Arguments at the workplace do not always produce the same legal result. A simple verbal disagreement and a fight amounting to an insult, a threat, a provocation (sataşma) or a physical assault are not treated in the same legal category. This distinction directly affects how the employer may exercise the right of termination, whether the employee becomes entitled to severance pay (kıdem tazminatı) and notice pay (ihbar tazminatı), whether a reinstatement claim is possible, and how the mediation and court process will run.
Under Labor Law No. 4857, a fight or provocation at the workplace is most often examined within the framework of “conduct contrary to the rules of morality and good faith”. However, no sound conclusion can be reached without assessing factors such as who the parties to the incident were, where the fight took place, whether there was provocation, whether the limit of self-defense or a legitimate reaction was exceeded, the effect on the workplace and how soon the employer learned of the incident.
In this article we discuss in detail the legal position of the employer and the employee in the event of an argument or fight at the workplace; the differences between termination for cause and termination for valid reason; the processes of evidence, minutes and defense statements; reinstatement and compensation rights; the mediation and litigation route; and the institutional measures employers can take to prevent similar disputes.
What does an argument or fight at the workplace mean legally?
A simple argument is not the same as a provocation (sataşma)
A difference of opinion at the workplace, a raised voice, a brief verbal tension or a harsh tone concerning the performance of the work does not in every case constitute a ground for termination for cause. In determining the legal result, the first question is whether the incident has reached the level of “provocation” (sataşma). Provocation may take the form of an insult, a threat, physical interference, an attempted assault, severely demeaning language or aggressive conduct that seriously disturbs order in the workplace.
By contrast, a brief, one-off and limited verbal argument between colleagues may, depending on the gravity of the incident, give rise to a warning, a reprimand or termination for valid reason. For this reason, the statement “there was an argument at the workplace” does not by itself prove termination for cause.
The dimension of insult, threat and battery
An employee’s provocation of another employee of the employer may be assessed as a ground for termination for cause under Article 25/II-d of Labor Law No. 4857. Conduct such as insulting words, physical assault, fistfights, throwing objects, threatening gestures, grabbing someone by the throat, pushing and shoving or an attempted assault increases the gravity of the incident. From the standpoint of criminal law, the offenses of insult, threat or intentional injury may also arise separately.
Assessment of provocation, defense and legitimate reaction
In every incident the distribution of fault must be examined separately. The facts that the employee reacted under severe provocation, merely defended themselves, did not start the first attack, tried to leave the environment so as not to escalate the attack, or acted to calm the situation may affect the outcome. The employer should not assume that both sides are equally at fault; it must assess separately the party who started, continued and escalated the fight.
The basic legislation to be applied
Provisions of the Labor Law
The provisions most often applied to arguments and fights at the workplace are Articles 18, 19, 20, 21, 25 and 26 of Labor Law No. 4857. The employer is obliged to distinguish between a cause for termination (haklı neden) and a valid reason (geçerli neden) according to the gravity of the conduct. Immediate termination for cause is mostly assessed among the cases of breach of the rules of morality and good faith in paragraph 25/II. Termination for valid reason, on the other hand, comes into question for conduct that is less serious but makes it difficult to continue the employment relationship.
Mediation and the condition of suit
Under Labor Courts Law No. 7036, having applied to a mediator is a condition of suit (dava şartı) in disputes over employee or employer receivables and compensation and in reinstatement claims. For this reason, the compulsory mediation process must be completed before a receivables action based on termination is brought or reinstatement is requested.
Severance pay and other receivables
For severance pay, Article 14 of Labor Law No. 1475, which remains in force, is important. If the employer’s termination for cause falls within 25/II in particular, the employee as a rule cannot become entitled to severance pay. By contrast, in termination for valid reason, severance pay and, if its conditions are met, notice pay come into question. However, accrued employee receivables such as unused annual leave pay, unpaid wages and overtime are assessed separately.
The basic differences between termination for cause and termination for valid reason
Termination for cause
In termination for cause, the employer ends the employment contract immediately. No notice period is given; if the conditions are met, the employee cannot receive severance or notice pay. The employer must rely on a serious ground such as that in paragraph 25/II. A fight at the workplace, provocation of another employee, a serious threat or a physical assault may fall within this scope.
Termination for valid reason
If the conduct negatively affects the employment relationship but is not of the gravity of termination for cause, termination for valid reason comes into question. For example, in cases such as constantly causing unrest, frequent needless arguments, disrupting teamwork or showing serious incompatibility with superiors, the employer may resort to termination with notice. In that case, if the conditions for benefiting from the reinstatement provisions are met, the employee may dispute the validity of the termination; the employee may also claim severance and notice pay.
The procedural difference
In termination for valid reason based on conduct or performance, under Article 19 of the Labor Law the termination must be made in writing and the reason must be stated clearly and precisely. For valid terminations based on the employee’s conduct, obtaining the employee’s defense is also mandatory. Although the law does not provide an obligation to obtain a defense of the same content in termination for cause, in practice requesting a defense, drawing up minutes and collecting evidence are very important for security of proof.
In which cases can a fight at the workplace be a ground for termination for cause?
Provocation of another employee
An employee’s attacking another employee, throwing a punch, grabbing them by the throat, physically interfering, provoking them with swearing and severe insults or threatening them forms a strong basis for immediate termination for cause. Here, the fact that the incident occurred only once does not always change the result; the nature of the conduct is often decisive.
An attack directed at the employer or the employer’s representative
An insult, assault or threat directed at the employer, a manager or the employer’s representative shakes the foundation of the employment relationship. Especially in the case of a physical assault or a serious threat against a superior or manager, the employer’s right to terminate for cause becomes stronger.
Aggressive conduct toward a customer or a third person
If the employee has fought at the workplace with a customer, supplier, consultant, visitor or another third person, and this conduct affects the employer’s commercial reputation, workplace order or safety, termination for cause may be justified. Particularly in the service sector, swearing at, assaulting or threatening a customer may have serious consequences.
The effect on work of a fight that began outside the workplace
Even if the fight took place outside the workplace, termination may come into question if the incident is concretely reflected in the workplace. For example, two employees’ carrying their outside hostility into the workplace, disturbing the work environment the next day, affecting the team’s order or creating a work safety risk may be assessed within this scope.
Involvement of relatives in the incident
In some incidents, an employee’s spouse, sibling or another relative may come to the workplace and fight with another employee. If the employee organized, summoned or supported this assault, or escalated the workplace hostility through relatives, responsibility becomes heavier. Depending on the circumstances of the specific case, this may give the employer the possibility of termination for cause.
Which cases often remain at the borderline of termination for valid reason?
Constantly causing unrest
Even without a single serious assault, the employee’s constantly creating needless arguments, disturbing the peace of work, damaging team harmony and continuing the conduct despite warnings may justify termination for valid reason. Here the employer must first be able to show the pattern of conduct and, where possible, support it with written warnings, e-mails, and performance and disciplinary records.
Verbal tension that is not serious
Raising the voice, a harsh tone, brief verbal tension or a single limited argument is, in most cases, not considered sufficient for termination for cause. However, if the incident is repeated and affects the order of the workplace, a ground for termination for valid reason may arise.
Deterioration of the sustainability of the employment relationship
Sometimes, even if the fight does not reach the level of actual battery, the relationship of trust between the parties is completely broken, and teamwork and work organization can no longer be carried on. In that case, a discussion of valid reason takes place. The employer must be able to explain why it considered lighter measures insufficient, in light of the principle that termination is a last resort.
Situations that may be insufficient for termination
A momentary and mild tension
A brief argument that occurs once, subsides quickly and contains no insult or assault does not always constitute a ground for termination. In such an incident, training, mediation, a change of duty, a written warning or a disciplinary penalty may be more proportionate.
An allegation without evidence
The statement of only one employee, especially a contradictory and unsupported account, may not be considered sufficient on its own for termination for cause. Camera footage, witness statements, incident minutes, correspondence records and defense statements must be assessed as a whole.
Breach of the duty of equal treatment
If, in the same incident, the employer severely punishes the employee who did not start the fight or who was provoked while showing leniency toward the other side, a problem may arise with respect to the duty of equal treatment. This may produce a result in the employee’s favor in discussions about the justification and validity of the termination.
Assessment according to the place and the party to the incident
An employee-to-employee fight at the workplace
This is the most common scenario. An argument between two employees during working hours or within the workplace premises is taken seriously because of the employer’s obligation to protect order and safety. If there is physical assault, the likelihood of termination for cause increases.
An argument between the employee and the employer or a superior
Conflicts with managers have separate importance for the hierarchical order and the managerial prerogative. However, if there is unjust provocation by the superior, demeaning conduct or practices amounting to mobbing, the employee’s reaction is also discussed within this framework.
A fight that takes place outside the workplace
Arguments of employees in their private life cannot be regarded as a ground for termination in every case if they have no concrete adverse effect on the workplace. However, if there are effects such as polarization at the workplace, fear, breakup of the team or disruption of the work, the employer may intervene.
The digital environment and social media
Employees’ swearing, threatening or demeaning posts directed at colleagues, aggressive messages in WhatsApp groups or insulting content on social media targeting the workplace may also be part of the incident. Digital records may acquire evidentiary value if supported by screenshots, message contents and metadata.
What procedure should the employer follow before termination?
Incident minutes
When a fight or argument occurs, incident minutes should be drawn up as soon as possible. The minutes should clearly state the date, time and place of the incident, its parties, eyewitnesses and initial observations. Vague, rounded and generalizing statements that would give the impression of a later addition should be avoided.
Collecting evidence
Camera recordings, entry and exit data, e-mail and message records, shift records, security minutes and witness statements must be preserved without delay. Negligence that may cause evidence to be lost or altered leads to problems of proof later.
Obtaining the parties’ defense statements
If termination for conduct based on valid reason is planned in particular, a written defense statement must be obtained from the employee. In termination for cause, too, obtaining a defense prevents the incident from being assessed on a one-sided account and increases the employer’s evidentiary strength in a later lawsuit.
Review of equality and proportionality
The employer should examine all employees in the same incident at an equal distance; it should determine who started it, who continued it, who remained in defense and which measure is proportionate. The result of every fight should not automatically be termination; depending on the gravity of the incident, lighter measures such as a warning, a change of duty or suspension may also be considered.
The six-business-day and one-year periods
Under Article 26 of the Labor Law, the power to terminate for cause based on grounds of breach of the rules of morality and good faith must be exercised within six business days from learning of the incident and in any event within one year from the occurrence of the act. The case in which the employee obtains a material benefit from the incident is an exception to this. If the period passes, the possibility of termination for cause weakens, and termination for valid reason or other disciplinary measures often come into question.
Consequences for the employee: severance, notice, annual leave and other rights
Which receivables are lost in termination for cause?
If the employer has terminated for cause based on 25/II and this termination is found lawful, the employee as a rule cannot receive severance and notice pay. However, a separate assessment is made for wage receivables that had accrued by the termination date, overtime receivables, national holiday and public holiday receivables, weekly rest day pay and unused annual leave pay; these do not disappear automatically because of termination for cause.
Which receivables arise in termination for valid reason?
In termination for valid reason, the employee may become entitled to severance pay and notice pay if the conditions are met. If the employer complies with the notice periods, notice pay may not arise; however, as regards severance pay, the right is preserved in termination for reasons other than 25/II.
The possibility of reinstatement
For an employee within the scope of job security (iş güvencesi), it may be argued that the termination was not based on a valid or just reason. To benefit from the reinstatement provisions, as a rule thirty or more employees must work at the workplace, the employee must have at least six months of seniority and must work under an indefinite-term employment contract.
The reinstatement and mediation process
The one-month period for application
An employee whose employment contract has been terminated is obliged to apply to a mediator with a reinstatement request within one month from service of the notice of termination. This period is a preclusive period (hak düşürücü süre); missing it may lead to a serious loss of rights.
The time limit for filing suit
If no agreement is reached at the end of mediation, a lawsuit may be filed before the labor court within two weeks from the date the final report was drawn up. In claims for employee receivables and compensation other than reinstatement as well, the mediation process must first be completed.
The burden of proof
The burden of proving that the termination was based on a valid reason lies with the employer. The employee, in turn, may argue that the stated reason is contrary to the facts, disproportionate, that the principle of equality has been violated, or that the incident was not of the gravity of termination for cause.
The process after the decision
If the court or the private arbitrator decides that the termination is invalid, the employee is obliged to apply to the employer within ten business days from service of the final judgment in order to start work. If the employer does not have the employee start work within one month, it may be liable, within statutory limits, for compensation for failure to reinstate and for pay for the period of idleness.
The criminal law and occupational health and safety dimension
Criminal liability
During a fight, offenses such as insult, threat, intentional injury, damage to property or sexual harassment may have been committed. Regardless of the result of termination under the employment relationship, a complaint or an investigation process before the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office may arise.
The employer’s safety obligation
The employer is obliged to ensure the health and safety of employees. Remaining indifferent to repeated violent incidents, failing to take appropriate measures or leaving risky personnel unsupervised may create administrative and legal liability later.
Institutional recommendations for preventing fights and arguments at the workplace
A clear disciplinary policy
The employer should have written disciplinary rules, a zero-tolerance line, reporting channels to managers and an incident management protocol. Defining the concepts of “provocation”, “insult”, “physical violence”, “threat”, “discrimination” and “mobbing” clearly in internal documents ensures uniformity of practice.
Manager training and a culture of record-keeping
It is important to train managers in how to intervene at a moment of crisis, how to keep minutes, how to request a defense and how to protect the duty of equal treatment. Hasty terminations without evidence often enlarge the dispute.
Conflict resolution mechanisms
Methods such as an early warning system, internal communication channels, human resources intervention, workplace mediation, psychological support and separation of duties can prevent small tensions from turning into a fight.
Frequently asked questions
Is shouting at the workplace by itself a ground for termination for cause?
Not every shouting match is a ground for termination for cause. An element of insult, threat, provocation, physical assault or serious disruption of work order is required.
If there was only a verbal fight, is severance pay lost?
It varies according to the content of the incident. If there is severe insult and provocation, severance pay may be lost as a result of termination for cause; in lighter incidents, termination for valid reason or a disciplinary penalty may come into question.
Can the employer terminate on the statement of one side alone?
Although it may appear possible, this carries serious risk. Before termination, evidence must be collected, witnesses heard and defense statements obtained.
Can an employee who started the fight and an employee who defended themselves be assessed in the same way?
Not always. The situation of provocation and defense matters in the assessment of fault.
Is a fight outside the workplace a ground for termination?
It can be if it has a concrete adverse effect on the workplace. Arguments in private life that have no reflection at all are not automatically considered a ground for termination.
If there is no camera footage, can the employer not prove it?
Camera footage is important evidence, but it is not the only evidence. Witness statements, minutes, correspondence and defense statements are also valuable.
Is it mandatory to obtain a defense in termination for cause?
The express obligation to obtain a defense in the law is provided for termination for conduct based on valid reason. However, in termination for cause, too, obtaining a defense is extremely important in practice.
Can the employer terminate for cause months after learning of the incident?
In most incidents, no, because of the six-business-day and one-year periods in Article 26 of the Labor Law.
Is a notice period given in termination for cause?
No. A notice period is not applied in immediate termination for cause.
Is annual leave pay paid in termination for cause?
Unused annual leave pay is as a rule paid; termination for cause does not remove this right.
Can both sides be dismissed in a fight?
Depending on the gravity of the specific incident, it is possible. However, if the employer automatically terminates both without distinguishing fault, a dispute may arise.
How long does an employee who wants reinstatement have?
The employee must apply to a mediator within one month from service of the notice of termination.
Can a lawsuit be filed directly without mediation?
In reinstatement and many employee receivables arising from termination, no; mediation is a condition of suit.
Who bears the burden of proof in a reinstatement action?
The burden of proving that the termination was based on a valid reason lies essentially with the employer.
Is an employee’s insulting the employer always termination for cause?
It often has serious consequences; however, the context of the words, provocation, mutual exchange and the incident as a whole are assessed separately.
Conclusion
Assessment
In files concerning arguments and fights at the workplace, one-sentence formulas do not give the right result. The same incident may call for termination for cause in one workplace, termination for valid reason in another, and only a disciplinary penalty in yet another. What is decisive is the gravity of the incident, the nature of the attack, the parties’ fault, provocation, the effect on the workplace, the strength of the evidence and the extent to which the employer complied with the termination procedure.
For this reason, for both employers and employees, it is of great importance that proper minutes and evidence management be carried out immediately after the incident; that a legal assessment be obtained before the termination decision is made; and that the mediation and litigation periods not be missed. A detailed review according to the specific case is the key to managing the risk of compensation and reinstatement correctly.
Legal bases and principal sources used
1 — Labor Law No. 4857, Articles 18, 19, 20, 21, 25 and 26
2 — Labor Courts Law No. 7036, Article 3
3 — Labor Law No. 1475, Article 14
4 — Ministry of Labor and Social Security (Çalışma ve Sosyal Güvenlik Bakanlığı), Labor Law Frequently Asked Questions
5 — Ministry of Justice, Mediation Department (Adalet Bakanlığı Arabuluculuk Daire Başkanlığı), explanations on mediation as a condition of suit
6 — Settled principles of Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) practice and current labor law scholarship