EMPLOYER RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

When it comes to the Labor Law, the first thing that comes to mind is workers’ rights. However, the Labor Law is as neutral as possible and employers have many rights. Most employees and employers do not know what their rights and obligations are in working life. From time to time, there are also grievances due to unknown rights and obligations. In this article, we will discuss some issues that will shed light on employers.
Who is the employer?
The definition of the employer is made in Article 2 of the Labor Law No. 4857. Accordingly, the employer; It can be defined as a person or institution that employs workers.
Rights of the employer
The place to look to learn about the rights of the employer is the Labor Law No. 4857.
These rights of the employer can be examined in three main sections:
Rights when hiring a worker
Rights when employing the worker
Rights when dismissing an employee
Rights of the employer when employing the employee
Hiring a worker does not mean having to employ him permanently. In addition, the rules to which the employee is subject are determined by the Labor Law and its sub-legislation, and the employer has the right to ask the employee to work in this way. These rights can be listed as follows:
It can ask the worker to work up to 45 hours per week.
It may ask the worker to work 6 days a week.
It can employ the worker part-time.
It can employ temporary workers.
Provided that he obtains the approval of the worker, he can make him work overtime.
With the consent of the worker, he can be employed on public holidays.
It may request the employee who wants to leave the job without a justified reason to comply with the notice period.
It may request notice compensation from the employee who leaves the job without complying with the notice period.
If there is a provision in the employment contract, it may require the employee to comply with the prohibition of competition.
If he has incurred training expenses for the worker, he can expect the worker to work for a certain period of time in return.
If he has agreed with the worker, he can determine his wage as he wishes, provided that it is not less than the minimum wage.
If he obtains the consent of the worker, he can give him free time instead of paying him overtime pay.
During periods when overtime is required, it may prefer the equalization application, provided that it obtains the approval of the workers.
Provided that it does not discriminate between workers, it can determine the period in which the employee will use annual leave.
By means of an employment contract or workplace internal regulations, it may establish disciplinary penalties and wage deduction penalties for workers.
It can expect the worker to comply with occupational health and safety measures.
It can work up to 11 hours a night in the appropriate sectors and for suitable workers allowed by the legislation.
It can determine the working time of the worker up to 11 hours per day.
It can determine the use of intermediate rest and break periods.
Unless it makes an objective distinction between workers, it can set different wage scales.
It may keep a report about the employees who do not comply with the rules determined by the Labor Law or determined by the employer, provided that it is not contrary to the law.
It can track the entry and exit times of the workers in electronic environments.
Rights of the employer when dismissing the employee
All the rules you see above are actually directly related to the rights that are available when dismissing the worker.
Because if the rights of the employer are violated by the employee without an excuse, the employer will also have the right to dismiss the employee. These rights can be listed as follows:
In the presence of the situations specified in Article 25/2 of the Labor Law, the employee may be dismissed immediately and without compensation.
Even if there is no justification, it can dismiss the employee by paying the severance pay and using the notice period. (Except in the case of reinstatement)
He cannot be forced to work with any worker he does not want to work with, as long as he incurs costs such as compensation, etc.
What lawsuits can the employer file against his employee?
WHISTLEBLOWER INDEMNITY
First of all, it should be known that; Severance pay, annual leave pay or other wage receivables are the types of receivables that can only be claimed by the employee.
Notice compensation, on the other hand, can be claimed by both parties when the conditions are met. In that case, the first subject of a lawsuit that can be filed by the employer against the employee may be notice compensation.
The employer may claim notice compensation.
Notice compensation comes to the fore in case of non-compliance with the notice periods. If the employee does not have a justifiable reason for termination, that is, if the employee will resign and leave the job, he must notify the employer of this situation for a certain period of time.
This notice period obligation is determined according to the seniority of the employee in that workplace. Accordingly;
Employee with seniority up to 6 months at least 2 weeks ago
An employee with a seniority between 6 months and 1.5 years at least 4 weeks ago
Employee with seniority from 1.5 to 3 years at least 6 weeks ago
An employee with a seniority of more than 3 years at least 8 weeks ago
He must notify the employer in writing. In other words, the employee is obliged to notify the employer that he will leave the job on a certain date in advance.
The employer may claim notice compensation from the employee who suddenly quits the job without complying with this period, that is, without a justified reason. The amount of the notice compensation will be in the amount of the gross wage of the employee for the above-mentioned periods.
PENALTY
If a penal clause is stipulated in the employment contract for the termination of the employment contract without a justified reason by the employee before the end of the contract, the employer may file a lawsuit for its collection.
EMPLOYEE’S SHARING OF WORKPLACE CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION WITH ANOTHER WORKPLACE AND PROHIBITION OF COMPETITION
If a non-competition ban is imposed on the employee in the employment contract, but the employee has violated it after leaving the job, a compensation lawsuit can be filed.
If the employee shares workplace information with another workplace in return for a financial benefit, the employee’s “behavior that does not comply with honesty and loyalty, such as revealing the employer’s professional secrets” constitutes a justifiable reason for termination without notice according to Article 25.II.e) of the Labor Law. The cases included in the Law on the prohibition of competition and subject to the sanction of immediate termination are not limited to what is written. However, the judge examining the dispute will use his discretion to decide whether a reason for termination that is not explicitly mentioned in the law, such as “abusing the employer’s trust, stealing, revealing the employer’s professional secrets”, constitutes one of the “behaviors” that do not comply with honesty and loyalty.
REQUESTING THE TUITION FEE
the employer has given his employee a training and in return the employee is required to work for a certain period of time; However, if the worker has not worked, then it will be possible to request a refund of the tuition fee.
COMPENSATION LAWSUIT DUE TO THE EMPLOYEE’S DAMAGE TO THE EMPLOYER
If the tool used by the employee due to his fault in the workplace damages the machines, the employer can take action to collect it (Labor Court cannot be consulted.).
When the employee leaves the job, the workplace has to return his belongings completely. The employee can keep his belongings in the workplace within the framework of the right of imprisonment on the grounds that he has not received his compensation, this is an exception. Apart from that, the employer can file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office for the crime of breach of trust related to the items he cannot buy, as well as file a lawsuit for compensation.
It is possible to terminate the employment contract if the employer damages his property. Pursuant to Article 25/2-I of the Labor Law No. 4857, the employer may use the possibility of termination for just cause in the event that “the employee, due to his own will or negligence, damages and losses the machinery, installations or other goods and materials that are or are not the property of the workplace but are in his possession to the extent that he cannot pay the amount of his 30-day wage”. As can be seen, this result must arise with the employee’s own will or negligence, and the resulting damage must be a loss that the worker cannot pay with his 30-day wages. In this case, the employer may use the possibility of termination for just cause. The worker must at least be at fault here. It must be negligent conduct or intent. However, if the employer has not taken occupational safety measures, has not provided the necessary materials or has not provided the training, these will affect the fault of the worker.
If the employee causes damage to the employer’s property, the damage must be compensated. Essentially, compensation for the damage is requested according to the general provisions by exceeding the employee-employer relationship. In other words, when a person harms another person with a culpable act, if the damage is caused by that person’s act, he must cover it. Here, it is clearly stated in Article 26 of the Labor Law that compensation for damages will be made in accordance with the general provisions.
Therefore, the employer will initiate enforcement proceedings against the employee without a judgment or initiate enforcement proceedings with a judgment by filing a lawsuit for compensation.
In the lawsuits that the employer may file against the employee, the employer does not have the right to arbitrarily deduct the resulting damage from the employee’s right to receivable. Therefore, when the employee files a lawsuit for workers’ receivables, it cannot be claimed that the employee has caused damage to the employer in this case. These are separate cases. When the employee causes a loss, the employer cannot immediately deduct it from the employee’s salary. If such a situation occurs, this will be against the employer and the employee may terminate the employment contract for just cause or apply for other remedies that the employee whose salary is not paid can apply. Of course, deductions can be made in cases where the employee consents, but this consent must be a real consent and not forced.
CLAIM FOR MORAL COMPENSATION DUE TO THE EMPLOYEE’S ACTIONS IN THE FORM OF AN ATTACK ON THE PERSONAL RIGHTS OF THE EMPLOYER
In cases where the employee acts and behaves in the form of an attack on the personal rights of the employer, the employer may terminate the employee’s employment contract for just cause, as well as claim moral compensation against the employee. In such cases, non-pecuniary damages will be requested within the framework of the general provisions of the law of obligations. Article 58 of the Code of Obligations on the subject. The article is as follows: “The person who is harmed by the damage to his personal right may request the payment of a sum of money under the name of moral compensation for the moral damage he has suffered”. The employer whose personal rights are attacked due to the insult or any other act of the employee may claim compensation in accordance with this article.
Apart from these; Of course, it is always possible to file other lawsuits that are outside the scope of labor law, such as pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages or criminal cases.
You can contact our Terlemez Law Firm for Turkey and Antalya Company Attorney, Employee and Employer Lawyer and Labor Law Attorney on Employer Rights.