Termination and Written Request Requirements for Retirement

The statement on the Law No. 506 (previously Social Security Law) stating that employees should terminate job contracts and make a written request for retirement/pension benefits has been cancelled by the Constitutional Court and published on the Official Gazette on March 3, 2021 and numbered 31412.

Social Security Institution has published a new Communique (No: 2021/5) with regards to the above decision and stated that termination from the job and written request requirements are still valid for the retirement benefits per the Law No. 5510 (valid as of October 1, 2008).

On the Communique; Social Security Authorities refer to the Article 28 of the Law No. 5510, which states that the employees should terminate job contracts and request retirement benefits in writing for retirement benefits.

They also state that the Court Decision was about the previous Social Security Law No. 506 and with the Article 106 of the Law No. 5510, the related statement on the Law No. 506 has been cancelled. So, the new passage in Law No. 5510 stating that employees should terminate and request retirement benefits in writing is valid.

Accordingly, the requirements of termination from job and written retirement benefit request to SSI are still valid for retirement benefits.

If the authorities realize that the employee has not terminated the job contract on the written retirement request date, they would record the excessive retirement payments as debt in their records; however, they would recalculate the retirement payments considering the work period until the termination date, and the retirement payments would again be paid on the following month.

Based on the information above, the employees should pay attention that on the retirement request date, their employment agreements should be terminated and the request should be in writing.

You can reach the related Communique via the link. (The link is in Turkish)

You can reach the Court Decision via the link. (The link is in Turkish)

Should you have any queries or need further details, please contact your customer representative.