Those specially protected in terms of working conditions in Turkey
According to Article 10 of the Constitution entitled Equality before the law, everyone has equal rights before the law without discrimination based on language, race, color, sex, disability, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion, sect and similar reasons. For this reason, Article 48 of the Constitution stipulates that everyone has the freedom to work and contract in the field of his/her choice. Article 49 of the Constitution also underlines that labour is a right but also a duty for everyone.
However, the absolute application of the principle of equality is likely to disadvantage some groups in society. Therefore, it is important to identify and especially protect these groups. For this reason, the concept of positive discrimination has been put forward in favor of these groups. In this way, positive discrimination has been made by introducing more protective legal norms for these groups in matters of problematic issues, and in addition to ensuring a certain equality, issues specific to these groups have also been taken into consideration. In this way, it has become possible, at least legally, to increase individual happiness and contribute to family life and social peace and tranquility on a more general scale.
One of the areas where positive discrimination in favor of these groups is obligatory is working life. Taking this issue into consideration, Article 50 of the Constitution, entitled Working conditions in Turkey and the right to rest at home, stipulates in general that no one shall be made to work in work that is incompatible with his age, sex and strength. Thus, it is envisaged that the concept of protection in working life may be related to the age or gender or strength of the employee. In the continuation of the article, it is underlined that positive discrimination should be made in favor of minors in terms of age, women in terms of gender, and those with physical and mental disabilities in terms of strength by stipulating that minors, women and those with physical and mental disabilities will be specially protected in terms of working conditions in Turkey.
This general regulation in the Constitution is reflected in the Turkish Labour Law No. 4857 and the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331 and the relevant regulations, and in the context of our subject, some special and protective legal regulations have been introduced for child and young workers, women workers and disabled workers according to their strength, gender and competence.
However, in this chapter, since the special provisions on the employment of women are mentioned in different parts of the book, only the issues related to the employment of children and young workers and disabled persons will be addressed.
