Court nullified the termination of a contract due to a “homosexual relationship”

Source: “Court nullified the termination of a contract due to a “homosexual relationship” (Mahkeme “eşcinsel ilişki” gerekçesiyle sözleşme feshini iptal etti) Kaos GL, 30 January 2019, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=27479

The 34th Labor Court of İstanbul enforced the re-employment of R.S. whom Kağıthane Municipality fired without any severance pay upon discovery of a “homosexual relationship”.

The lawsuit filed against Kağıthane Municipality by garbage truck driver R.S. whom the Municipality fired without severance pay as a consequence of being in a “homosexual relationship” has been concluded. The court accepted the re-employment lawsuit of R.S. and nullified the termination of the contract.

According to the news piece by Dinçer Gökçe from the newspaper Hürriyet, the lawsuit was heard at the 34th Labor Court of İstanbul, where R.S.’s lawyer Mehmet Benan Ülgen demanded that the re-employment lawsuit be accepted, and stated that his client had no grounds to be fired.

Kağıthane Municipality’s lawyer Nebi Karaca stated as the defense that the lawsuit was not filed within the trial time limit and asserted that “we have rightful and valid reasons for the termination”.

After hearing the claims of both parties, the court decided to accept the lawsuit and invalidated the termination of the employment contract. As a result of this decision, R.S. can go back to their job.

The lawsuit of the other garbage truck driver A.S. who also filed a lawsuit will be heard in February.

What happened?

In July, the newspaper Hürriyet published the news with the headline “the homosexual relationship of garbage truck drivers caused trouble in the Municipality” and announced that the Municipality “fired 3 garbage truck drivers for having intercourse with the garbage collector laborer who works with them”. The newspaper used a discriminatory language regarding the violation against the right of privacy and the right to work.

Kağıthane Municipality said to the newspaper that the event which it describes as “improper” didn’t take place during the work hours and “as a result of the internal investigation carried out at once, the required procedure was conducted and the relevant people was fired immediately”.

The newspaper published these events as news and stated that “Kağıthane Municipality is shaken by the news of a homosexual relationship between 4 laborers who work in garbage collection for the district.”

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