The Law on Labor Courts numbered 7036 related to the disputes between the employee and the employer has been approved and enacted by Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 12.10.2017 and has been published in the Official Gazette on 25.10.2017.
With the new regulation, the mediation becomes mandatory and a cause of action, as of 1.1.2018, in case of compensation claims raised by employees or employers based on individual or collective labor agreements and for reinstatement lawsuits before filing a lawsuit.
According to that, the plaintiff should add the original of the last official report or a certified copy by the mediator which indicates that the parties have not come to an agreement at the end of the mediation, into the lawsuit petition. The court determines the plaintiff to submit that report in one week peremptory term. If the plaintiff does not fulfill this instruction, such lawsuit is dismissed without prejudice by the court without necessary to serve a notification to the defendant.
Mediation is not compulsory before filing a lawsuit in case of the pecuniary and non- pecuniary damages as well as detection, cancellation and recourse lawsuits that may arise from occupational illnesses and work-related accidents.
With the enacted law, the concept of “mediation as cause of action” is determined for the first time in Turkish Law and the mediation becomes mandatory in case of compensation claims raised by employees or employers based on individual or collective labor agreements and for reinstatement lawsuits before filing a lawsuit.
In case of filing a lawsuit without submission the case to a mediator, the lawsuit will be dismissed without any further operation due to lack of cause of action.
The law sets forth that in case that either party does not participate to the first meeting without a valid reason, the mediation process ends and this issue is detected in the report. Even the party who has not participated to the meeting, is proved right wholly or partly, becomes responsibly of payment of all legal costs. In addition, that party is not imposed retainer fee. In case that both party do not participate to the first meeting, the mediation process ends and the parties become responsible of their own legal costs .
In case of existence of primary employer-sub employer relations, when the parties submit their cases to the mediator for reinstatement, the employers should participate to the meetings together and they should have mutual consents for settlement.
The new law which will be effective as of 1.1.2018, aims to lighten the workload of the courts and to settle such disputes amicably and quickly.
