Mediation in individual labor law

Individuals living in society are in communication and interaction with each other. Therefore, the emergence of conflicts between them is a normal process. When the parties act with empathy in terms of dispute resolution, the solution of the problem becomes easier. However, to date, the parties have preferred to file lawsuits in order to prove that they are right about the dispute. According to the Ministry of Justice data, civil lawsuits have shown an increasing momentum since 2008. When the number of cases at the Civil Courts examined between 2011 and 2018, the number of lawsuits filed at the civil courts in 2018 increased by 24.9% compared to 2011. When we examine this data in detail for labor courts, the number of files taken over from the previous year is 351 507, the number of newly opened cases is 162 339, the number of files coming from the upper court is 26 310 and the total number of files is 540 156 according to the 2018 statistics. The overall average duration of pending cases is statistically 283 days. However, this ratio was reported to be 629 days in labor courts. In light of these data, it is possible to say that the cases opened between 2011 and 2018 are almost as much as the settled cases. This leads to the increase in the workload of judges and the discussions regarding the compliancy of the decisions taken by the courts. The majority of the lawsuits filed in labor courts consist of the actions of dept, compensation, and the declaratory actions. Throughout Turkey, the actions of debt took the first place with 112 805 cases (59.6%) and the declaratory actions took the second place with 41 112 cases (21.7%) among the cases filed and concluded at the Labor Courts in 2018. Due to the long-term proceedings of the pending cases, the high costs of the proceedings, the weakening belief in the impartiality of the courts, the way for an alternative settlement of the disputes have been sought. With the adoption of Law No. 6325 on Mediation in Civil Disputes on 07/06/2012, the resolution of disputes through mediation has taken place in our legal system. As it is a new institution in Turkey, it is required to generate debates in order to facilitate its development. For this reason, "mediation as the litigation condition in the individual business disputes" was chosen as the subject of the review. With the entry of the Labor Courts Law no. 7036 into force, the mediation procedure for the individual labor law disputes has become a condition of litigation. The field of application of the law is only the individual labor law disputes. Collective labor disputes will not be included in our study as they are subject to a separate law. Lawsuits filed in labor disputes cause deterioration of the labor peace between the employee and the employer. The belief that the decisions obtained as a result of the lawsuits filed does not comply with the equity, and the difficulties experienced in the execution of the decisions, tarnish the trust in the state and cause social chaos. In an environment where there is no trust in the state and the peace of society cannot be provided, crime rates increase and individuals are directed to unlawful solutions. In order to prevent this, it is important that the parties take the initiative and take part in the process, particularly in the resolution of business disputes.