WORKER RIGHTS IN REMOTE WORK
Employee's Legal Safeguards, Fundamental Rights, and the Supreme Court's Approach
Series: 3 / 4
Labor Law & Remote Work Attorney & Mediator
Fatih Mehmet TERCAN
info@tercanhukuk.com | 0532 511 84 02
1. INTRODUCTION
Since remote work implies the employee working away from the direct supervision of the employer, the issue of protecting worker rights holds special importance from both practical and legal perspectives. The absence of a physical work environment increases the risk of the employee being disadvantaged in fundamental areas such as wage rights, working hours, use of leave, social rights, and equal treatment. The Labor Law No. 4857 and the Remote Work Regulation have adopted as a clear principle that the remote worker has the same rights as a peer worker working at the workplace. In this article, these rights are discussed in detail within the framework of legislation and Supreme Court jurisprudence.
2. WAGE AND SOCIAL RIGHTS
2.1. Principle of Equal Pay The remote work model does not restrict the employee's right to wages in any way. In accordance with the principle of equal treatment set forth in Article 14 of the Labor Law, the remote worker; cannot be subjected to a lower treatment compared to a peer worker in terms of wages, bonuses, premiums, and other financial rights solely due to the fact that they are working remotely. A different application must be based on a justified reason; otherwise, the application in question will acquire an unlawful character. In practice, some employers use remote work to achieve savings in office expenses and reflect these savings on the employee's wages or social rights. The Supreme Court considers such practices unlawful on the grounds that they clearly contradict Article 14 of the Labor Law.
2.2. Right to Overtime Pay According to Article 41 of the Labor Law, work exceeding 45 hours a week is considered overtime, and for these works, a fifty percent increase on the normal hourly wage is paid. This rule applies exactly in remote work as well; the differentiation of the working method does not eliminate the right to overtime. However, proving overtime in remote work is more difficult compared to the traditional work environment. According to the established jurisprudence of the Supreme Court; it is not considered sufficient for a remote worker to prove their overtime claim solely with witness statements; the submission of evidence based on concrete digital records is required. For ease of proof, what the employee must do is as follows:
Archiving work emails sent outside of working hours.
Storing system access log records.
Regularly submitting task completion reports to the employer.
Preserving correspondence regarding the work performed.
3. WORKING HOURS AND REST RIGHTS
3.1. Weekly Working Hour Limit Pursuant to Article 63 of Law No. 4857, the weekly working time is a maximum of 45 hours, and the daily working time can in no way exceed 11 hours, including overtime. These rules also apply to remote workers. Even in a remote work relationship, the employer cannot maintain work exceeding these limits by giving instructions or implicitly accepting it.
3.2. Weekend Rest, National Holiday, and Public Holiday Rights The remote worker has exactly the right to use at least an uninterrupted 24-hour weekend rest within a 7-day time period and not to work on national and public holidays. In case of working on these days, the increased wage tariff applied to the peer worker working at the workplace is also valid for the remote worker. In practice, it is observed that remote workers are occasionally forced to work on weekend rests and public holidays in line with the employer's request, yet the corresponding wage is not paid. In this case, the employee's right to resort to legal remedies is reserved.
3.3. Right to Annual Paid Leave The remote worker has full entitlement to the right to annual paid leave within the scope of Article 53 of the Labor Law. The adoption of the remote work model does not constitute any basis for restricting or completely eliminating this right of the employee.
4. JOB SECURITY AND TERMINATION RIGHTS
The remote worker fully benefits from dismissal rights such as job security provisions, the distinction between valid and justified termination, notice pay, and severance pay. Terminating remote work or directing the employee to work at the workplace again; since it may constitute a fundamental change in working conditions, it cannot be carried out unilaterally without obtaining the employee's consent in accordance with Article 22 of the Labor Law.
5. TRADE UNION RIGHTS AND COLLECTIVE LABOR AGREEMENT
Remote workers continue to fully benefit from their trade union rights within the scope of the Law on Trade Unions and Collective Labor Agreements No. 6356. These workers have the right to union membership, to benefit from collective labor agreements, and to engage in trade union activities, and they are also taken into account in calculating the number of workers. The employer cannot interfere with the remote worker's trade union rights by citing physical distance.
6. RIGHT TO PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA
The remote worker fully benefits from personal data rights within the scope of the KVKK (Personal Data Protection Law). The employer may have the authority to track the employee's working hours with digital tools; however, this supervision cannot turn into the collection of personal data that constitutes an interference with the employee's private life space. The authority and scope of supervision must be determined with clear contract provisions that protect the rights of both the employee and the employer in a balanced manner.
7. CONCLUSION
The remote worker has the right to benefit from all fundamental worker rights such as wages, overtime, leave, job security, and trade union rights under the same conditions as a peer worker working at the workplace. Although the exercise of these rights is often more difficult, legal safeguards are fully available. The priority measures that workers need to take in order to effectively protect these rights are as follows:
Regularly recording working hours and work performed in writing.
Storing digital communication records.
Immediately requesting legal support in case of a violation of worker rights.
In the next article within the scope of this series, the legal problems encountered in the practice of remote work will be discussed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Labor Law No. 4857, art. 14, 41, 53, 63.
Remote Work Regulation, 10.03.2021.
Law on Trade Unions and Collective Labor Agreements No. 6356.
Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698.
You can contact us for your questions regarding this article or your requests for legal consultancy on remote work law.
Atty. Med. Fatih Mehmet TERCAN
Attorney & Mediator
info@tercanhukuk.com | 0532 511 84 02