Job Discussion Forums

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

Just digged this up in my search about contract issues e.g. breaking the contract.
I'm now working at my second private school here in Istanbul and both of them had that 'penalty paragraph' in their contracts.

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

I just saw my old thread had been resurrected. It brought to mind another question I would like to ask about contracts. The contract for the school I alluded to in this thread was in Turkish incidentally, the school made clear it was highly confidential, they grudgingly gave me permission to take it home and get my husband to check it, but I had to promise to return it the next day.

I went on to work at a language school who gave me a contract in English. One of my colleagues assured me that a contract had no legal standing if it was not in Turkish. Has anyone else heard this?

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

I once talked to a lawyer about this who told me that an English contract is valid, too. To get your papers they also should have a Turkish version.
The school I worked for have always given me a contract in Turkish and a translation, both for my own records to keep.
They have been fussy though on issueing payrolls.

nomad22 · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Auckland, NZ

istek has such a clause!

nomad22 · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Auckland, NZ

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

"yes i have heard this before" - There are a lot of things being told and just because the storry is passed on doesn't mean it's true.
The question is, do you know for sure? Can you back up you answer to make it valid or is it all just hearsay?

In the two schools I've worked for I've always signed a Turkish contract and was then given a translation, too. When the employer handed in the papers to obtain the permits, everything was in Turkish only.

I'm about to contact a lawyer and will ask this question, too. This one has come up a few times allready.

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

Just got off the phone with the lawyer. This is what he told me and what I was advised:

1. A full year gros salary as a penalty payment is not legal. The penalty clause itself is legal, but the amount may never be higher than the number of months that remain until the contract ends.
If the contract ends at the end of august, the time the school is closed does not count e.g. you only pay until summer holiday starts.

2. In case you have started working without having obtained the necessary legal papers, this could be used as a reason to resign from the contract and not having to pay the fine.
Your employer encouraged you to perform an illegal act that you can get proscecuted or even expelled for.

3. If there is anything that is not done according to the books and law it is very unlikely that the school/employer will drag you to court. Usefull things to look out for are payslips to find out whether the school does them correctly (e.g. many schools will state a lower salary to avoid paying too much taxes) and another thing is what has allready been mentioned, foreign teachers starting to work without having obtained the necessary papers.
Employing someone and not paying SSK/taxes is illegal and apparently employers are fined for that.

Hopefully it's clear what I meant, cause I'm translating back and forth between languages and don't know the appropiate English terminology.

So because my permits expire in 2 months the lawyer advised me to resign after they have expired and said that there is no way the school can force me into work and thought it to be unlikely that they will enforce any payment.

nomad22 · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Auckland, NZ

istek doesnt even give payslips!!!!!! but yes, theyll try to take you to court if you dont pay the clause money. the only way to get out of a contract with istek is to do a runner. personally, i think it's better to just do your time and try to distance yourself from the job if youre feeling so down about it, as the summer pay is an incentive to tough it out.

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

If ISTEK is not even giving payslips they have something to hide from you. Do you know of anyone who has been dragged to court by ISTEK? What was the outcome?

The HoD at my school currently tells anyone that if we quit now, we will have to pay this huge, huge fine. Me and the colleagues are very sure she does this, cause she's shit scared to lose teacher mid-school and what she does works with about 80% of the foreign teachers.

nomad22 · Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Auckland, NZ

no i dont know of anyone this has happened to. but that's cos at least 5 people did runners mid-year last year. it's the ONLY way. im pretty sure istek would do all they could to f@** you up if you quit and just didnt turn up. there's only two options: run or stay.

dagi · Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 425

Well, if the teachers there have work permits that are all in order and issued for the whole school year it gets more difficult to get out of the contract, cause that penalty clause is a legal thing.
You'd have to almost turn into a spy and try to find out if they are doing things that are not quite according to the books.

Anyway, my hopes are that my work permit won't be renewed in time cause that will provide me a hassle free exit.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

A legal contract in Turkey should be in Turkish. You can have a translation of that if you want but the binding legal contract is the one in Turkish.

This is common in any country that has a legal system based on Roman Law (eg Turkey since the reforms under Ataturk)

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

I think as we are discussing this, we are tending to forget the endemic corruption that is present at all levels here. This is not the West.

If the owner of your school has certain connections they can probably make things very nasty for you regardless of where you stand in law.

canuckgoneaway · Joined: 02 Dec 2008 Posts: 3

Istek does keep proper payroll accounting. I've asked for and received copies of payslips which clearly show all income, all deductions, specifically the contributions being made to the SSK. Formal paperwork begins the moment your work permit is issued by the ministry, as required by law obviously.

And logically speaking, institutions include such a clause (and it's fairly universal across Turkey) for a number of reasons, one of which is the whole "runner" issue. Think about it, when a school purchases both residency and work permits for you as a foreign employee, they are making a substantial investment in you, one which is no longer resting upon your own shoulders. The penalty for repayment is by far more threat than action but, in extreme cases, such a penalty goes towards recovering those costs.

Even then, despite the "urban legends" of prosecution that abound on the internet, you would be very hard pressed to find more than a small handful of individuals who have actually been prosceuted in such manner...it's extremely rare and circumstances tend to be highly unique with breach of contract occuring on both sides.