A fixed-term employment contract is a type of agreement which the parties aim to terminate the contract in the determined time without needing a notice. When the contract is signed, the termination time is known by both parties.

As a rule, employment contracts are signed for indefinite time. However, it is possible to make a "fixed-term" contract under certain objective conditions.

According to Article 11 / I of the Labor Law No. 4857, fixed-term employment contracts must be based on the following objective conditions;

• fixed-term work,
• the completion of a certain job,
• the emergence of an event
• and similar objective situations.

In the absence of these conditions, fixed term employment contract will not be valid even if the duration of the contract is determined. In this case, the contract is considered as indefinite term employment contract.

The lack of objective conditions turn the fixed-term contract into an indefinite-time employment contract.

According to the provisions of the Labor Law, it is compulsory to make fixed term contracts in written form.

Notice Payment: As a fixed-term employment contract is signed only for a defined period of time, there will be no obligation to pay a notice payment or report a notice of termination. Any provision against that rule is invalid.

Severance Payment: An employee who has worked at least one year is entitled to severance payment regardless of the type of his contract. Labor Law doesn't make any distinction between fixed-term contracs and indefinite-term contracts.

Without a rightful and acceptable purpose, different terms and conditions cannot be applied to employees who work with a fixed-term employment contract.

Fixed term employment contracts must not be put in place succession of one another, except when there is an essential reason to make a repeated (chained) contracts. Otherwise, the employment contract will be regarded as an indefinite-time employment contract from the very beginning.