Employers who want to terminate the employment contracts of a certain number of personnel due to the requirements of the business, workplace or job should consider some criteria stipulated in Article 29 of the Labour Law. We can summarize the collective redundancy and the procedure, which we have to remember once again due to the economic dilemmas in which workplaces and businesses run into, especially during the pandemic period, as follows;
- What Does “Collective Redundancy” Mean?
In the event that the Employer wants to do collective redundancy as a result of economic, technological, structural or similar business, workplace or job requirements, he must notify the workplace union representatives, the relevant regional directorate and the Turkish Employment Agency in writing at least thirty days in advance.
- How many employees must be terminated for ” Collective Redundancy “?
In the workplace, on the same date or on different dates within a month;
- at least 10 workers from among 20 to 100 workers employed in the workplace,
- at least ten percent of the worker, if between 101 and 300 workers,
- at least 30 workers from among 301 or more workers employed at the business,
In line with the Articles 17 and 18 of the Labour Law, termination of the employment contract by a legally valid reason “…caused by the requirements of the enterprise, workplace or job” is considered collective redundancy.
- What procedure should be followed concerning Collective Redundancy?
In case of Collective Redundancy, the employer has the obligation to notify first. The employer, one of the reasons concerning redundancy, which must be based on, should notify to the
- Workplace union representatives,
- Provincial Directorate of Labour and Employment Agency
with a letter at least 30 days in advance.
Such notification should include the following factors;
-
- Reasons concerning redundancy,
- The number and groups of workers that will be affected by the Collective Redundancy
- The time period information regarding the process of termination
- Which types of terminations are not considered within the framework of collective redundancy?
- Workers employed in non-permanent jobs lasting at most 30 working days in terms of their qualifications,
- Those who are dismissed by the termination of their employment contracts during the trial period of the workers working with a trial period employment contract,
- Workers dismissed by the employer using the right of termination for good cause,
- Suspension of employment contracts of workers working in seasonal and campaign works,
- Workers whose employment contract is terminated by agreement of the parties will not be included in the number of collective redundancies.
- Is there a ban on hiring new workers after collective redundancy?
In the event that the employer desires to hire workers again for the same job within 6 months from the finalization of the collective redundancy, it should preferably call the ones with suitable qualifications back to work. In this case, although a form requirement is not foreseen, carrying out the call-in writing will be beneficial in terms of the burden of proof.
- What is the sanction regarding the non-compliance of the collective redundancy procedure for employer?
In case of failure to notify the Provincial Directorates of Labour and Employment Agency at all or late or failure to notify the workplace union representative or not holding the meeting despite the notification, will be considered as a violation of the collective redundancy procedure. In this case, an administrative fine of TRY-1.559, which is provided in line with the Article 100 of the Labour Law, (The amount mentioned is foreseen for the year 2022, and the current amount should be checked for each year) will be imposed on the employer or employer representative concerning each dismissed worker.
Ayça KORTEL
Partner – Attorney at Law
