İş İlişkisinde Aileyi Koruyan İş Hukuku Düzenlemelerinin Sosyal Politika Açısından Değerlendirilmesi
Merve Çiloğlu YörübulutAile, insanlığın doğumdan ölüme kadar sığınağı olan kadim bir kurumdur. Tarih boyunca tüm kırılmalardan etkilenen aile kurumu, uyum sağlayarak varlığını sürdürmüştür. Ancak bu uyum sağlama süreci ailenin yapısında birtakım değişiklikleri de beraberinde getirmiştir. Postmodern toplumlarda aile, bir çok olgu gibi muğlak bir zeminde yeniden inşa edilirken birçok tehditle karşı karşıyadır. Ailenin karşı karşıya kaldığı tehditler arasında çalışma kavramının toplumsal işleyişteki merkezi konumunun önemli bir yeri vardır. Çalışma kavramı, postmodern toplumların merkezinde yer almakta ve gittikçe artan kritik bir öneme sahip olmaktadır. İnsanların kendilerini öncelikli olarak çalışma yaşamındaki konumlarıyla ifade ettikleri bu düzende teknolojik gelişmelerle fiziksel olarak çalışma alanının dışında olunsa da zihinsel olarak bütünleşik hale gelinmektedir. Sosyal politikanın aktörlerinden biri olan aile kurumunun korunabilmesi ancak çalışma yaşamında korunması ile mümkün hale gelmektedir. Aileyi çalışma yaşamında koruyabilecek en etkili politikalar sosyal politikanın da önemli bir aracı olan iş hukuku düzenlemeleri ile üretilebilir. Bu çalışma, ailenin çalışma yaşamında korunması gerektiğine dikkat çekerek, iş hukukunda aileyi koruyan düzenlemeleri incelemekte korunması gereken hususları tespit etmekte ve daha etkili bir koruma için öneriler sunmaktadır.
Evaluation of Labour Law Regulations to Protect Family-to-Business Relationships in The Terms of Social Policy
Merve Çiloğlu YörübulutFamily is an ancient institution that provides humanity shelter from birth to death. The family institution, which has been affected by the fractures throughout history, has continued to exist by adapting. However, this adaptation process has also brought about changes in the structure of families. In postmodern societies, the family, like many other phenomena, faces many threats while being rebuilt on an ambiguous basis. Among the threats to by the family, the central position of the concept of work in social functioning is important. The concept of work lies at the centre of postmodern societies and is critically important. In this manner, where people primarily express themselves through their positions in working life, with technological developments, they become mentally integrated even though they are physically outside the work area. Protecting the family institution, which is an actor in social policy, is only possible by protecting it in working life. The most effective policies that can protect the family during working life can be produced through labour law regulations, which are also an important tool in social policy. This study highlights the need to protect the family in working life, examines the regulations that protect the family in labour law, identifies the issues that need to be protected, and offers suggestions for more effective protection.
Family is an essential institution that enables unprotected children to hold on to life and be protected. It ensures the continuation of the human race through physiological functions such as family, nutrition, shelter, and reproduction. For humans to continue their existence, it is not enough to meet their physiological needs, such as nutrition and shelter. Many abstract concepts, such as tradition, religion, morality, aesthetics, and education, are necessary for the continuation of human life. A family provides a multifunctional structure where people can meet their basic needs and is the first place for people to socialise. In addition to physiological and sociological functions, the family performs the economic functions necessary for a person to continue their life. It is believed that the family has lost its economic function. However, the family continues to exist as both a consumer and production unit. In a society based on monetary economics, production without monetary rewards is not accepted. Of course, the concept of work is of great importance in societies based on monetary economics.
Acting according to purely economic criteria in the functioning of working life and regulating legislation in accordance with the functioning of the monetary economy causes values produced in the family that cannot be measured with money to be ignored. Moreover, according to the progressive paradigm of capitalist society, it is mandatory for both women and men to be included in working life to allow society to continue its existence. The exclusion of a group of women or men from the system means that almost half of the society does not produce anything that can be measured in dollars. This is a significant obstacle to the development of a capitalist society. While the family must be protected for the sustainability of society, society is becoming individualised based on the same purpose. Thus, family balance becomes impossible for both men and women.
A society based on a monetary economy in which values produced by the family are ignored and work is at the centre of life cannot produce a strong family. As a requirement of being a social state, the family must be protected through legal regulations and social policies. It is important to protect the family, especially in working life. Labour law regulations that protect workers in working life must also protect the family. The worker is not a single individual; he or she has a family. He spends most of the wages he earns for his work on his family. Likewise, they spend the rest rights they obtain in exchange for work with their families. The damage that occurs when a worker is exposed to a work accident or occupational disease because of his/her job also negatively affects the family. Therefore, although business relationships seem like individual relationships, they have a social aspect that also affects the family.
This study evaluates how labour law regulations protect the family because of the relationship between the concept of family and work. It is possible to examine the protection provided by labour law to the family in three ways: establishment of the business relationship, continuation of the business relationship, and termination of the business relationship. However, since such an examination would be very comprehensive, labour law regulations that provide protection during the continuation of the employment relationship were evaluated. The reason for choosing this stage is that protection is concentrated throughout the continuation of the business relationship. Because of this evaluation, three basic areas that labour law regulations protect families are identified: "Family Income", "Family Relations and Privacy" and "Family Responsibilities". Family income, wage being constitutionally protected, not being seen as just a reward for work from a social wage perspective, maintaining a certain wage level with the minimum wage, paying the wage at regular intervals, protecting the wage from deductions, imposing sanctions in case of non-payment, and preventing the worker from suffering work accidents and occupational diseases. Payments made in this case are protected by limiting sanctions for violations of business duty and non-competition duties.
However, sanctioning non-payment of wages poses a significant risk of family protection. However, it has been observed that the minimum wage is not sufficient for the livelihood of the worker’s family.
Second, family relations and privacy are protected during business relationships. Limiting the worker’s duty of obedience, loyalty, and protection of personality, family relations and privacy are protected. While fulfilling the duty of obedience and loyalty, it is necessary to allow the family to be prioritised when the interests of the employer conflict with those of the employee and family. However, the protection of the worker’s personality is not only an individual protection but also a protection to the worker’s family life. Therefore, regulations such as protection of personal data and protection from harassment should also be considered for the family. Third, family responsibilities are protected during business relationships. Practises such as normal and overtime regulation.
Working hours, paid holidays, excused leave, annual leave, and parental leave protect family responsibilities. The regulation of working and rest periods is an important regulation for workers and their families to spend time. However, compassionate leave is insufficient to meet the needs of the family in cases such as marriage, death, and illness. Therefore, it does not serve its purpose. Maternity leave, on the other hand, lags behind other examples in the world. Supporting parental leave application with family insurance will ensure family protection in this regard. Policies produced based on a capitalist society focus on keeping women active in the labour market. However, this need of the system is short-term and saves the day; however, in the long term, it negatively affects the family, reduces fertility rates, makes work-life balance impossible, damages the complementary relationship of spouses by making men and women compete, and feeds the social crisis. Social policies that provide long-term solutions must be developed, and this can only be achieved by focusing on the family.