The Legal Course to Be Followed by an Employee Who Has Suffered a Workplace Accident
According to the Occupational Health and Safety Law, a workplace accident is defined as “an incident that occurs in the workplace or due to the execution of work, resulting in death or causing physical or psychological impairment of bodily integrity.”
Steps to Be Taken After the Accident
The course of action to be followed by an employee who has suffered a workplace accident is of critical importance both for preventing loss of rights and for ensuring the proper functioning of the social security process.
An employee who suffers a workplace accident must, first and foremost, apply to a healthcare institution immediately after the incident; if urgent medical intervention is required, emergency services (112) should be contacted. Medical reports obtained at this stage will constitute evidentiary material for subsequent legal processes. Thereafter, the employee must promptly notify the employer of the accident.
The employer is under an obligation to notify the Social Security Institution (SSI) of the workplace accident within three business days. In addition, the employer must report the accident to the occupational health and safety unit and, where necessary, to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Within the scope of the SSI process, the employee becomes entitled to a temporary incapacity allowance if a temporary incapacity report is issued; in the event of permanent disability, a permanent incapacity income may be granted. Where the employer is at fault in the occurrence of the accident, the employee may file a compensation lawsuit before the labour courts, seeking compensation for both material and moral damages. Treatment expenses, loss of income, and loss of working capacity may be claimed as material damages, while moral compensation may be sought for the pain and suffering endured. Furthermore, if the workplace accident arises from the employer’s failure to fulfil occupational health and safety obligations, criminal liability may also be incurred, and a criminal complaint may be filed before the public prosecutor’s office.
The Employer’s Liability Arising from a Workplace Accident
The general liability of the employer under Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety is regulated as follows:
Article 4 – (1)
The employer is obliged to ensure the occupational health and safety of employees and, within this framework:
(a) take all necessary measures, including the prevention of occupational risks, provision of training and information, establishment of an appropriate organization, supply of necessary tools and equipment, adaptation of health and safety measures to changing conditions, and improvement of existing conditions.
Article 77 – (1)
Employers are obliged to take all necessary measures to ensure occupational health and safety in the workplace and to provide tools and equipment in full and without deficiency…
Under the law and applicable legislation, the defendant employer is deemed liable to the broadest extent. According to established precedents of the Court of Cassation:
“…The scope of measures to be taken is not limited to a reasonable level determined by equity; rather, it encompasses all forms of protection made possible by reason, science, technology, and technical advancement. The existence of long-standing poor habits and traditions in working life does not affect the employer’s duty to take precautions. Employers cannot evade liability by claiming inexperience due to newly established workplaces, lack of knowledge of scientific and technical developments, weak financial capacity, or the absence of similar safety measures in comparable workplaces…”
(Court of Cassation, 21st Civil Chamber, Decision dated 24.03.2016, File No. 2016/4174, Decision No. 2016/5185)
“…Accordingly, employers cannot refrain from taking occupational health and safety measures on the assumption that such measures are unnecessary if employees are experienced or work carefully…”
(Court of Cassation, 21st Civil Chamber, Decision dated 16.02.2015, File No. 2014/23286, Decision No. 2015/2550)
Passive Income Loss of the Employee Who Has Suffered a Workplace Accident
In addition, an employee who has suffered a workplace accident may also claim compensation for passive income loss (old-age pension loss). Since an employee who has suffered a loss of working capacity due to the accident will have to exert greater effort to qualify for an old-age pension, the passive period during which the pension would be received must also be taken into account in the calculation. As stated in the Court of Cassation decisions cited below:
“…It must be acknowledged that the employee will also suffer damage during the passive period following the active working age, and that there exists a residual loss not compensated by the old-age pension; therefore, damage incurred during the passive period must also be calculated.
Violation of bodily integrity may, in certain cases, adversely affect working capacity. This effect, referred to as loss of working capacity, entails the complete loss or reduction of the ability to use labour in an income-generating manner, and the economic consequences arising from such loss or reduction constitute the damage. Social security benefits provided by the Social Security Institution are, in some cases, insufficient to fully compensate the damage suffered by the employee. This is because such benefits are determined not by reference to the actual damage caused by the workplace accident, but within the limits prescribed by law, taking actuarial balances into account.
For these reasons, it must be accepted that the claimant employee will suffer damage during the passive period, also referred to as the post-working age period, and that there exists a residual loss not covered by the old-age pension; accordingly, without dwelling on the probability of future entitlement to an old-age pension, a calculation of passive period damages must be carried out…”
(Court of Cassation General Assembly of Civil Chambers, Decision dated 07.03.2007, File No. 2007/21-112, Decision No. 2007/114)
Conclusion
In conclusion, an employee who has suffered a workplace accident may claim material and moral compensation in proportion to the employer’s fault. Material compensation is determined based on concrete elements such as the employee’s permanent incapacity rate and loss of income, while the assessment of moral compensation seeks to strike a balance, in line with the established case law of the Court of Cassation, that both provides satisfaction to the victim and serves as a deterrent for the employer.
The proof of a breach of the employer’s obligation to take occupational health and safety measures largely relies on detailed expert reports prepared by expert panels appointed by the courts. These reports concretely identify the measures the employer was required to take, those that were taken, and those that were not, thereby enabling a fair determination of the employer’s degree of fault.