Workplace Disputes & Labor Litigation

For almost every monetary employment claim, yes. Under Art. 3 of the Labour Courts Act No. 7036, in force since 1 January 2018, mediation is a precondition to filing suit for severance, notice indemnity, overtime, annual-leave pay, bonus and reinstatement. If an employee sues without first mediating, the court dismisses the case on procedural grounds. The main exception is a claim arising from a work accident or occupational disease, which goes straight to court.

In a workplace with 30 or more employees, an employee with at least six months' service on an indefinite-term contract can challenge a dismissal made without a valid reason. If the court finds the dismissal invalid under Arts. 18-21 of Labour Act No. 4857, the employer must re-employ the worker within one month of the worker's application; if it does not, it owes job-security compensation of four to eight months' wages. In either case the worker is paid up to four months' wages and other entitlements for the idle period until the judgment becomes final. The employee must first apply to mediation within one month of the notice and, if that fails, file at the labour court within two weeks.

They are decided largely on records. Overtime above the 45-hour weekly limit is paid at the hourly wage increased by 50 percent, requires the worker's consent and may not exceed 270 hours a year in total; accrued-but-unused annual leave is paid out on termination. Where the employer keeps signed working-time logs, payslips and leave forms, the claim can be contained. Where records are thin, courts may rely on witness evidence and estimates, which usually favours the employee.

Under Art. 417 of the Code of Obligations the employer must take the measures needed to protect workers from psychological and sexual harassment, and damage caused by breaching that duty is compensated under the rules on contractual liability. A breach of the equal-treatment duty under Art. 5 of Labour Act No. 4857 entitles the worker to appropriate compensation of up to four months' wages plus the rights withheld. Where the conduct falls within the just-cause grounds of Art. 24/II, the employee can also terminate immediately and claim severance pay. These claims turn on what was documented: complaints received, how they were investigated, and what the employer did in response. A prompt, recorded investigation is the strongest defence; silence is the weakest.

Yes, and the deadlines matter. Just-cause termination for the employee's misconduct under Art. 25/II carries no notice and no severance, but under Art. 26 the right cannot be exercised once six working days have passed since the employer learned of the conduct, and in any event one year after it occurred (unless the worker gained a material benefit). Miss the window, or fail to prove the conduct, and the termination is treated as unjustified: the employer then faces notice and severance claims and, where job security applies, a reinstatement claim. We assess the cause and the timing before the termination, not after.

Under the Social Insurance Law No. 5510 the employer must register each employee, file the monthly premium declaration and pay the premiums. Employees often add claims over unrecorded service, understated wages or undeclared work, which feed back into severance and notice calculations and can trigger administrative fines and premium liability from the institution. We reconcile the SGK record with the payroll before it becomes the centrepiece of the employee's case.