When a hotel is leased or sold: what happens to the staff contracts under article 6

Under article 6 of the Labor Law (4857), a workplace transfer by legal act carries the employment contracts in force on the transfer date to the transferee with all rights and debts. Transferor and transferee are jointly liable for debts due at that date, the transferor for two years, and neither may dismiss solely because of the transfer (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu, madde 6, 14 November 2026 (opens in a new tab)). This is general information, not legal advice: confirm how article 6 applies to your own lease or sale, and the dates and penalties that follow from it, with a legal adviser or an accountant before you sign.

When a hotel changes hands, the status of staff contracts is decided by article 6 of the Labor Law (4857), not by the new operator's payroll sheet. The people behind the desk want to know one thing: does their job, their leave and their start date survive the change of name on the door. This guide reads article 6 on hotel lease or sale employment contracts transfer in Türkiye, and gives you a handover pack you can build before the date is fixed.

What counts as a workplace transfer under article 6?#

Article 6 applies when a workplace, or part of one, is transferred to another employer through a legal act. The article states the condition; it does not list which transactions meet it. When a hotel lease or sale involves employment contracts transferring in Türkiye, the classification is the first thing to settle.

The text names three elements: a workplace or part of a workplace, a legal act behind the move, and a change of employer. Everything else is argued from the facts of the deal. The article speaks of contracts existing at the transfer date, so that date has to be fixed in writing before anyone counts staff, leave days or money.

The name on the document does not settle the question. A sale, a lease, an operating agreement and an internal restructuring can each be argued either way, and the conditions in the text decide. Do not assume a lease is a transfer, and do not assume it is not. Settle the classification before the handover date is agreed, because the rest of the file depends on the answer.

Keep the transaction documents, the asset list and the staff list together. They are the evidence on which the classification is argued. A transfer of the tourism operation certificate is a separate question with its own rules; we cover it in transferring a tourism operation certificate: sale, lease and name changes. Keep it in its own file so the two do not blur.

What passes to the buyer or lessee?#

Every employment contract in force on the transfer date passes to the transferee with all its rights and debts. Nothing restarts: the new employer steps into the contracts as they stand (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu, madde 6, 14 November 2026 (opens in a new tab)).

Rights means what the worker has already earned up to the transfer date: unpaid wages, overtime, unused annual leave, and entitlements accrued but not yet paid. Debts means what the employer owes on the same date, including amounts already in dispute and amounts not yet calculated. A contract that ended before the transfer date is not carried across; a contract signed after it belongs to the new employer alone.

The start date travels with the contract, so the new employer inherits the length of service behind the person, not just the person. Tell staff in writing what changes and what does not: the employer's name and the payroll contact change, their terms, start date and balances do not.

Do not ask staff to sign a fresh contract that quietly drops accrued entitlements. A real change to terms is a separate negotiation with its own rules, not a line in a handover pack.

Who pays for what, and for how long?#

Both employers are jointly liable for the debts due at the transfer date, and the transferor's liability ends two years after that date (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu, madde 6, 14 November 2026 (opens in a new tab)).

Joint liability means the worker can claim the whole amount from either employer, not half from each. The worker chooses, and the two employers settle between themselves afterwards. The two-year limit belongs to the transferor; the article puts no such limit on the transferee's liability for the same debts.

The clock starts at the transfer date, not at the day a claim arrives. A file that surfaces in year three is outside the transferor's window and inside the transferee's. Debts that arise after the transfer date are the transferee's alone: wages for work done under the new operator, leave taken after the date, costs of running the new roster.

For the buyer, this is a pricing question. Accrued leave and unpaid entitlements belong in the numbers before signing, not in a surprise after it. For the seller, this is a records question. Keep payroll, leave and contract records for at least the two years, because a claim can arrive when the hotel is long gone from your books.

Can the transfer itself be a reason to dismiss staff?#

No. The article says neither employer may end a contract solely because of the transfer, and the transfer is not a just cause for the worker to terminate either (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu, madde 6, 14 November 2026 (opens in a new tab)).

The word that carries the weight is "solely". A dismissal for an independent, documented reason is a different question with its own rules and its own evidence. The pattern the article aims at is a dismissal letter dated near the handover with no reason beyond the change of operator.

The worker's side is closed too: the transfer alone does not let a worker leave and claim as if the employer had broken the contract. If the new operator wants a smaller team, that is a staffing decision. It has to stand on its own facts, be documented on its own facts, and be taken before the handover rather than discovered on day one.

Keep the transfer date out of a dismissal letter as the reason. If the real reason is something else, write that reason and keep the evidence behind it. Plan the roster before the date: a staffing gap found on the first morning tends to be solved with the nearest available tool, which is a dismissal nobody prepared for.

What changes when only part of the hotel moves?#

Article 6 covers a transfer of a workplace or part of one, so a single outlet, kitchen, spa or housekeeping team can move with its own contracts while the rest of the hotel stays where it is.

Only the contracts attached to the transferred part pass. The rest stay with the original employer, on their existing terms. The boundary has to be drawn in writing before the date: which roles, which cost centers, which contracts, which rota lines, which equipment. A worker who splits time between the transferred part and the rest needs a recorded decision before the transfer date; deciding it afterwards means deciding it twice.

Seasonal teams need their own check. A contract that ended at the end of the season is not a contract existing at the transfer date; a contract still running on that date is. For seasonal staff mid-contract, the entitlements accrued to the transfer date travel with them, and the new employer inherits the start date behind them. Severance and notice rules for seasonal staff have their own planning questions, which we cover in severance and notice pay for seasonal hotel staff.

The two-year joint liability applies to the part that moved, on the same terms as a whole-workplace transfer.

What should a staff handover pack contain?#

One list, one row per person, signed by both sides on the transfer date, so the seller and the buyer are looking at the same facts instead of two versions of them.

Each row carries the name, role, department and cost center, the contract and any amendments, the start date, the wage and side benefits, the leave balance, and the entitlements accrued to the date. Add anything live: an open disciplinary matter, a court case, an enforcement order or a salary garnishment already reaching the payroll. Handling a garnishment order has its own routine, which we describe in a salary garnishment letter arrives for a staff member.

Use one spreadsheet for the numbers and one signed document for the confirmation. Two sources of truth is how a two-year liability window turns into a dispute. Hold a reconciliation meeting before the date: the seller reads the list, the buyer checks it against the payroll export, both sign the same page.

Where a file is missing, write "missing" and name who will produce it and by when. A blank cell is worse than an admitted gap, because it looks like a zero. After the date, the buyer keeps the pack as the opening balance of its own records and the seller keeps a copy for the two years. The same pack answers the staff's first question on the first morning: whether their leave and their start date survived the change.

Where does the text of article 6 stop?#

Article 6 states the rule; it does not decide your case. Whether a particular sale or lease meets its conditions, and what it means for a specific contract, is a question for a lawyer.

The article does not name transaction types, so the classification is argued from the facts of the deal, and two reasonable people can read the same lease differently. It does not set out how staff are informed, how the handover is recorded, or what the payroll file must contain. Those are choices, and the pack above is one way to make them.

The payroll and tax side of a handover runs on its own rules. Keep the accountant in the same conversation as the lawyer, on the same documents. Keep the transaction documents, the staff list and the signed pack together for at least the two-year window, so a claim in year three can be answered from paper. Confirm dates, amounts and your own case with a lawyer or an accountant before the handover date is fixed.

What to do next#

Settle the article 6 question first, because it decides whether the staff file is a courtesy or a legal necessity. Then build the handover pack before the transfer date: one row per person, leave balances and accrued entitlements calculated to that date, live disputes noted, both sides signing the same page. The pack is the one artifact that serves the buyer's pricing, the seller's two-year records and the staff's first question on the first morning.