{"id":859,"date":"2025-09-05T12:35:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tureliceylan.com\/en\/?p=859"},"modified":"2025-09-05T12:35:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:35:39","slug":"choice-of-law-in-employment-contracts-with-foreign-elements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tureliceylan.com\/en\/choice-of-law-in-employment-contracts-with-foreign-elements\/","title":{"rendered":"Choice of Law in Employment Contracts with Foreign Elements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Constitutional Court and Court of Cassation Decisions in Light of M\u00d6HUK Article 27<\/em><br><em>T\u00fcreli &amp; Ceylan Law Firm \u2013 International Employment &amp; Private Law Practice<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the increasing international mobility of the workforce, cross-border employment relationships have become more common. Consequently, legal questions concerning&nbsp;<strong>employment contracts involving foreign elements<\/strong>\u2014especially regarding&nbsp;<strong>which law governs the relationship<\/strong>\u2014have gained significant importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This article explores how Turkish law addresses&nbsp;<strong>choice of law in employment contracts<\/strong>, with reference to the&nbsp;<strong>International Private and Procedural Law Code (M\u00d6HUK)<\/strong>, recent rulings by the&nbsp;<strong>Court of Cassation (Yarg\u0131tay)<\/strong>, and the&nbsp;<strong>Constitutional Court (AYM)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. What Constitutes a Foreign Element in an Employment Contract?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An employment contract is considered to contain a&nbsp;<strong>foreign element<\/strong>&nbsp;if any of the following applies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>One of the parties is a foreign national,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The contract is executed abroad,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The work is performed outside of Turkey,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The contract is governed by a foreign legal system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In such cases, whether&nbsp;<strong>Turkish law<\/strong>&nbsp;applies directly or whether a&nbsp;<strong>chosen foreign law<\/strong>&nbsp;is valid is assessed under&nbsp;<strong>M\u00d6HUK (Law No. 5718)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Legal Framework: Article 27 of M\u00d6HUK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under&nbsp;<strong>Article 27 of M\u00d6HUK<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Parties may\u00a0<strong>freely choose the law<\/strong>\u00a0applicable to their employment contract.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, the\u00a0<strong>chosen law may not deprive the employee<\/strong>\u00a0of the\u00a0<strong>minimum protections<\/strong>\u00a0provided by the law of the country where the\u00a0<strong>habitual place of work<\/strong>\u00a0is located.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If no law is chosen, the law of the\u00a0<strong>habitual workplace<\/strong>\u00a0applies; if that cannot be determined, then the law of the employer\u2019s domicile governs the contract.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Protection of employee rights constitutes a matter of\u00a0<strong>public policy<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Court of Cassation General Assembly Decision \u2013 May 10, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its decision&nbsp;<strong>2023\/424<\/strong>, the&nbsp;<strong>Court of Cassation General Assembly<\/strong>&nbsp;affirmed the following principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If the parties have\u00a0<strong>explicitly chosen a governing law<\/strong>, such choice should be\u00a0<strong>respected<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This choice is valid\u00a0<strong>only if it does not place the employee at a disadvantage<\/strong>\u00a0compared to the applicable mandatory labor standards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even standard-form (boilerplate) clauses regarding choice of law are valid\u00a0<strong>if the employee was properly informed<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When the employee works in multiple countries, the place where the\u00a0<strong>substantial part of the work<\/strong>\u00a0is performed is deemed the\u00a0<strong>habitual workplace<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In the case examined, the employee had worked in both&nbsp;<strong>Russia and Oman<\/strong>, and the Court upheld the&nbsp;<strong>validity of the chosen foreign law<\/strong>, finding no significant loss of rights compared to Turkish labor law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Constitutional Court Decision \u2013 March 31, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In case no.&nbsp;<strong>2025\/187<\/strong>, the&nbsp;<strong>Turkish Constitutional Court<\/strong>&nbsp;stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The freedom to choose applicable law under M\u00d6HUK Article 27\u00a0<strong>does not contradict the constitutional protection of labor rights<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, if the chosen law\u00a0<strong>seriously undermines the fundamental rights<\/strong>\u00a0of the employee, limitations may apply.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Courts must assess whether the protections offered by the chosen law meet\u00a0<strong>objective criteria<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>do not conflict with public order<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This decision reinforced the approach of the Court of Cassation, granting it a&nbsp;<strong>constitutional foundation<\/strong>, and clarified the&nbsp;<strong>limits of party autonomy<\/strong>&nbsp;in employment contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Key Takeaways for Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Choice of law must be explicit and in writing<\/strong>\u00a0to be enforceable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The chosen law\u00a0<strong>must not result in fewer rights<\/strong>\u00a0for the employee than those provided under the law of the habitual workplace.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Employers should\u00a0<strong>document compliance<\/strong>\u00a0with minimum labor protections when drafting multi-jurisdictional contracts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Standard-form contracts<\/strong>\u00a0containing choice-of-law clauses may be invalidated if the\u00a0<strong>employee was not properly informed<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Constitutional Court and Court of Cassation Decisions in Light of M\u00d6HUK Article 27T\u00fcreli &amp; Ceylan Law Firm \u2013 International Employment &amp; Private Law Practice With the<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[358,362,356,361,364,357,359,360,318,363],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genel","tag-article-27-mohuk","tag-cassation-court-employment-law","tag-choice-of-law-employment-contracts","tag-constitutional-court-labor-ruling","tag-cross-border-employment-contracts","tag-foreign-element-turkish-law","tag-international-labor-law-turkey","tag-non-resident-employees-turkey","tag-tureli-ceylan-law-firm","tag-turkish-private-international-law"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Choice of Law in Employment Contracts with Foreign Elements - T\u00fcreli &amp; 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