Employment relations between the employee and the employer may be terminated for various reasons, as in all other contractual relations. Employment contracts may be terminated through mutual agreement between the parties, as well as through the unilateral termination of the employment contract by the employee or the employer, exercising the resolutive formative right. Termination of the employment contract is regulated between Articles 17 and 29 of the Labor Law No. 4857 (“Labor Law”), in particular termination with notice under Article 17, termination for just cause under Article 18, the right of the employee to terminate immediately for just cause under Article 24 and the right of the employer to terminate immediately for just cause under Article 25.
As it can be understood from the headings, immediate termination for just cause grants the terminating party the right to terminate the employment contract immediately, whereas in termination with notice, the employment contract may be terminated, in principle, at the end of the notice period. The other significant difference between the two types of termination is that the termination with notice can only be applied for indefinite-term employment contracts, while the immediate termination for just cause can be applied for both definite and indefinite-term employment contracts. That said, if the employee benefits from job security, the employer must rely on a valid reason as per Article 18 in order to terminate the indefinite-term employment contract by granting a notice period.
