Within the scope of labor law, one of the elements that regulates the employee’s right to terminate for just cause is the employer’s failure to fulfill its legal obligations. These obligations include reporting the employee’s wages to the Social Security Institution in a complete and accurate manner. Overtime pay is one of the basic rights of the employee and must be calculated and paid within legal limits. However, in practice, it is observed that some employers do not fully and accurately reflect overtime wages to the Social Security Institution. This situation may have important consequences for the employee.
Overtime and the Importance of Notifying the Social Security Institution
According to the Labor Law No. 4857, the ability of an employee to work overtime is subject to the employee’s approval, and the overtime wage must be paid by increasing the employee’s basic salary by a certain percentage. The accurate reporting of these legally paid wages to the Social Security Institution is important for both the employee’s social security rights and retirement premiums. Wages not reported to the Social Security Institution lead to the employee’s retirement premiums being paid incompletely and their social rights being impaired. In this case, the damage suffered by the employee may shake the fundamental trust of the employment relationship.
Employee’s Right to Just Termination
Article 24 of the Labor Law No. 4857 allows the employee to terminate the employment contract for just cause. In this context, the employer’s incomplete notification of the employee’s wages to the Social Security Institution is considered as “behavior that does not comply with honesty and loyalty”. According to the decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeals, the incomplete notification of the employee’s wages is considered an indication that the employer has violated its obligations to the employee and grants the employee the right to terminate the employment contract for just cause. In particular, since the failure to reflect overtime wages to the Social Security Institution is a situation that directly affects the employee’s social security rights, this action of the employer may make the continuation of the employment relationship unbearable for the employee.
Conclusion
The employer’s incomplete notification of overtime wages to the Social Security Institution is a situation that directly violates the employee’s social security rights. This violation may damage the fundamental trust element of the employment relationship for the employee and grants the employee the right to terminate the employment contract for just cause. Court decisions also support this situation and protect the employee’s right to terminate with just cause. Therefore, the employer’s failure to fulfill this obligation can be considered as a just cause for termination for the employee.
