Gün + Partners updates
Justification of court decisions – an overview
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 23 July 2019
The justification of court decisions is regarded as a key element of the right to a fair trial. In Turkey, this right is protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as the Turkish Constitution, the Code of Civil Procedure and Supreme Court precedents. However, in practice, judgments are sometimes made without providing any justification as to why the parties' claims and evidence were not taken into account.
Mandatory mediation in labour disputes – an overview
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 10 July 2019
Applying for mediation was recently made a prerequisite when filing a lawsuit concerning monetary claims by employees or employers arising out of employment contracts, collective labour agreements or reinstatement claims. Mandatory mediation was introduced to accelerate legal proceedings and lower the costs in employment disputes.
What happens when an unquantified claim is quantifiable?
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 04 June 2019
When the new Code of Civil Procedure was enacted in 2011, it introduced a new case type to Turkish litigation where plaintiffs file an action for receivables for an unquantified amount that is left to the courts to determine subject to dispute. This innovation in the litigation procedure raises questions regarding the instances in which plaintiffs should be deemed unable to calculate the size of their claims and what the courts should do when the receivables or damages are quantifiable.
Constitutional Court annuls provision on imprisonment for opposition to interim injunctions
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 26 March 2019
Parties that failed to comply with an interim injunction or that violated an injunction previously faced one to six months' imprisonment. However, the Constitutional Court recently annulled this provision due to its lack of clear regulation and legal remedies. The changes will enter into force nine months after their publication in the Official Gazette and are final and binding on legislative, executive and judicial bodies, administrative authorities and real and legal entities.
Supreme Court rules inappropriately worded emails are valid reason for termination
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 06 March 2019
The Supreme Court recently found that the failure of employees to use appropriate language in their written workplace correspondence with superiors or colleagues constitutes a valid reason for termination. The court held that although the actions of the employee in question had not been serious enough to constitute just cause for termination and deprive him of his termination benefits, the employer could not be expected to continue the employment relationship.
Changes to minimum wage, severance payments and administrative fines
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 13 February 2019
Minimum wage, severance payments and administrative fines prescribed by the Labour Act are revised at the beginning of each calendar year. The minimum wage rate was recently increased to TL2,558.40 (gross) and the maximum severance payment was increased to TL6,017.60 (gross). In addition, the rate of administrative fines was increased by 23.73% compared with 2018.
Effects of recently published presidential executive decree on salaries in or indexed to foreign currency
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 21 November 2018
The recently published Presidential Executive Decree 85 amended Decree 32 on the Protection of the Turkish Currency. In the field of employment law, it is unclear whether foreign nationals fall within the scope of the decree and how their salaries will be paid going forward. Since the decree uses the term 'Turkish residents', the general understanding is that it also applies to foreign employees, as they must have a residential address in Turkey in order to have a work permit.
Supreme Court rules on calculation of overtime pay
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 26 September 2018
The Supreme Court recently issued a number of decisions setting out how to calculate overtime pay and how employees can prove any overtime owed when required. Among other things, the decisions state that signed payslips can be used as material evidence. Further, where an employee has not signed a payslip and overtime payments have been made via bank transfer, the employee must prove that they worked the disputed overtime with documentary evidence.
Supreme Court view on adapting contracts due to fluctuation in currency exchange rates
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 04 September 2018
Turkey has recently faced higher currency exchange rates, which has raised the question of whether this increase constitutes a change in circumstances that affects the fulfilment of contractual obligations. As there is no settled Supreme Court precedent regarding whether a fluctuation in currency exchange rates requires the adaptation of contracts, first-instance courts will need to examine the circumstances of each case.
Supreme Court rules that borrowing money from customer is just cause for termination
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 27 June 2018
The Supreme Court recently issued a decision concerning an employee's dismissal for borrowing money from their employer's customer. The Supreme Court reversed the first-instance labour court decision and ruled that the termination was lawful based on the fact that the employee had acted against the rule of integrity and honesty and damaged the employer's reputation.
Procedural changes in labour cases
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 20 June 2018
The Labour Courts Act has introduced a number of changes and amended the appeal procedure for labour disputes. The legislature hopes to shorten the duration of actions which, by their nature, should be resolved as quickly as possible. Although it is still questionable whether these amendments will produce the anticipated returns in terms of reaching the desired duration for trial processes, they mark an important attempt to limit the two-phase appeal stage for certain cases.
Constitutional Court issues decision on reasonable time requirement in criminal proceedings
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 22 May 2018
Since 2012, individuals in Turkey have been able to make individual complaint applications to the Constitutional Court claiming that the state has violated their fundamental constitutional rights (or rights under the European Human Rights Convention) through its acts or omissions. One of the most common claims is that the state has violated an individual's right to a fair trial by failing to meet the reasonable time requirement and concluding criminal cases over long periods, in some cases more than 10 years.
Commercial cases worth less than TL100,000 now subject to simplified procedure
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 24 April 2018
Under Turkish law, there are two types of procedure in civil proceedings. Written procedure is the main and most common type, whereas the simple procedure, as the name suggests, is a simplified and expedited process. Following recent amendments, commercial cases worth less than TL100,000 are now subject to the simplified procedure in order to shorten the length of proceedings.
Preliminary injunction procedure
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 10 April 2018
Preliminary injunctions in Turkey are regulated under the Code of Civil Procedure. A preliminary injunction can be requested from the competent court that has jurisdiction over a case prior to filing or the court before which a case is filed. Applicants must determine the grounds for making such a request in addition to the nature of the preliminary injunction being sought. They must also prove their claim to convince the court that the merits of the case are legitimate.
Proposed amendments to automatic enrolment in private pension plan system
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 28 March 2018
The Amendment Act of August 25 2016 introduced the automatic enrolment of employees in private pension plans. As a result, employees under the age of 45 must be enrolled in a private pension plan as part of a pension agreement between their employer and a pension company. As the majority of employees have withdrawn from the system, the Ministry of Finance recently prepared a draft omnibus law which introduced new provisions regarding automatic enrolment in the private pension plan system.
Amendment of regulation regarding employee consent for overtime
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 03 January 2018
Overtime in Turkey is regulated by the Labour Act and the Regulation on Overtime. Following criticism from legal scholars, the Regulation on Overtime was recently amended. The amendment has clarified that an employee's written consent for overtime can be obtained through an employment contract or during the employment relationship if needed. Therefore, obtaining employee consent at the beginning of each year is no longer required.
Labour Courts Act comes into effect
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- Turkey
- 29 November 2017
The Labour Courts Act, which was recently published in the Official Gazette, aims to ease the judiciary's workload and accelerate the judicial process in employment cases. The act has introduced a number of changes, the most important of which include mandatory mediation for employers and employees before initiating lawsuits, an amended procedure for reinstatement cases and a reduced statute of limitations of five years for several types of compensation.
Constitutional Court rules on annulment request regarding Article 5 of Cheque Law
Gün + Partners- Litigation
- Turkey
- 28 November 2017
Article 5 of the Cheque Law imposes a judicial fine on cheque account owners for a bounced cheque. These fines cannot be less than the amount of the bounced cheque plus the accrued interest on the cheque's submission date and the total fees for execution and legal proceedings. Several courts recently applied to the Constitutional Court to request the annulment of Article 5 based on, among other things, the uncertain criteria used to calculate such fines.
Supreme Court rules on monitoring of employee WhatsApp conversations
Gün + Partners- Employment & Immigration
- 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 & Immigration
- 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.
