Can Unused Annual Leave Be Paid Out in Turkey? Leave Pay When You Leave a Job

1. Who is entitled to annual leave, and how many days?

You become entitled to annual paid leave once you have worked for at least one year from your start date, including the probation period. These rules do not apply to seasonal or campaign work that by its nature lasts less than a year (Labour Act art. 53 [1]).

The statutory minimums are:

• Age: employees aged 18 or under and employees aged 50 or over receive at least 20 days.
• Underground work: leave is increased by four days.
• More generous terms: these are minimums; an employment contract or collective agreement may provide more.
• Holidays: weekly rest days, national holidays and public holidays falling within the leave are not counted as leave days (Labour Act art. 56 [1]).

Length of service is calculated by combining the periods worked at one or more workplaces of the same employer (Labour Act art. 54 [1]).

2. Can leave be converted into money while you are still employed?

The law aims to ensure that employees actually rest once a year. Therefore:

• The right to annual paid leave cannot be waived (Labour Act art. 53 [1]). The Code of Obligations states expressly that, while the employment continues, an employee cannot give up annual leave in exchange for money or other benefits (art. 425 [2]).
• The employer must grant the leave in one continuous block. By agreement, it may be split into parts, one of which must be at least 10 days (Labour Act art. 56 [1]).
• Leave earned for each service year is taken during the following service year (Labour Act art. 54 [1]).

The Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) has also stated that the termination of the employment contract is a precondition for the leave right to turn into a payment claim (Court of Cassation, 9th Civil Chamber, 13.05.2026, E. 2026/4058, K. 2026/4426 [3]). A "cash instead of leave" payment during employment is therefore not a route the law provides. If such a payment was made, whether it can be deducted from leave pay at the end of the contract may be disputed and depends on the facts.

Does unused leave expire?

The Labour Act contains no rule that leave not taken in one year lapses the following year. It provides that the limitation period for leave pay starts on the date the employment contract ends (Labour Act art. 59 [1]). Leave left unused over several years may therefore be claimed together when the contract ends.

The Act provides for an administrative fine against an employer who splits leave unlawfully, fails to grant leave or grants less than due, or fails to pay leave pay when the contract ends (Labour Act art. 103 [1]).

3. When is leave pay due on leaving a job?

When the employment contract ends for any reason, pay for the leave the employee earned but did not use is paid to the employee or to those entitled ("hak sahipleri"), based on the wage on the date the contract ended (Labour Act art. 59 [1]). The Court of Cassation has stated that how the contract ended, and whether the termination was justified, makes no difference here (9th Civil Chamber, E. 2026/4058, K. 2026/4426 [3]).

Leave pay can therefore be claimed, for example, where:

• the employee resigned (even without being entitled to severance pay),
• the employer terminated the contract for just cause because of the employee's conduct,
• the contract ended on retirement.

In addition, when an employment contract ends, the employee's wage and all monetary entitlements arising from the contract and the law must be paid in full (Labour Act art. 32 [1]).

Only completed years of service count

The leave right arises for each full year of service (Labour Act art. 53). The Act does not provide pro-rata leave for an incomplete final year. An employee who worked 4 years and 7 months has earned leave for 4 full years; no annual leave right has arisen for the last 7 months.

The notice period cannot overlap with annual leave

The notice period is the advance notice that a party ending an indefinite-term employment contract must give under the law. Where the employer terminates the contract, the notice period and the job-search leave that must be granted during it cannot overlap with annual leave (Labour Act art. 59 [1]). The employer cannot treat remaining annual leave as used up during the notice period.

4. How is leave pay calculated?

The basic calculation is: unused leave days × daily wage on the date the contract ended (Labour Act art. 59).

• Number of days: the days the employer proves were taken are deducted from the total days earned.
• Which wage? The Act provides that overtime pay, bonuses and social benefits are not included when calculating annual leave pay (Labour Act arts. 57 and 50 [1]; Annual Paid Leave Regulation art. 21 [4]). In practice, leave pay at the end of the contract also appears to be calculated without these extras, on the basic ("bare") wage.
• Variable pay: for employees paid by piece, commission or percentage, the Act provides that leave pay is based on the average obtained by dividing the earnings of the last year by the days actually worked (Labour Act art. 57 [1]). How this applies to the end-of-contract calculation depends on the facts.

5. Who has to prove that leave was taken?

The burden of proof is on the employer. According to the Court of Cassation, the employer must prove that annual leave was granted with a signed leave register or an equivalent document; the employer, carrying the burden of proof, may also offer the employee the oath (9th Civil Chamber, 13.05.2026, E. 2026/4058, K. 2026/4426 [3]). Offering the oath means asking the other party to make a statement under oath about a disputed fact (Code of Civil Procedure arts. 225 and 227 [5]).

The employer must keep a leave record showing employees' annual leave (Labour Act art. 56 [1]). The model form annexed to the regulation includes the start and return dates of the leave and a space for the employee's signature; the employer may also keep the record in a leave book or card system (Annual Paid Leave Regulation art. 20 and Annex I [4]).

Practical points:

• Make leave requests and approvals in writing (form, e-mail) where possible, and keep copies.
• Check that any leave form you sign shows the dates you actually took. A document you signed for days you did not take may later be submitted by the employer as evidence.
• Keep your payslips and bank statements; whether leave pay was paid may be assessed on the basis of these documents.

6. What can you do if it is not paid?

Before signing a release

When you leave, you may be asked to sign a release (ibraname) stating that you have received all your entitlements. Under the law, a release of an employee's claims is valid only if it is in writing, at least one month has passed since the contract ended, the type and amount of the claim are clearly stated, and payment is made in full and through a bank. A release lacking these elements is absolutely void. Payment documents that do not reflect the true amount count only as a receipt for the amount they show (Code of Obligations art. 420 [2]).

Mandatory mediation

Before suing for employee claims based on the law or the employment contract, applying to a mediator is a precondition; a case filed without mediation is dismissed on procedural grounds (Labour Courts Act No. 7036, art. 3 [6]). A mediator is a neutral person who helps the parties reach agreement and has no power to decide.

• Where? At the mediation office where the employer is domiciled or where the work was done; where there is no office, at the court registry designated for this purpose (art. 3(4)–(5)).
• How long? The mediator concludes the process within three weeks of appointment, extendable by at most one week where necessary (art. 3(10)).
• First meeting: a party who fails to attend the first meeting without a valid excuse is held liable for half of the costs the other party must pay, even if it later wins the case in whole or in part (art. 3(12)).
• If you settle: no lawsuit can later be filed on the matters agreed (Mediation Act No. 6325, art. 18 [7]; Law No. 7036 art. 3(21)). Read carefully which claims the settlement covers before signing.

Court case

• Court: the labour court; where there is none, the civil court of first instance (Law No. 7036 arts. 2 and 5 [6]).
• Venue: the court of the employer's domicile on the filing date, or of the place where the work was done (Law No. 7036 art. 6).
• Final report: the original or a mediator-certified copy of the final mediation report showing that no agreement was reached must be attached to the statement of claim (Law No. 7036 art. 3(2)).
• If the amount is uncertain: the "unspecified claim" action in the Code of Civil Procedure was repealed by Law No. 7589 [8] with effect from 31 July 2026. In cases filed since then, where only part of a claim is sued for, the amount can be increased once in the same case until the end of the evidence stage, and limitation is deemed interrupted from the filing date for the increased part as well (Code of Civil Procedure art. 109 [5]). The repealed provision continues to apply to cases filed before 31 July 2026.

Limitation period

• Limitation means that, once the period has passed, the claim can no longer be enforced in court if the debtor objects. The judge cannot apply limitation on their own motion; the employer must raise it (Code of Obligations art. 161 [2]).
• The limitation period for annual leave pay arising from an employment contract is five years, whichever law governs the employee (Labour Act additional art. 3 [1]). It starts on the date the employment contract ends (Labour Act art. 59).
• Limitation is suspended from the application to the mediation office until the final report is drawn up (Law No. 7036 art. 3(17)).
• The five-year period applies to contracts that ended after 25 October 2017. For contracts that ended earlier, the old periods continue to run, but if the remaining period was longer than five years, limitation expired five years after 25 October 2017 (Labour Act provisional art. 8 [1]).

7. Hypothetical example

This example is purely hypothetical. B, aged 35, resigns after working 4 years and 7 months at a workplace covered by the Labour Act. B has earned 14 days a year for 4 full years, 56 days in total; no leave right has arisen for the last 7 months. The employer can document 30 days of leave with forms signed by B, but has no document for the remaining 26 days. If B's daily wage on the date the contract ended is taken as TRY 1,500 gross, the leave pay that can be claimed is roughly 26 × 1,500 = TRY 39,000 (gross). If it is not paid, B first applies to mediation and, if no agreement is reached, may sue in the labour court. In a real dispute the outcome depends on the leave records, the wage established and the evidence.

8. FAQ

Can my employer deduct my sick-leave days or other leave it gave me from my annual leave?

No. Other paid or unpaid leave granted by the employer during the year, and rest or sick leave, cannot be set off against annual leave (Labour Act art. 56).

I work part-time. Do I get less annual leave?

No. Part-time and on-call employees benefit from annual paid leave like full-time employees; no distinction may be made in leave periods or leave pay (Annual Paid Leave Regulation art. 13).

The subcontractor changed but I kept working at the same workplace. Is my leave reset?

No. For a subcontractor's employee who keeps working at the same workplace after the subcontractor changes, leave is calculated taking into account the time worked at that workplace. The principal employer must also check whether these employees have taken their leave (Labour Act art. 56).

Can I carry unused leave over to my new employer?

As a rule, no. Service is combined across workplaces of the same employer (Labour Act art. 54). Pay for leave left unused with the previous employer is claimed from that employer when the contract ends (Labour Act art. 59).

What happens to unused leave pay if the employee dies?

The Act provides that the pay is made to those entitled ("hak sahipleri") (Labour Act art. 59). Who may claim it, and in what shares, must be assessed on the facts.