KARADAĞ Law Office is a firm housing a team of associate fully specialised in employment law and so provides practical solutions in all areas of employment and labour law, offering advice on both contentious and non-contentions matters.
Some of the key areas of work include providing ongoing legal advisory services in relation to employment issues include; assisting with HR planning and restructuring within corporate groups; advising on and assisting in the implementation of large-scale dismissals; advising on applying for work and residence permits of foreign employees; and engaging in collective bargaining negotiations and preparing collective labour agreements.
We provide day to day advice on methods for improving employer-employee relations and/or maintaining a union-free environment. For unionised clients, we provide assistance in all aspects of the management of the union relationship including collective labour agreements, grievances and representation before labour courts.
Our Employment team is also experienced in drafting and reviewing all sorts of employment contracts, directors’ service contracts, and separation and release documents in addition to advising on confidentiality and non-compete agreements and executive level issues.
Based on our exclusive know-how we have the insight and resources to deal with major projects, including cross border business transfers, relocations or closure of sites, and the introduction of advanced benefit or remuneration arrangements.
We advise clients in formulating all sorts of internal policies and guidelines for its employees and organise seminars and training programs for companies in this context. Additionally, we advise on employee benefits matters in the broadest sense as well as executive compensation and provide major international companies with full legal assistance concerning the implementation of employee offering plans, stock options and similar rights.
We frequently advise international businesses on rules concerning diversity and discrimination, ethics and compliance rules including whistle blowing hotlines, data protection and international transfer of data, and secondment of experts and executives around the world.
We also support our clients in litigation and disputes, including appeal procedures. Thus, in the event that a dispute becomes inevitable, clients are assisted by our employment associate who are trained to seek the best and fastest possible solutions with the use of the full range of dispute resolution techniques. Perhaps the most profound development in employment law, since the enactment of job security law in 2003, is the explosion of employee-initiated litigation against employers. Hence, the employer’s right to dismiss employees is now restrained by this law. Every day, we counsel employers who find themselves defending suits for wrongful or unfair dismissal claims brought under job security provisions of the Turkish Labour Law. We have significant experience in defending unfair dismissals, involving claims for reinstatement to work or reinstatement compensation. Our Employment team also has extensive experience in defending labour actions involving issues related to unpaid wages, overtime wages, working hours, commissions and enforcement of restrictive covenants and confidentiality obligations.
We provide legal assistance to our clients in all sorts of investigations conducted by labour authorities in the company premises or on the company documents.
Services and Subsections under this practice area
■■ Drafting typical and atypical employment contracts subject to Labour Law, Maritime Labour Law, Press Labour Law
■■ Drafting internal regulations
■■ Protecting employer proprietary interests, including restrictive covenants, confidentiality issues and protection of trade secrets
■■ Dismissals
■■ Ethical and compliance rules including ethical whistle-blowing hotlines
■■ Drafting social media policies
■■ Complex restructurings & redundancies & mass layoffs
■■ International posting of employees & secondment
■■ Outsourcing & subcontracting
■■ Cross border multi-jurisdictions projects (mergers, acquisitions and divestitures)
■■ Counselling on work health and safety measures and dealing with litigation on material and moral damages and claims arising from occupational accidents and diseases
■■ Employee data protection
■■ Dispute resolution and litigation arising from Labour Law, Maritime Labour Law, Press Labour Law, Social Security Law
■■ Tax and social security incentives and practices applied in free zones
■■ Attending collective bargaining and negotiating collective labour agreements
■■ Challenging trade unions’ competence to conclude collective labour agreement
■■ Stopping strike actions and challenging strike ballots
■■ Dealing with all types of social security matters
■■ Advising on work health and safety legislation
■■ Employee offerings of international companies, employee stock options and profit sharing schemes
■■ Bonus & other incentive schemes
■■ All types of employee benefits plans and pension schemes
■■ Executive compensation
■■ All types of regulatory issues before labour authorities
■■ Immigration matters such as visas, work permits and resident permit applications