Law on Employment Courts numbered 7036, which is published on the Official Gazette, entered into force except some specific articles and repealed the Law on Employment Courts numbered 5521. The Law aims to finalize the employment disputes in a shorter time and minimize the legal lawsuits to be held by the courts. We would like to summarize some main changes provided by the Law.
- Application to Mediation will be a Must.
With the Law, “mediation as a cause action” is introduced to our law first time; And, before filing a case related to disputes concerning the Law before the courts, application to mediation become necessary. Application to mediation will be sought for the cases based on the Law, individual and collective employment contracts, employer and employee receivables and compensation, re-employment. Under the Law, mediation will also be a pre-condition regarding the compensation cases on defamation and slander arisen from employment relationship and damages of the workplace and/or the goods placed in the workplace.
Plaintiff will need to attach the original or the copy certified by the mediator of final mediation minute which proves no settlement achieved from the mediation to their lawsuit petition. In case the plaintiff does not attach such document, 1 (one) week duration will provided to the plaintiff to submit the document and the lawsuit will be rejected if they cannot provide it in time. Mediation will not be applied to occupational workplace accidents and occupational diseases.
Mediation as a cause action will not be applied to the cases on material and immaterial compensation and related recourse cases. If one of the parties does not attend to the first mediation meeting without submitting any excuse document and if the mediation concludes, the party not attending to the meeting will be charged for mediation expenses even though they get partially of wholly affirmative result. And, if the both parties do not attend to the first mediation meeting without submitting any excuse document, both parties will bear their own expenses. In case amicable settlement is reached as a result of the mediation, mediation payments will be shared by the parties on equal basis.
- Time Period for Appeal to the Court Decisions is Changed with the Law
Under the article 8 of the Previous Law, time period for appeal was 8 (eight) days starting from the announcement or delivery of the court decision. With this change, time for appeal will start with the delivery of the court decision and the duration for submission of appeal petition is 2 (two) weeks as of the delivery date of the court decision. Under temporary 1 article of the Law, the decisions taken before October 25, 2017 are subject to Previous Law.
- Re-Employment Lawsuits will not be Appealed to Supreme Courts
Article 20 of the Law provides significant changes. Under such article, cases on invalidity of the termination and re-employment can only be appealed to divisional courts, decisions of divisional courts cannot be appealed and such decisions will be final. However, for decisions made before October 25, 2017, appeal process to Supreme Courts will be available.
