T.R.
Supreme Court
9th Legal Department
Docket No:2014/17182
Decision No: 2014/21855
K. Date: 25.6.2014
CASE: The plaintiff requested a decision to pay severance pay, annual leave, overtime, week holidays, and general holiday wages.
The local court rejected the case.
Although an appeal was made by the plaintiff’s lawyer within the sentencing period, the file was examined after the report prepared by the Examining Judge for the case file was heard, and the necessary discussions were made and considered:
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
A) Summary of Plaintiff’s Request:
The plaintiff’s attorney claimed that the plaintiff terminated his employment contract by exercising his right to rightful termination because the defendant company officials treated him against the rules of morality and good faith in the presence of his colleagues on 09/02/2011 and his honor and dignity were damaged, and requested a decision to collect severance pay, annual leave, overtime, week holiday and general holiday pay from the defendant.
B) Summary of the Defendant’s Answer:
The defendant’s attorney argued that the plaintiff terminated his employment contract by resigning with his unjust and invalid unilateral will, that the plaintiff did not follow the orders and instructions given to him, that he did not attend the meeting held for emergency response due to a fire that broke out from electrical cables in the branch of….., that when asked by his manager the reason for not attending the meeting, he replied “this is not my job” and when it was stated that his behavior was not correct, he continued the same attitude and replied “you can do what is necessary if you wish”, and that there was no justified reason for the termination of the plaintiff. He asked for rejection.
C) Summary of the Local Court Decision:
Based on the evidence collected and the expert report, the court decided to reject the case.
D) Appeal:
The plaintiff appealed the decision.
E) Justification:
1-According to the evidence collected in the documents in the file and the legal reasons on which the decision is based, the plaintiff’s appeal objections outside the scope of the following paragraph are invalid.
2- It is a matter of dispute between the parties whether the employee terminated the employment contract due to a statement that would harm his/her honor.
In accordance with subparagraph (b) of paragraph (II) of Article 24 of the Labor Law No. 4857, if the employer insults the employee or a family member, commits the act of cursing, or harasses the employee, it gives the employee the opportunity to terminate the employment contract with justification. The fact that words and behaviors that harm honor and decency were committed by the employer or the employer’s representative does not change the legal outcome. It is not necessary for these actions to constitute a crime according to the Turkish Penal Code.
In the concrete case, the person in the position of the employee’s superior insulting the plaintiff employee by calling him “bad manners” is a justified reason for termination for the employee. Therefore, the rejection of the plaintiff’s severance pay request instead of acceptance was erroneous and required reversal.
F) Result:
It was unanimously decided on 25.06.2014 to REVERSE the appealed decision for the reason stated above and to refund the appeal fee collected in advance to the relevant person upon request.