Remote work makes it possible to carry out work outside the workplace, but it does not remove the employer’s right to manage or the employee’s rights under employment law. A change in the place of work means that matters such as concluding the contract in writing, monitoring working time, occupational health and safety, equipment costs and the protection of personal data need to be regulated anew.

The remote work contract must be in writing

Under Article 14 of Labour Law No. 4857 (İş Kanunu) and the Remote Work Regulation (Uzaktan Çalışma Yönetmeliği), an employment contract for remote work is made in writing. The employment relationship may be established on a remote work basis from the outset, or an existing employment contract may be converted to this model by agreement between the employee and the employer.

The contract should cover the description of the work and how it is to be done, working time and place of work, payment of wages, the tools provided by the employer, obligations regarding the protection of equipment, the method of communication and working conditions.

In hybrid models, where the employee works at the workplace on certain days of the week and remotely on the other days, it is useful to specify the working days and the method for changing them.

The place of work should be specified

Working from home, from a co-working space or from another city may have different legal and operational consequences. The boundaries of the place of work are important for information security, occupational health and safety, social security and the assessment of occupational accidents.

If the employee may work from outside Türkiye, the work permit, tax and social security rules of the country concerned, as well as the rules on transferring personal data abroad, should also be examined.

If special arrangements need to be made at the place of work so that the work can be done, the parties should determine who will bear the cost. The method for covering the share of internet, electricity, telephone or co-working space costs that relates to the work should not be left uncertain either.

The handover of equipment should be recorded

If the employer provides a computer, telephone, monitor, security key or similar tools, a list of these items, together with their value and condition on the date of delivery, should be given to the employee in writing. Preparing a handover and return record (tutanak) makes it easier to allocate responsibility for normal wear and tear, malfunctions, loss and use by third parties.

If a model in which the employee uses their own device is adopted, its scope should be clearly agreed. Proportionate rules should be set for installing security software, separating corporate data from personal data, remote access and deleting corporate records when the employment relationship ends.

Working time and rest periods must be protected

Remote work does not mean that the employee must be available at all times. The hours during which work is to be done, rest breaks, the overtime procedure and the time frame within which the employer may contact the employee should be determined.

As a general rule, normal weekly working time is a maximum of forty-five hours, and daily working time is, as a rule, a maximum of eleven hours. The employer is obliged to document employees’ working time using appropriate means.

Emails, online meetings and corporate system logs may be relevant in determining working time. However, practices based solely on “online status” data, or amounting to constant surveillance, may cause problems both under employment law and in terms of the protection of personal data.

The overtime procedure should be regulated

How work by a remote employee beyond normal working time is to be requested and approved should be determined in advance. Not every message a manager sends outside working hours will in itself count as an instruction to work overtime; however, if the employee is expected to reply or to complete a task, the question of working time may arise.

Keeping regular overtime records and planning workload and deadlines realistically reduces problems of proof for both the employer and the employee.

Occupational health and safety obligations continue

The fact that the work is done from home does not end the employer’s occupational health and safety (iş sağlığı ve güvenliği) obligations. Under the Remote Work Regulation, taking into account the nature of the work, the employer must inform the employee about occupational health and safety measures, provide the necessary training, ensure health surveillance and take the necessary safety measures regarding the equipment it provides.

Depending on the nature of the work, matters such as ergonomics, electrical safety, working with display screen equipment, psychosocial risks and prolonged inactivity may be included in the risk assessment. It is useful to give the employee written guidance on safe working practices and to set up an incident reporting channel.

However, practices such as access to the home or video inspections should be handled only where necessary and in a proportionate way, with due regard for the employee’s private life and the inviolability of the home (konut dokunulmazlığı).

Can an incident at home be an occupational accident?

Whether an incident counts as an occupational accident (iş kazası) is not determined solely by the fact that it happened at home. Its connection with the work being done and with the employee’s insured status is assessed in light of the specific circumstances.

For this reason, a procedure should be set up to ensure that accidents occurring during remote work, or incidents affecting health and safety, are reported to the employer without delay.

Personal data and trade secrets must be protected

Remote access may lead to corporate information leaving the workplace and being seen by family members or third parties. The employer should determine measures such as role-based authorisation, strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, encrypted connections, up-to-date software, secure backups and incident reporting according to the risk posed by the data being processed.

The employee, too, should protect the corporate information and documents entrusted to them and comply with the security rules set for transferring data over public networks, shared devices, unauthorised cloud services and personal email accounts.

Proportionality in monitoring employees

Software used to track performance or working hours processes personal data. The purpose, legal basis, scope and retention period of the monitoring, and who will have access to the data, should be determined, and employees should be informed.

If the same purpose can be achieved by a less intrusive method, intrusive methods such as continuous screen recording, camera use, keystroke tracking or the processing of biometric data should be avoided. The employer’s need for supervision does not grant unlimited power to interfere in the employee’s private life.

The principle of equal treatment must be observed

Under the principle of equal treatment (eşit davranma ilkesi), a remote employee may not be treated differently from a comparable employee solely because of the way they work. Any difference in treatment must have a substantial and objective reason.

Processes should be put in place to ensure that remote employees are not excluded in terms of pay, fringe benefits, training, promotion, performance appraisal and access to workplace announcements.

Conclusion

A sound remote work model cannot be built simply by giving permission to “work from home”. A written contract, time and expense management, occupational health and safety, data protection, equality and proper record-keeping should be addressed as a whole.

Designing the model according to the nature of the work, and updating the contract and company policies as practice changes, increases predictability for both parties.

Key Legal Obligations in Remote Work