The penalties that can be collected under this heading are generally in cases of violation of the public regulations of the laws or the relative mandatory labour law rules in violation of the minimum or maximum limits drawn.
In our legal system, it seems possible to categorize the criminal sanctions related to violations of labour legislation or labour law and defined in the criminal laws under three headings as administrative fines and binding penalties. It is also necessary to provide information about the notification of fines and the procedures of objection against the penalty decision. In addition to these, it is also useful to explain the enforcement authorities, collection, delay increase and statute of limitations of fines.
Types of Penalties
Although administrative fines have been included in our labour law system for a long time, a collective regulation on administrative fines has only been introduced with the Law on Misdemeanours dated 30.05.2005 and numbered 5326. According to Article 27 of the aforementioned law, administrative fines can be determined as fixed and proportional, as well as by indicating the lower and upper limits. The administrative fine must be paid to the state treasury. If the perpetrator’s situation is not suitable, it may be decided to divide the fine amount into four equal installments, provided that the first installment of the fine is paid in advance and paid within one year.
Apart from the general explanations regarding administrative fines, it is observed that in case of violation of some relative mandatory regulations in the labour legislation and regulations related to public order in general, the sanction is foreseen in the form of administrative fines. Especially the amendments made in the Labour Law and other laws show that this tendency has increased. Violations of the Maritime Labour Law and Press Labour Law, which were previously foreseen as fines, have been transformed into administrative fines by Law No. 4854, and fines and imprisonment penalties in collective labour law have been transformed into administrative fines by Law No. 5252.
Administrative fines, as the name suggests, are penalties imposed by the organisation in charge of imposing the penalty. This issue is clarified in Article 22 of the Law No. 5326 on Misdemeanours by stipulating that the administrative boards, authorities or public officials explicitly stated in the relevant law are authorized to impose administrative sanctions. In more concrete terms, the institutions authorized to impose administrative fines are public institutions and authorities organized in the form of ministries, governorships, general directorates, etc. as set forth in various laws. In terms of our subject, it is seen that administrative fines are imposed by the Provincial Directorates of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Provincial Directorates of the Labour and Employment Agency, Social Security Institution, Turkish Employment Agency, relevant governorships or municipalities according to the laws that are the source of administrative fines. Again, administrative fines are increased by the revaluation rate determined every year.
Another important issue to be mentioned in relation to administrative fines is the binding effect of the Law on Misdemeanours No. 5326 on other laws. The relevant provisions of the Law on Misdemeanours numbered 4326 shall apply to the regulations on the enforcement authority, notification of fines and statute of limitations regarding administrative fines in the labour laws or laws concerning labour legislation in various aspects, which entered into force before 01.06.2005, which is the implementation date of the Law on Misdemeanors.
