A female Kromsan factory worker in Manisa named Selma Cetin shared her story on social media, after she experienced violence at the hands of an assistant foreman and then had her rights infringed by factory management.
The factory management declined to watch the security camera footage and instead decided to fire Selma Cetin by alleging that she “breached the rules of morality and goodwill” in the workplace.
Bosses continue to use article 25/2 to fire workers even though it is forbidden to fire workers during the pandemic.
Women are particularly impacted as Article 25/2 allows an employer to terminate the employment of a worker without having to comply with prescribed notice periods or pay severance pay if the worker is found to engage in immoral or dishonourable conduct. Workers dismissed in this way struggle to find work with other employers because their employment record is marked with a code 29 and they are also not entitled to unemployment payments from the government.
This element of Turkish employment law has been used frequently in Turkey to dismiss women who complain about working conditions or have experienced harassment or assault at work.
