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of the protection of personal rights of the employees. In this respect, Code
of Obligation article 332 and Labor Code article 77 should be applied.
Also, tortuous liability may arise from emotional abuse of the employee.
However, if the abuser is an employee who is the representative of the
employer, then the employer will also be held liable directly by article 2/4
of Labor Code. If the abusive employee is not the representative of the
employer, the employer will be held liable according to article 96 of Code
of Obligation.
According to article 24/2 of Labor Code, the employee may terminate
the employment agreement immediately if,
“the employer acts or
speaks against the honor and integrity of the employee or a member of
the employee’s family or abuses the employee sexually”
. As shown in
this article, sexual abuse of the employee is expressly regulated within
termination for just cause in article 24 of the Labor Code. However,
emotional abuse of the employee is not regulated in this article expressly
despite the fact that expands the opportunities for application. However,
as the Labor Code comprises regulations for the protection of employee’s
rights, Labor Code article 24 also provides protection of the employee
from such acts regardless of the fact that it is considered ineffective.
The employee need not witness the actions or speech of the employer
that damages his or her honor and integrity in the workplace in order for
these things to be evaluated within the scope of article 24 of Labor Code
3
.
It is also settled that such activity gives the employee the right to terminate
his or her employment agreement immediately if the employer acts or talks
against the honor and integrity of the employee in the workplace even
though the employee does not witness this abuse
4
.
Lastly, the employee whose personal rights are infringed by mobbing
has the right to initiate legal proceedings. Legal proceedings may take the
form of lawsuits; (i) to avoid the attack, (ii) to prevent the danger of attack,
(iii) to determine the attack contravenes the law, (iv) to demand moral
and material compensation and (v) to seek a judgment arising from acting
without authority. Also, in these lawsuits the employee may request that
3 TINAZ, Pınar/BAYRAM Fuat/ ERGİN Hediye, Working Psychology and Emotional Abuse In
The Frame of Law (Mobbing), 1st edition, Istanbul, 2008, page 138.
4 Ferit Hakkı Saymen, Turkish Labor Law, İstanbul 1954, page 572 directly from TINAZ, Pınar/
BAYRAM Fuat/ ERGİN Hediye, Working Psychology and Emotional Abuse In The Frame of
Law (Mobbing).