Many people wonder about the social security rights of those dismissed by statutory decrees (KHK). Since most of those dismissed are civil servants, changes in social security legislation have created uncertainty about their entitlements.
Pension Status After Dismissal
To qualify for retirement, a person must meet required service years, contribution days and age criteria. When these conditions are met, the right to retire arises. The retirement prospects of those dismissed from public service due to a KHK or for other reasons are a frequent concern.
Individuals who were dismissed and have met all necessary conditions based on their civil service may receive a retirement bonus when they obtain retirement rights. However, those whose service record includes periods under other schemes such as SSK or Bağkur in addition to civil service may, if those combined periods alone are sufficient for a pension, be entitled to the retirement bonus through legal action.
Note that the deadline to file a lawsuit regarding denial of a retirement bonus is limited to 60 days from the date the application was rejected; attention must be paid to this time limit. If conditions cannot be met—meaning civil service periods alone are insufficient under the pension fund—receiving a retirement bonus is unlikely. In other words, under pension rules, winning such a case will generally not be possible.
Contribution Days Counted After Dismissal
A dismissed person still retains the right to retire provided they meet the usual retirement requirements. For those whose civil service days under the pension fund are insufficient, retirement can still be achieved if they complete 1260 days under SSK or Bağkur or retire from the institution where they provided the most service within the last seven years. If a dismissed civil servant chooses not to enter any social insurance scheme and then dies, their surviving spouse and children may, provided the deceased met day and duration requirements, be eligible for survivor’s pensions from the civil servant pension fund.
If a dismissed person does not join any insurance scheme after dismissal but becomes disabled, their case will be assessed under disability retirement rules. If the necessary disability conditions are met, they may be granted disability retirement from the civil servant pension fund. When applications for disability retirement are rejected by SGK (Social Security Institution), precedent cases have sometimes been used to support lawsuits; the deadline to file such a lawsuit is 60 days from the date of rejection.
Pay Attention to Status After Dismissal
When a person moves from the civil servant pension fund to another scheme such as SSK or Bağkur and then dies or becomes disabled, payments are generally made by their last insurance institution. Therefore, those who change their SGK status after dismissal should consider this rule. Nonetheless, related legal cases continue to be filed, and reviewing their outcomes and practices can be useful.
Dismissed individuals cannot use periods such as education or internship time or military service as creditable periods, except for foreign service debt under Law 3201. Under Law 5510 (SSK framework), any credited periods must count toward the specific status in which the crediting is made. For example, someone who took one year of childbirth-related credit in 1999 and who worked between 1997–1999 and 2000–2018 would be subject to the Civil Servants Pension Law (No. 5434). When credited while an SSK-insured person, the credited time is recorded as SSK days based on a 360-day year.
If missing contribution days do not break the continuity of service, completion through foreign service credit is possible. If passport restrictions placed on a dismissed person are lifted, presenting foreign employment documents can allow them to gain contribution days and qualify for retirement. In summary, the removal of civil service employment rights does not, in general, affect social security rights—except in cases involving criminal acts or public financial loss—so dismissal of employment status does not automatically eliminate social security entitlements.