Kardelen Özden
Lawyer biography
Kardelen is an associate in the Commercial and Corporate Department at Gün + Partners since 2020. She received her LL.B. from Istanbul University Faculty of Law. She is fluent both in English and French.Her practice mainly focuses on employment, business crimes and anti-corruption, dispute resolution, data protection & privacy, and corporate and M&A.
She provides consultancy to several multinational companies on employment contracts and policies, restrictive covenants, confidentiality, employee-related data protection, mobbing and discrimination, and settlement; and further participates in cases involving business crimes, compliance and legal audits.
She also advises and represents both national and international clients in their commercial law, law of obligations, and unfair competition related disputes.
Bar Admission: Istanbul Bar Association
Education:
• 2019, Faculty of Law, Istanbul University Faculty of Law, Turkey, LL.B.
• 2015, Robert College, Istanbul
Languages: English, French, Turkish
Updates
Employment & Immigration
Termination ban and unilateral unpaid leave extended once again
Turkey | 12 May 2021In April 2020 the termination ban and unilateral unpaid leave came into force, prohibiting employers from terminating any employment contract – regardless of whether it fell within the scope of the Labour Act – for three months as of the effective date of the law. The termination ban and unilateral unpaid leave have since been extended several times, most recently until 30 June 2021.
New Constitutional Court ruling on employers' inspection of employees' corporate emails
Turkey | 24 February 2021The Constitutional Court has once again considered the rights of personal data protection and the freedom of communication in an employment context following an employer's inspection of an employee's corporate email account and the termination of the employee based on the outcome of such inspection. The decision draws attention to the importance of the explicit information requirement in inspections conducted by employers and sheds light on the application of the principle of proportionality.
Termination ban, unilateral unpaid leave and short-time working allowance extended again
Turkey | 27 January 2021Pursuant to three presidential decrees recently published in the Official Gazette, the termination ban and unilateral unpaid leave, which were due to expire by 17 January 2021, have been extended until 17 March 2021. Further, the short-time working allowance granted to workplaces which had applied until 31 December 2020 has been extended until 28 February 2021. Similarly, the application deadline for the short-time working allowance has been extended until 31 January 2021.
Are mutual termination agreements covered by the COVID-19-related termination prohibition?
Turkey | 13 January 2021Government bodies have introduced progressive measures and restrictions to minimise the COVID-19 pandemic's negative impact on employment and sustain employment relationships. One of the most significant arrangements in this respect is the termination prohibition. However, mutual termination agreements have become a point of contention in light of this prohibition as they are unregulated under Turkish law.
Constitutional Court rules on employers' review of employees' corporate emails
Turkey | 06 January 2021Whether employers can review employees' corporate email accounts and rely on any findings collected during such an inspection in a potential termination is a controversial issue in terms of personal data protection and privacy. The Constitutional Court has rendered two recent decisions on the right to privacy and privacy of communication with regard to corporate email accounts. Both decisions elaborate in particular on employees' information rights.
Litigation
Law 7251: significant amendments to preliminary examination mechanism
Turkey | 27 April 2021Law 7251 on the Amendment of the Civil Procedure Code and Certain Laws introduced, among other things, significant amendments to the preliminary examination mechanism. Now, in the event that a party fails to appear at a preliminary hearing, the present party will not be entitled to expand or change its claims without the absent party's consent. Further, new requirements apply with regard to invitations to preliminary hearings.
Parties can now request an extension to object to expert reports
Turkey | 22 December 2020Law 7251 on the Amendment of the Civil Procedure Code and Certain Laws (Amendment Law) recently entered into force. One of the significant amendments introduced by the Amendment Law concerns Article 281 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) 6100, which regulates parties' objections to expert reports. With this amendment, parties can now request an extension from the court to file their objections against expert reports under certain circumstances.
