Employees' right to abstain from work

Employment contract is a private law contract that is established with the mutual will of the parties and which imposes mutual debts on both sides of the contract. Under the Article 8 of the Turkish Labor Law, this contract is defined as an agreement whereby one party (the employee) undertakes to perform work in subordination to the other party (the employer) who undertakes to pay him remuneration. Since the performance of work and remuneration are in synallagma, the main rule is that the employee will not be entitled to the remuneration without performing work. However, there are exceptions to this main rule. Employee's right to abstain from work is one of them. The right to abstain from work is recognized in two conditions in the labor legislation. These are the non-payment of wages for twenty days and the emergence of occupational hazards in the workplace. However, in addition to these two reasons included in labor laws, there are some other situations that employee has the right to abstain from work. Our thesis, entitled "Employees' Right to Abstain from Work", consists of three main sections. In the First Section, the performance of work, the concept of the right to abstain from work and its legal character in the context of the views in Turkish and German Law have been examined. In the Second Section, the right of the employee to abstain from work in case of the non-payment of remuneration and the imminent and urgent danger in the workplace have been discussed. In the Third Section, other cases that the employee has the right to abstain from work have been examined. In this context, violation of the prohibition of discrimination, sexual or psychological harassment, refuse of the employee's request to use annual leave, and whether the moral reasons would give the employee the right to abstain from work have been discussed in consideration of the legal regulations in German Law. Keywords: Employment Law, Performance of Work, Remuneration, Right to Abstain from Work