Right to avoid working related to wages

According to the Labor Law No. 4857, an employment contract is a contract where the worker undertakes to work dependently, and the employer undertakes to pay wages. The wage of the worker is one of the most important issues of labor law. Thus, many regulations have been introduced to protect wages in this direction. One of these protective regulations is regulated in Labor Law No. 4857 Art. 34. The fact that the aforementioned right is regulated only in Labor Law No. 4857 does not mean that workers subject to other laws do not have the right to avoid working. However, it should be examined separately under which law and under which article the aforementioned workers will exercise their right to avoid working. It must also be said that the worker has the right to avoid working, not only due to non-payment of due wages but also due to non-due wages which might not be paid in the future. However, the legal nature of this right is different from the right regulated in Article 34 of the Labor Law. For this reason, the defense of non-payment due to ineffectualness of performance regulated in the Turkish Code of Obligations has been examined in detail. The study includes a detailed examination of the right that arises due to both past and future wages under three main chapters. In this context, in the first chapter, the definition, purpose, and legal nature of the right in question are examined by also considering German and Swiss law. In the second part of the study, the conditions of the right to avoid working, which arise in cases where both the past period's wages are not paid and the future period's wages are in danger, are examined. In the third part, the use of the right to avoid from working, its limits, and consequences are studied in detail. Keywords: Obligation to work, Obligation to pay wages, Right to avoid working, Defense of non-performance, Default of creditor.