Newsletter-21

344 NEWSLETTER 2016 the previous years, the Court of Cassation used to accept the equity reduction in any kind of cases, regardless of the usage of types of evidence. However, we should emphasize that the Court of Cassation amended its settled jurisprudences recently, and now adjudges that there shall not be any reduction in favor of the employer, if the em- ployer proves its claims with written evidences and/or office records, instead of calling witnesses 7 . Conclusion Labor contract provisions regarding the inclusion of 270 hours of overtime work payment per calendar year in employees’ salaries are valid. Employees who have this clause in their labor contracts are eligible for overtime payment only by exceeding the 270-hour limit, and proving this overtime work. In addition to these contractual regu- lations, the employee should not be determining his/her working hours by him/herself, and should be taking instructions for his/her work. If the employee proves his/her overtime work through witnesses, then the employers shall be entitled to an equity reduction at a rate of 1/3 or 1/4. 7 Decisions of 7th Chamber of Court of Cassation dated 27.04.2016 numbered 2015/1661 E., 2016/9561 K. and dated 28.03.2016 numbered 2015/6754E., 2016/7184 K can be shown as an example.