Workplace practice can be defined as an unwritten agreement that becomes a contractual provision with an explicit or implicit acceptance of an interest in favor of the employee that is provided by the employer unilaterally, continuously and under the same conditions, and does not arise from any contractual or legal obligations. Bonuses, bonuses, financial supports such as food, gasoline and road supports given to the employee and payments may be considered as workplace practices unless they are already specified in the employment contract or workplace internal regulations.
In order for an application to become a “workplace application”, this application;
It should be of a general nature,be applied continuously,be provided under the same conditions and should not be subject to payment or caused by the employer’s mistake.
The generality of workplace practice means that all workers, or at least a certain group of workers (working in the same qualification/position or in the same department, etc.) means that each of them benefits from the corresponding application.
Although there is no definite or clear criterion for continuity, for example, the Supreme Court of Cassation stated that paying bonuses to an employee for a period of more than three years would constitute a workplace practice in this sense and thus this issue would acquire a claimable nature.
The repetition of a movement style as a result of the same reasons means that the movement style in question is an application that occurs under the same conditions. From this point of view, for example, the continuous provision of food support to a certain group of workers will become a workplace practice, even if this support varies from time to time according to certain special situations.
When the above-mentioned conditions are met, the workplace application in question will be binding on the employer and cannot be unilaterally eliminated without the written consent of the employee. As a matter of fact, the Court of Cassation, in its case law; it can no longer abolish any workplace practice that has become a working condition (in writing) from the employer’s point of view, 22 of the Turkish Labor Law No. 4857. According to the article, this workplace application can only be changed or removed with the written consent of the employee.[1]
Despite the above, it is accepted in the doctrine and in some decisions of the Supreme Court[2] that the benefits provided to a group of employees on a conditional basis or brought in favor of the employee through the employer’s error will not be taken into account as workplace practices. Indeed, the doctrine argues that if the employer unilaterally reserves the right to waive the provision of these benefits to the employee, the application will not be binding for the coming years or months. Pays pay On the other hand, although it is not very possible in practice, if the employer proves that he paid extra to certain workers as a result of his own fault, this payment will not be considered to have become a workplace practice.
Within this framework, it would be appropriate for employers to sign a written contract with employees who are considering making improvements to their working conditions and to include in this contract that the employer will reserve the right to make changes to these conditions in the future.
[1] Court of Cassation 9.Department, decision No. 34000/35532 dated December 26, 2008.
[2] Court of Cassation 9.The Department, decision dated October 9, 2003 and numbered 14185/16421.
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