business sale.

Article 6 prevents termination solely because of the transfer while preserving the statutory treatment of genuine economic, technological, organisational and immediate-termination grounds. A purchaser’s restructuring explanation therefore needs examination; neither the word restructuring nor the fact of a sale automatically proves a lawful dismissal. The reinstatement guide explains the separate eligibility and urgent procedural questions.

9. A foreign employee must check authorisation independently

Employment continuity and work authorisation are connected practical issues but distinct legal questions. Establish the foreign employee’s permit type, stated employer, workplace and validity. Do not assume that an employment-law transfer automatically changes an administrative authorisation or that an unchanged plastic card resolves every employer update.

The Ministry’s official work-permit guidance is the starting point for the relevant administrative enquiry. Provide the actual corporate change rather than describe every transaction as a new employer. A share sale and transfer to a separate legal company can require different practical review.

Keep permit-related dates separate from wage and dismissal deadlines. A pending payment discussion does not extend an expiring permit, and an administrative update does not waive employment claims. Explain the intended next role and location before the employee starts work under assumptions based only on a manager’s informal assurance.

10. A hypothetical transfer with an unpaid salary and leave balance

Assume a qualifying business transfer occurs on 1 July. An employee began work four years earlier, continues in the operation and has an identified June salary debt payable by the transfer date. The employee also has an accurately recorded balance of unused annual leave. These invented assumptions illustrate the classification, not a decision on a real transaction.

The service account does not start again on 1 July merely because the new employer issues the next payslip. The pre-transfer salary is assessed under the relevant debt-responsibility rule, while the continuing leave balance is preserved for its own lawful use and later treatment. It is not automatically converted into termination pay when employment has not ended.

If the employee is dismissed several months later, that later event generates a separate examination of reason, notice, service and possible remedies. The original transfer records remain important evidence, but they do not predetermine every later payment. A useful file therefore separates the transaction, existing debt and subsequent termination instead of merging them into one final account.

10A. Separate the buyer–seller account from the employee’s claim

A sale agreement may allocate historical employee costs between the seller and purchaser. That allocation should not be confused with the employee’s statutory rights against the relevant employer. Ask whether a party is explaining its obligation to the employee or a separate reimbursement arrangement between the businesses.

For example, a purchaser may tell the employee that the seller promised to fund all old salary balances. The practical question remains who is legally responsible for the particular debt and what payment the employee actually received. A private allocation should not be treated as a complete answer without examining the applicable transfer rule and the claim.

Preserve correspondence identifying that position, but avoid demanding confidential sale material unrelated to the employment dispute. The evidence request should target the transaction date, relevant legal entities and information necessary to establish the claimed obligation.

11. Prepare an evidence package that preserves continuity

Collect the employment agreement, previous and new employer identities, transfer announcement, payroll, leave records and relevant correspondence. Identify any corporate documents available to explain the transaction. A brief chronology should show what changed legally and what continued operationally.

Keep both versions of migrated records and mark discrepancies. Do not edit a signed document to remove an inconvenient new-start date; request a genuine correction and retain the original. Where evidence is held by an employer, identify it precisely so lawful disclosure can be assessed rather than obtaining unauthorised access to company systems.

Any claim should identify the correct parties and the obligation attributed to each. Monetary employment disputes within the applicable mediation framework require the proper pre-action process. A general invitation addressed only to a trading brand should not be assumed to resolve all party-identification and procedural issues. Explain the actual entity names before choosing the next step.

12. Managing the dispute from outside Turkey

An employee abroad should send a concise chronology, the transfer documents and any later dismissal notice first. Identify urgent dates expressly and agree the scope of representation. A request to review continuity is not automatically an instruction to resign, settle every claim or sue every company in a group.

Bakırcı & Keskin Law Office has physical offices in Istanbul and Mersin. Employment matters concerning businesses elsewhere in Turkey are assessed and coordinated from our Istanbul and Mersin offices under the applicable jurisdiction, procedure and agreed mandate. English reporting distinguishes verified records, disputed calculations and procedural action; no result, duration or recovery is guaranteed.

Frequently asked questions

Does a company share sale always change my employer?

No. Establish whether the employing legal entity changed or only its ownership.

Does a qualifying workplace transfer restart service?

Article 6 preserves the relevant prior commencement for service-based rights.

Must I resign because the business was sold?

Do not assume so. Examine the legal transaction and any document presented as a resignation.

Does every claim expire two years after transfer?

No. The specific transferor-responsibility rule is not a universal limitation period for all claims.

Does the transfer automatically produce severance?

No. The transfer itself is not the same as a qualifying termination.

Can the new owner reduce every benefit?

A separate change to employment terms requires assessment under the applicable rules.

Does employment continuity automatically update my work permit?

Do not assume so. Administrative authorisation requires its own review.

Does sending the office records preserve a deadline?

No. An enquiry does not establish representation or stop a legal period.

Official legal sources

Labour Law No. 4857, Articles 6 and 22; Code of Obligations No. 6098, Article 429; Ministry of Labour employment guidance. Turkish legislation and the actual transaction control; this English guide is not an official translation or an individual liability decision.