The Constitutional Court Annuls the Provision Requiring Joint Participation of Principal and Subcontractor Employers in Reinstatement Mediation

The decision of the Constitutional Court of Türkiye (Constitutional Court) dated June 3, 2025, and numbered 2024/157 E., 2025/121 K. (Decision) was published in Official Gazette No. 33050 on October 17, 2025. The Court annulled paragraph 15 of Article 3 of the Labor Courts Law No. 7036 (Law).

The decision introduces a significant change in the mediation process concerning reinstatement claims, particularly regarding the identification of proper parties to the dispute. The key points of the Decision are summarized below:

• The annulled provision required that, in the presence of a principal and sub-employer relationship, both employers jointly participate in the mediation process and that their will be aligned for any settlement to be deemed valid.
• The provision led to applications being deemed incomplete and subsequent lawsuits being dismissed on procedural grounds when an employee involved only one employer in the mediation process.
• The Constitutional Court held that requiring an employee to identify in advance a legal relationship between employers to which they are not a party imposed a disproportionate burden, thus excessively restricting the right of access to a court.
• The Court noted that although the provision aimed to clarify party status at the mediation stage, this purpose could be achieved through less restrictive means, and therefore the rule was neither necessary nor proportionate.
• The Constitutional Court also underlined that while the provision sought to prevent disputes over party status and ensure both employers’ participation in mediation, it failed to strike a reasonable balance between this public interest and the employee’s individual right of access to justice.
• On these grounds, the Constitutional Court ruled by a majority vote that the provision violates the principle of proportionality and the right to a fair trial.