Contact: Att.Ozen Odev; Erdem & Erdem (Turkey)
Introduction
According to Labor Law No. 4857 (Labor Law), the termination of an employment contract without a valid reason does not automatically invalidate the termination. When an employee opens a re-employment lawsuit pursuant to conditions stipulated in the Labor Law, and if the case concludes in the employee’s favor, the termination will be invalid and the employee may apply to return to work.
The Necessary Conditions to File a Re-employment Lawsuit
Working under the Labor Law
The employee should be working, as defined under the Labor Law, to file a re-employment lawsuit.
Working with an Indefinite-term Employment Contract
According to the Labor Law, the employment contract may be for a definite or indefinite term. This binary distinction is important when the contract is terminated. Other than that, as a rule, there is no difference between the two types of contract in terms of working conditions.
The basic rule is that the employment contract must be for an indefinite term. As per Article 11 of the Labor Law, an indefinite-term employment contract is defined as follows: 'The contract will be counted as indefinite where the employment relationship has no defined or definite duration.' The same article defines the definite-term employment contract as 'The written contract between employer and employee, depending on the objective conditions, such as fixed-term work or completion of a specific task or the occurrence of a certain event.'
As a rule, in the definite-term employment contract determined by the parties, at the end of the period, the employment contract will terminate automatically; so in Labor Law, definite-term workers are not entitled to open a re-employment lawsuit.
However, in Labor Law, signing a definite-term contract more than once, consecutively, is prohibited unless there is a valid, sustainable reason. In such a case, it is stated that the contract will be considered as an indefinite-term contract from the beginning.
