JOB SECURITY DILEMMAS: A SOCIAL POLICY EXAMINATION OF REINSTATEMENT AND COMPENSATION IN TURKİYE AND SPAIN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19022254Keywords:
Social policy, social security, job security, labor law, reinstatementAbstract
This research addresses the effectiveness of job security regimes through comparative analysis and doctrinal examination methods, investigating the repercussions and mechanisms of "reinstatement-oriented" and "compensation-oriented" models in labor markets through the case studies of Turkey and Spain. In the study, the legal legislation, high court jurisprudence, and post-reform impact analyses of both countries are compared on normative and empirical planes. Research findings indicate that the reinstatement-centered structure established by Labor Law No. 4857 in Turkey cannot go beyond a "normative guarantee" due to strict burdens of proof and structural problems in the judicial process, transforming into a "de facto compensation system" in practice. Conversely, upon examining the Spanish case, it has been determined that the reduction of the severance pay cap and coefficient (from 45 to 33 days) via the 2012 Reform (Law 3/2012) provided a direct cost-oriented ease of dismissal rather than the expected procedural flexibility. It was concluded that the reform in Spain created an asymmetric structure by reducing "exit costs" without providing "entry flexibility," thereby systematically weakening job security. Consequently, in light of ILO Convention No. 158 and European Social Charter standards, the study reveals that a transition from Turkey's current "inapplicable rigid security" model to a Spanish-type "compensation-oriented flexibility" would lead to irreparable erosion in worker rights and undermine legal predictability.
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