Gün + Partners updates
Supreme Court rules on monitoring of employee WhatsApp conversations
Gün + Partners- Employment & Benefits
- Turkey
- 08 November 2017
The Supreme Court recently rendered an important decision concerning the protection of employees' privacy rights. The court reversed a first-instance labour court decision and ruled that the dismissal of an employee was unlawful on the grounds that the employer had used the employee's WhatsApp conversations (obtained in an impermissible way) as evidence, thus violating the employee's right to privacy.
Regulation on Annual Paid Leave amended to allow employees to divide annual leave
Gün + Partners- Employment & Benefits
- Turkey
- 11 October 2017
The right of employees to annual paid leave is regulated by Articles 53 to 60 of the Labour Act and the Regulation on Annual Paid Leave. In principle, employees are expected to take their annual leave en bloc. Recent amendments to the act and the regulation maintain the right of employees to continuous rest, but provide flexibility to those who wish to divide their holidays into several parts in a given year.
Supreme Court opines on valid grounds for termination
Gün + Partners- Employment & Benefits
- Turkey
- 06 September 2017
The Supreme Court recently issued a decision concerning an employee's dismissal on the grounds of (among other things) recording a conversation with his supervisor without his consent. The court reversed a first-instance decision and ruled that the termination was lawful based on the fact that the employee had been handling personal business during working hours without authorisation and secretly recorded a conversation.
Code of Civil Procedure amendments aim to improve functioning of regional appellate courts
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 22 August 2017
Due to the need for the existing court procedural rules and organisational structure to be harmonised with the newly established three-tier court system, amendments have been made to the Code of Civil Procedure with the purpose of eliminating emergent problems in the functioning of regional appellate and administrative courts. The most remarkable amendment regards the period for appeal before the Court of Cassation.
New regulation on time limits for completion of legal proceedings
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 15 August 2017
The Regulation on the Determination and Enforcement of Target Investigation, Prosecution or Trial Periods was recently published in the Official Gazette. The regulation sets out the rules and procedures for determining the specific periods in which legal proceedings must be completed, thus ameliorating the judicial process. By establishing and adhering to time limits for legal proceedings, Turkey may be able to eliminate the delays in its judicial system.
Automatic enrolment in private pension plans system
Gün + Partners- Employment & Benefits
- Turkey
- 14 June 2017
A long-awaited legal arrangement on employees' automatic enrolment in private pension plans by their employers was introduced into Turkish law by way of an amendment law published in 2016. The amendment law adds new provisions to the Private Pension Savings and Investment System Act 2001. Accordingly, employees under the age of 45 will be enrolled in a private pension plan with a pension agreement between the employer and a pension company.
Court decides on issuance of certificate of inheritance for foreign-owned real estate
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 25 April 2017
If a foreign national who owns real estate in Turkey dies, his or her successors must have recourse to the Turkish courts and obtain a certificate of inheritance in order to complete the transfer of the real estate under their names before the land registry or be able to legally dispose of the property in any manner. A recent case illustrates that this issue can be overcome by the submission of specific documents issued by the competent authorities of foreign countries, testament or notary statements.
Draft Law on Labour Courts and proposed mandatory mediation phase
Gün + Partners- Employment & Benefits
- Turkey
- 29 March 2017
The Ministry of Justice recently prepared a new draft Law on Labour Courts and shared it with the relevant public institutions and organisations for review. The draft law aims to ease the judiciary's workload and accelerate the judicial process in employment cases. The most important amendment stipulated in the draft law is the introduction of a mandatory mediation phase. If the draft law is adopted, it will be mandatory for employees to apply for mediation before initiating certain lawsuits.
Court appoints former partner as gratuitous bailee to preserve company books
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 05 July 2016
The court of peace recently appointed the former partner of a liquidated company as a gratuitous bailee to preserve the company's books. The decision created an alternative approach to the preservation of the books of liquidated companies, which must be preserved by a court of peace. The new approach should help to address concerns regarding the court's limited amount of storage space for company books.
General assembly resolution with forged signature declared void
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 03 May 2016
A recent Court of Appeals case concerned a resolution taken at a general assembly meeting where the signature of the shareholder plaintiff's representative had been forged. As it was established without doubt that the signature on the general assembly meeting minutes did not belong to the plaintiff's representative, the court declared that the decisions taken at the general assembly were null and void.
Apples and oranges: uncontested invoices and binding contracts
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 16 February 2016
In order for an invoice to generate a payment obligation on its recipient, Turkish law requires that there be an obligatory relationship between the drafter and recipient. A recent case confirmed that even when the recipient of an invoice does not object to it and inadvertently records it in its accounting books, this does not result in a payment obligation unless the invoice has a legal basis.
Specialised or general-jurisdiction courts for enforcing foreign judgments and arbitral awards?
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 22 December 2015
The recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards in Turkey is subject to the International Private and Civil Procedure Law, under which enforcement actions must be filed before the civil courts of first instance, including certain specialised courts. The Court of Appeals has generally adopted a single approach regarding the jurisdiction of specialised courts in enforcement actions, but a recent decision has created uncertainty in that regard.
