Smoking at work cause for dismissal


The Supreme Court of Appeals found a firm that fired a worker for smoking cigarettes in the restroom to be lawful, annulling a lower court's decision to reinstate the person.A laborer in the western province of Manisa was fired without compensation from a firm for which he had been working for the past seven-and-a-half years for smoking in the rest room, with his bosses accusing him of laxity and endangering the workplace. The lower court decided that the firm's argument that the individual perfectly knew about the rules and ignored the warning signs lacked legality, ordering the firm to pay four months' salary and allow him back to work.However, the Supreme Court of Appeals argued that the firm had taken the necessary actions to ensure all employees knew about the smoking rules and that smoking posed a serious risk to workplace safety due to the presence for flammable material. It has annulled the lower court's decision, backing the firm's decision to fire the employee. Turkey has some of the most stringent anti-smoking laws in the world. The worker can apply to the Supreme Court of Appeals High Commission for the review of his case.