The Turkish Labor Code No. 4857, which is the basic law of the Turkish Labor Law, binds certain rules to change the working conditions that have been previously formed by contracts between the employee and the employer, the provisions of the law or workplace practices.
The employer can make a fundamental change in the working conditions that occur with the employment contract or the personnel regulation and similar resources that are an annex to the employment contract or the workplace practice, only by notifying the worker of the situation. This noficiation must be made in written form.
Changes that are not made in accordance with this form and are not accepted in writing by the worker within six working days are not binding on the worker.
For avoiding any problem the employer is advised to kept the record of such consents in the personnel files.
The change in business conditions is especially important if certain rights previously exercised are revoked. Because, Turkish Labor Law does not allow any regression without the consent of the worker.
If the employee does not accept the change proposal within this period, the employer may terminate the employment contract by explaining in writing that the change is based on a valid reason or that there is another valid reason for termination and by complying with the notification period.
In this case, the worker can file a lawsuit in accordance with the provisions of the job protection of the Labour Code No. 4857.
However, these provisions does not make the change of work conditions impossible. The parties can always change the working conditions of mutual agreement.
However, changes in working conditions cannot be put into effect retroactively.
