BUSINESS LAW AND ETHICS

BLE 101

Week 7
 Reminder:
Obligations of the parties of CE

Employee’s Employer’s
obligations obligations

A. Duty to work A. Duty to pay wages

a. Personally Types: Time wages, piece rate wages, fixed rate wages,
premiums and bonuses, minimum wage
b. Carefully
Protection of wage
B. Duty to follow the instructions Protected portion of wage, Non-payment of wage
C. Duty of loyalty Forfeiture of wage , Wage guarantee fund
D. Duty to not to compete Privileged claim character of wage
B. Duty of Equal Treatment
C. Duty to care
D. Duty to provide occupational health and safety
precautions
E. Duty to pay for the employee’s inventions.
 Duty to work
 The main contractual obligation…
 It is expected to be done with diligence and proper care.
 Work has to be done by the employee personally (not by any other
one).
 Work has to be done carefully.
 If the employee does not fulfill this duty;
 it means absenteism (in case not work personally) or
 if he causes a damage exceeding the wage for 30 days because of his
uncareful work
 BOTH GIVES THE EMPLOYER TO TERMINATE THE CE WITH A JUST
CAUSE.
Duty to follow instructions
 With the CE, the employee agrees to work dependantly to the employer.
 This duty is the reflection of CE.
 The instructions of the employer are;
 Instruction for the execution of work (work hard, work carefully)
 Instruction on the behaviour of the employee. (come on time, do not smoke)

Breach of this duty may cause a termination of CE by the employer with a

just cause.
Duty of loyalty
 It is an obligation of the employee due to the fact that employment contract
establishes a personal relation between parties. It means;
 employee’s duty is to behave for the benefit of the employer and
 to avoid behaviours that would harm him/her.
 In this sense,
 employee can not disclose confidential information,
 can not tell lies,
 can not compete with the employer,
 can not act in such a way against dependancy and honesty.

 Breach of this duty may cause a termination of CE by the employer with a

just cause.
 Duty not to compete
 During the standing of the CE, the employee has the duty not to compete with his employer. It is in the
nature of duty of fidelity.
 However, when the contract ends, there is no such a natural duty. So if the employer wants a future
duty from his employee they have to sign a non-compete agreement.
 Because, employees may harm the employers’ rightful interests by using of some information which he
learned during the employment relation, after the termination of the CE.
 Non Compete Agreement;
 must be in writing,
 the employer must have a rightful interest that worth preserving,
 shall not endanger the economic future of the employee, (F.E.: They can’d decide that after CE
ends, employee can not work in the whole country/or like 30-50 years at the same sector. If there are
condications like that at the agreement, the judge will rectrict them (restrict the agreement))
 shall not exceed two years
 parties may put a penal clause freely.
 (More info: This agreement is valid for employees who can access to important info’s
about eployer/workplace (not for every employees).
Employers’ Obligations
 A. Duty to pay wages
 Types: Time wages, piece rate wages, fixed rate wages, premiums and bonuses,
minimum wage
 Protection of wage
 Protected portion of wage, Non-payment of wage
 Forfeiture of wage , Wage guarantee fund
 Privileged claim character of wage
 B. Duty of Equal Treatment
 C. Duty to care
 D. Duty to provide occupational health and safety precautions
 E. Duty to pay for the employee’s inventions.
 Duty to pay wages
 This is the consistent element of CE and the fundamental obligation of the
employer.
 WAGE: Amount of money to be paid in cash by the employer or by a third
party (like clients) to the employee in return for the work performed by him.
 As a rule, wage shall be paid in TL.
 Wage has to be deposited into the bank account of the employee if there are
5 employees in the workplace or more.
 If less than 5 it can be paid by hand.
 Wage (Remuneration) Systems
 Time wages: Wage of an employee can be paid regarding a time period such as
hour, day, week…
 Piece Rate Wage: This is a form of wage that is based on the amount produced
by the employee. The calculation may be based on number, length or weight of
the pieces produced by the employee. (like rug/carpet weaving at home)
 Fixed Rate Wage: It is a type of wage which is fixed and does not change based
on the time worked or the number of pieces produced.
 Premiums: Premiums are wage supplements that are paid in numeration for
works that are successfully done in regards of quality or quantity.
 Bonuses: are also wage supplements which are paid to indicate the appreciation
for the work of employees or the commitment between the employee and
employers.
 Minimum Wage (MW)
 There is no ceiling for the parties to conclude in a CE. However the parties can
not agree on a wage that is lower than the MW
 The MW shall be determined every 2 years at the latest by a tripartite
commission
 Minimum Wage Comission: Represantative of The State + The largest employee
union +The largest employer association.
 Minimum wage applies all across the country.
 It is 22.104 TL net for the year 2025.
 Protection of Wage (1)
 Protected portion of wage: Not more than ¼ of the wage in a month may be seized,
transferred or assigned to a third party. If the employee has an obligation to pay
alimony (to wife, to husband or to children), there is no limit

 Non-payment of wage: If the employer does not pay wage in time or in the amount
decided in the CE, employee has the right to terminate the contract with just
cause.

 Right to leave: The employee whose wage has not been paid within 20 days (from
the payment day/time), with the exception of force majeure, the employee(s) can
leave the workplace until his wage is paid.  (Mor info: If the employee use his this
right (right to refrain from work)  he can’t get the wage for the period that he leaves the
work. Because it is not regulated in LC. However, this deficiency is critized in the
doctrine.)  (Also employee can use his right like 21st day or 30th/40th/50th.. day
(whenever he wants after 20 days passed from the payment day)
 Protection of Wage (2)
 Wage guarantee fund: It is a Fund established within the Unemployment Insurance Fund
and the Fund shall meet the employee’s wage claims for the last 3 months arising from
the employment relationship in case of employer’s inability to pay because of
concord, insolvency or sth.

 Forfeiture of wage: Employers are not allowed to impose a fine on an employee’s wage
for reasons other than those indicated in a CBA or CE. Deduction imposed by the employer
must not exceed 2 days wage a month.  Employer can’t use this amount for
himself. There is a bank account for training or social services for employee.
Employers ave to deposit deducted wage to this account)

 Wages are privileged debts in case of the insolvency of the employer.

 No reduction: There is a prohibition about wages. Employers are not allowed to reduce
the wage by a unilateral decision.
 Duty of Equal Treatment
 Constitution art.10 «equality before the law; everyone is equal before the law
without distinction as to language, race, colour, sex, political opinion, philosophical
belief, religion or any such ground.»
 Employer’s duty of equal treatment is the reflection of the principle stated in the
art.10 in the workplace. Accordingly, employer can not make a discrimination based
on such matters.
 If the employer violates this duty the employee can terminate the CE and also
he/she can sue for an indemnity up to his/her 4 months wage.
Employer’s Duty to Care
 It is the reflection of the employee’s duty of loyalty
 The employer shall protect and supervise the employees behave for the
benefit of the employer and to avoid behaviours to harm him.
 This duty has three subduties
 Protection against abuses
 Protection of personal data
 Duty to provide occupational health and safety precautions
 Protection against abuses

 Abuse is any act of intimidation, degrading, humiliating or embrassing behaviour that is

intended to violate human dignity or give a result including physchological and
sexual types.
 The source of abuse is not important. It may be the employer, other employees or
some one outside of the workplace.
 In any case, the employer is under the duty to prevent the abuse or to prevent the
employee to get more damage if the abuse has already been occured.
 Protection of personal data
 Personal data of an employee is considered as a part of the right to privacy.
 Privacy of private life is regulated by the Constitution; accordingly everyone has
the right to demand respect for his/her private and family life and right to
request the protection of his/her personal data.
 Any process performed upon personal data such as collecting, recording, storing,
preserving, changing, adapting, diclosure, transfer, retrieval, making available for
collection, categorizing and blocking its use in a form which is a part of a filing system
is regarded as processing of personal data.
 Processing of personal data may occur in employment relations too and the employer
has to follow the procedures laid down in Law.