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LABOR LAW
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Termination of Employment Agreement by the Employer as a
Result of Business Operations Decision
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Att. Süleyman Sevinç
Article 18 of Turkish Labor Law headed
“Fair Dismissal Reasons”
comprise a list of fair reasons for redundancy and one of the prominent
of those which stands out in the list is,
“valid reasons caused wholly
or mainly by either business requirement-such as cessation of business-,
workplace -such as closure of business at employee’s site- or nature of
the work-such as reduced requirement for the relevant workforce”
. The
article specifies certain conditions to be met by the employer so as to
protect employees from being made redundant on unlawful grounds.
The Redundancy Decision As Part of Strategic Business
Operations
Even though Labor Law sets forth fair reasons for termination of
employment related to the business or workplace, it does not clearly
stipulates what “the requirements of business operations” and sequent
“redundancy decision” may entail. In this framework, judicial decision
numbered E. 2010/33259 K. 2010/30959 and dated 01.11.2010 of the 9
th
Chamber of the High Court of Appeals is important to highlight those
concepts. Definition of the operational redundancy decision has been set
out as follows in the said decision:
“All decisions taken by the employer regarding business,
workplace and management of the work including termination of
the employment agreement fall under the definition of operational
decision.”
Internal and External Factors Affecting Business Performance
The existence of operational decision taken by the employer for the
management of the business is mandatory for courts to evaluate and decide
if the redundancy was made on lawful grounds. The redundancy decisions
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Article of August 2011