The competence of employee as a valid reason in dismissal

The article 18 of the Labour Law states that, for the working places employing 30 or more employees, employer has to rely on a valid reason stemming from employee's competence or misconduct or the requirements of work, working place or enterprise if it aims to terminate a contract of an employee having at least six months of seniority. Valid reason is the term which has a negative effect on the duty of working but not as much intense as just reason. Being a sub-category of the valid reasons, the incompetence of an employee focuses on the termination of the employee working under some standards while carrying out its duty of working. The incompetence of an employee doesn't require the presence of fault, while the misconduct of employee requires the presence of that element. Incompetence also is divided into two sub-categories as physical and occupational incompetence. Physical incompetence is the situation when the employee is under some standards regarding its duty due to agedness or illness. On the other hand, occupational incompetence can be related to lack of enough occupational knowledge or competence. Performance evaluation systems are useful tools for assessing both incompetence categories and constitute a solid ground for termination. At the end of this study, termination under third party pressure and termination on ground of suspicion which are sources of discussion in the doctrine will be tried to be enlightened. While trying to focus on valid reason term and putting forward some suggestions on specific issues, this study benefits from actual jurisprudence and some foreign law systems.