Employers and employees assume certain obligations when establishing an employment relationship. One of these obligations is that the employee fulfills his/her duties specified in the employment contract in good faith. If a continuous and significant decrease in the employee’s performance is observed, the employer may terminate the employment contract based on a valid reason. In this blog post, we will examine in full detail the issue of termination of employment contract due to poor performance.
1. When Can the Employer Show Poor Performance as a Reason for Termination?
In the Labor Law No. 4857, poor performance is not explicitly considered as a reason for termination. Therefore, certain conditions must be met for the employer to terminate on this basis. According to the established jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, for a valid termination for poor performance:
Poor performance must be proven with concrete and objective evidence.Abstract evaluations or general statements are not sufficient.
**The decrease in performance must be persistent and significant. Temporary or minor declines are not sufficient for termination.
Poor performance must cause damage to the employer.The damage must be shown concretely.
The employer must have warned the employee and given him/her the opportunity for development.The warning may be written or verbal. Development opportunity means giving the employee a reasonable amount of time to improve his performance.
2. How is Termination Due to Poor Performance Made?
The employer must follow the following steps when terminating due to poor performance:
The employee’s performance must be documented in writing.These documents should clearly state issues such as when the poor performance started, how long it lasted, and how much damage it caused to the employer.
A written warning must be sent to the employee.The warning should clearly state performance deficiencies and requested corrections.
The employee must be given the opportunity to develop.This period is at the discretion of the employer, but it must be a reasonable period.
If the employee’s performance does not improve despite the opportunity for improvement, the employment contract can be terminated with a written notice.In the notice of termination, the reason for termination and the date of termination must be clearly stated.
3. Things to Consider in Termination Due to Poor Performance
Some important points to consider when terminating due to poor performance are:
The reason for termination must be based on a genuine and legitimate reason for the employer.If there is fraud or bad faith in the termination, there may be a violation of rights for the employee.
Warning and development opportunity conditions must be fulfilled meticulously.If these conditions are not met, termination may be deemed invalid.
Notification of termination must be made in accordance with legal procedures.If there is incomplete or incorrect information in the termination notification, the termination may be deemed invalid.