Ms. D.A., who has been working successfully as a “Senior Project Manager” in a marketing company for 5 years, starts experiencing problems with the appointment of a new director (Mr. C.Ö.) to the department. Mr. C.Ö. wants to establish his own team and follows a systematic policy of intimidation against old employees.

In the last 8 months, the following actions have been observed against Ms. D.A.:

  1. Social Isolation: All important projects she previously managed were taken away, and she stopped being invited to department meetings. Important decisions were not even communicated to her via email.

  2. Humiliation and Discrediting: In a meeting with other employees, Mr. C.Ö. made a sarcastic comment on an idea of Ms. D.A., saying, “I’ve never heard such an old-fashioned idea before, I guess your retirement has come.”

  3. Tasks Outside Authority: Although she is a senior project manager, she was constantly asked to perform tasks far below her position, such as simple data entry, printing out presentations, and ordering stationery for the department.

  4. Performance Pressure: Even though her projects were taken away, she was given unreachable, abstract goals and received a written “performance warning” for failing to reach these goals.

Due to these events, Ms. D.A. experienced severe stress, insomnia, and anxiety issues, and obtained psychiatric reports documenting this condition.

Legal Evaluation This case contains all the elements of “mobbing” (psychological harassment) defined in Supreme Court decisions.

1. What are the Elements of Mobbing?

  • Systematic Nature: The events are not a one-time outburst of anger but planned and repeated actions spread over a period of 8 months.

  • Intent to Intimidate (Intent): The actions clearly carry the aim of forcing Ms. D.A. to resign, pacifying her, and intimidating her.

  • Attack on Personal Rights: Sarcastic expressions, social exclusion, and discrediting are direct attacks on the employee’s professional dignity and personal rights.

  • Employer’s Liability: The employer (company) is directly responsible for these actions of its manager. Under the Labor Law, the employer is under a “duty of care” to the employee and is obliged to prevent psychological harassment in the workplace.

2. Employee’s Legal Rights Mobbing creates a right to immediate termination for just cause for the employee under Article 24/II of Labor Law No. 4857 (“Cases incompatible with ethics and good will”). The manager’s actions have become a situation that makes the “employment relationship unbearable” for the employee.

Legal Result and Solution Methods Instead of resigning, Ms. D.A. chose to leave the job by using her legal rights.

  • Collection of Evidence: Through her lawyer, Ms. D.A. collected:

    • Dates and witnesses (other employees) of the meetings where humiliating expressions were used,

    • Email correspondence showing tasks unrelated to her position were assigned,

    • Email logs showing she was not invited to meetings,

    • Health reports she obtained from psychiatry diagnosing “work-related stress disorder.”

  • Termination for Just Cause (Not Resignation): Ms. D.A. sent a notice via a notary public, stating that she terminated her employment contract for just cause due to “systematic mobbing she suffered” pursuant to Labor Law Article 24/II.

  • Filed Lawsuit: When the employer claimed the termination was unjust and did not pay the compensations, Ms. D.A. filed a receivable and compensation lawsuit in the Labor Court.

Decisions the Court Can Make:

  1. Severance Pay: Since the termination is “just,” payment of the entire 5-year severance pay.

  2. Moral Compensation: Payment of a high moral compensation (under the Code of Obligations) due to the psychological breakdown, stress, and attack on personal rights experienced.

  3. Material Compensation: If documented, payment of material compensation for treatment and medication costs.

Conclusion and Advice Mobbing is one of the labor law violations that is hardest to prove but has the clearest legal consequences. If you think you are being subjected to mobbing, you should never choose the path of “resigning and escaping.” If you resign, you lose your severance pay. Instead, you should record every event (date, time, words spoken, witnesses) in writing, not delete emails and messages, and immediately initiate the “termination for just cause” process by getting support from a labor law lawyer.