The Court of Cassation's Decision on Retirement

The Court of Cassation has made a significant decision regarding retirement. According to this decision, individuals with multiple insurance statuses can now request the merger of the statuses that provide them with the highest salary and earliest retirement.The Court of Cassation has made a landmark decision that affects millions of people who have worked in different statuses such as SSK, Bağ-Kur, and Emekli Sandığı and were retired according to the conditions of their last workplace. SGK expert İsa Karakaş evaluated this decision and stated that individuals with multiple insurance statuses can now request the merger of the statuses that provide them with the highest salary and earliest retirement, and can exclude the ones they do not want from the system. In his article in Turkey Newspaper, İsa Karakaş explained that a person who wanted to retire from SGK was told by the institution that they had to retire from Bağ-Kur because their last 7 years of service was dominated by Bağ-Kur, and the case was taken to court. Karakaş stated that the plaintiff had worked 6730 days under SSK, 450 days under Emekli Sandığı, and 2092 days under Bağ-Kur, and had applied for retirement on March 28, 2002. Despite the plaintiff meeting the conditions for SSK, the Social Security Institution told the plaintiff to retire from Bağ-Kur and complete 9000 days, and the plaintiff was forced to wait another year and receive a lower retirement salary. Karakaş explained that the plaintiff had applied to the court for the merger of SSK and Emekli Sandığı services, excluding Bağ-Kur services, and for the payment of the difference in retirement salary and interest. The SGK defended itself by stating that the procedures were in accordance with the law and that the case should be dismissed due to the statute of limitations.The Labor Court accepted the case, stating that insurance services cannot be forced to merge and that the beneficiary's will is paramount. The court decided that the plaintiff should receive a retirement salary as of April 1, 2002, and that the difference in salary and interest should be paid.Karakaş stated that this decision was approved by the Court of Appeal and then overturned by the 10th Chamber of the Court of Cassation. However, the Court of Cassation finally approved the decision of the Labor Court, marking a significant development in retirement law.