Validity conditions of release in labor law

Discharge, as one of the reasons that terminate the debt in the sense of the law of obligations, is stated in Article 132 of the Law: "Even if the transaction giving rise to the debt is bound to a certain form by law or by the parties, the debt can be eliminated completely or partially by a discharge agreement made by the parties, regardless of the form." arranged with the following expressions:

In addition, with the idea that workers constitute the weak party of the contracts, the terms of the discharge agreement to be made between the employee and the employer are separately regulated in Article 420 of the TBK. The article imposes certain restrictions on discharge agreements between employers and employees. These restrictions;

1-The release agreement must be made in writing.

2-In order for the discharge to be made, one month must have passed from the date of termination.

3-The amount and subject of the receivable to be discharged must be stated precisely.

4-Payment must be made through the bank.

It is possible to sort as follows.

INVALID RELEASE IN LABOR LAW

The established jurisprudence of the Supreme Court has determined some validity conditions for a discharge to be made in the context of labor law. The release agreement will be considered invalid if the following conditions exist.

A- If a discharge agreement is drawn up while the employment relationship continues, the discharge is deemed invalid.

"The petition of resignation and discharge bearing the signature of the plaintiff was issued after the effective date of the TBK, and in order for the discharge to be valid, it must be issued within a month following the termination and the payments must not be made through the bank, and the amount of the receivable items requested by the plaintiff must also be stated in the discharge letter." Supreme Court of Appeals 22nd HD.

B- The content of the release letter, which does not contain a date, is checked. If it is not understood from its content that it was issued after the date of termination, the release is deemed invalid.

C- If one of the parties makes a fundamental mistake while making the release agreement, the release will be deemed invalid.

If there is a breach of will in the release, this must be claimed within one year. In one of its decisions, the Supreme Court ruled that if there is a difference between the actual receivable and the amount written in the release, the release will be invalid.

"In order to be able to talk about a release in the real sense, it is necessary that there be no obvious disproportion between the amount to be compensated and the amount received in return. In other words, in cases where there is a clear disproportion, the document in question is not a release but only a receipt."

D- Release agreements made regarding debts whose existence is doubtful or disputed are invalid.

In a decision given in 2010 by the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, "The plaintiff requested severance and notice pay, claiming that his employment contract was unfairly terminated by the defendant employer while he was working at the defendant workplace, and that some compensation was paid. While the defendant claimed that the plaintiff left at his own request, on the other hand, he submitted a release in terms of his requests for severance and notice pay, claiming that some compensation was paid. This discharge submitted." Since it cannot be considered that the plaintiff's requests for severance and notice pay, which he claims are not entitled to, can be subject to discharge, the release contradicting the defense cannot be considered, however, it is accepted by the parties that some payment has been made for the severance and notice pay, and the balance compensation should be accepted. He used the expressions.

E- Release agreements that do not contain any amounts have the force of receipt. If the amount is certain, the debt ends.

"In discharge contracts containing amounts, if the receivable is paid in full, the debt is terminated through performance. On the other hand, in cases of partial payment, discharge is not valued in the well-established jurisprudence of our Department and the payment is accepted as a receipt." Supreme Court 9th HD.

F- If the worker has a reservation in the release letter, the contract is deemed invalid.

G- Debts not included in the release cannot be considered to have ended.

If a conflict occurs in terms of some receivables in the release, the defenses of the parties are considered. If there is a contradiction between the defense and the discharge, the discharge becomes invalid in terms of the contradictory parts. For receivables where there is no conflict, the acquittal is considered as a receipt.

As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court of Appeals stated in one of its decisions"It is obvious that the release accepted by the court and the defense are contradictory, and the release contradicting the defense cannot be valued by the court in terms of this receivable. Since the decision should be made in line with the general principles and regulations mentioned above, the decision made with faulty evaluation had to be reversed." He included his statements.

CONSEQUENCES OF RELEASE

Discharge is a disposition process. Therefore, the party who will give up his right through discharge must have the power of disposition.

Another consequence of the discharge being a disposition process is that the debt disappears with the conclusion of the discharge agreement.

The debt ends with the discharge agreement. Along with the main debt, its secondary debts are eliminated.