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sophical belief, religion and sect based distinctions, but it is not limit-
ed to them. In 5/2 numbered Article of the Labor Law, ‘
The employer
cannot make different agreements with full-time workers from part-
time workers or indefinite-term workers as opposed to fixed-term
workers unless there are employer-based reasons
.’ Therefore, no dis-
tinctions can be made between those workers who are subjected to dif-
ferent labor contracts with this provision. With the regulation in ques-
tion, the employer is obliged to exhibit equal treatment towards the
workers who are subjected to different labor contracts.
After this general regulation that is related to the prohibition of
discrimination, in the Article 12 of the Labor Law, ‘
Due to the dura-
tion of the contract, the employee who works with a fixed-term employ-
ment contract cannot be treated differently according to an equivalent
employee who works with a permanent employment contract, unless
there is a justifiable reason for discrimination. To an employee with a
fixed-term employment contract, payment and pecuniary divisible ben-
efits that are granted through a fixed time as a criterion are paid
according to the working time of the employee. While seeking seniori-
ty in the same workplace or enterprise in order to benefit from a work-
ing condition, the same seniority conditions imposed upon the employ-
ee with an indefinite-term employment contract will be given to the
employee with a fixed-term employment contract, unless there is a jus-
tifiable reason to implement different seniority. An equivalent employ-
ee is the employee who works in the same or similar job through an
indefinite-term employment contract. If such an employee does not
exist in that workplace, then an employee with an indefinite-term
employment contract who works in the same or similar job in the same
branch, in accordance with the conditions, will be taken into consider-
ation
.’
This provision states that no distinctions can be made between
employees with fixed or indefinite-term employment contracts. Two
notions are remarkable in this provision. The first one is the principle
of proportionality that relates to fees. This principle establishes equal
treatment between the employees by proportioning benefits related to
payment and pecuniary issues. Another remarkable issue in this article
is the equivalent employee notion. While determining equivalent
employees, if they exist, the Law primarily demands that an employee
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NEWSLETTER 2014