What is Labor Law?
Labor Law is the field of law that systematizes the work relationships between the worker and the employer, and the client and the service provider. Labor Law comes into play when you establish a work relationship for various purposes in your daily life. For Labor Law to be applicable, the person performing the work must be doing so in a dependent manner for another person, receiving a wage in return for that work. If your work relationships are independent and you are performing work on your own behalf, then work performance agreements come into play. For example, if you are a lawyer serving your client, or a tailor sewing your customer's clothes, you are under the hükmü of a work performance agreement. Online legal platforms serve you as your professional lawyer for all your rights.
Divisions of Labor Law
The subjects within Labor Law are examined under the headings of Individual or Separate, and Collective Labor Law.
a-) Individual (Separate) Labor Law
When you start a job, a legal relationship is formed between you and your employer through your individual employment contract. This legal relationship is governed under the umbrella of Individual Labor Law. Individual Labor Law covers the following situations:
- Rights and obligations between the worker and the employer,
- Working conditions,
- Working and break times,
- Worker's health and safety,
- Consequences arising from the termination or ending of the employment contract.
b-) Collective Labor Law
Where there is a collective work relationship, Collective Labor Law comes into play. In this case, at least one of the parties must be a union. Collective Labor Law generally occurs between unions and their members. Collective Labor Law covers the following situations:
- Establishment, bodies, and activities of unions,
- Union membership,
- Collective agreements and collective disputes,
- Strikes.
Labor Law in Turkey
The first traces of Labor Law can be found in the Weekly Holiday Law enacted in 1924. Later, the Turkish Code of Obligations was enacted in 1926. The main foundational law was enacted as the Labor Law in 1936.
