Agreement in Italy (employee/agent waivers):

In the Italian civil order, the mutual agreement is a contract under which the parties, making reciprocal concessions, end a dispute already begun or prevent a dispute which may arise between them. This notion is contained in the Italian civil Code art. 1965.

Important to notice that in Italy the term mutual agreement may be misleading as it might often be used as a “dissolution of the employment relationship by mutual assent” (“risoluzione consensuale del rapporto di lavoro“).

This mutual dissolution of the employment relationship is generally followed by (or included in) a general novative settlement in which the employees waives any right or action against the Company in counterpart of receiving from the Company an “incentive departure” (in Italian “incentivo all’esodo”) as for by the estimations of the potential risks of the specific case.

The employee is free to waive the rights agreed with the employer in its own individual contract, provided that such rights are not set by mandatory provisions of law and contracts or collective agreements.

However, not every worker is aware of these mandatory rules. Reason why Italian law provides to ensure its protection that, if this happens, the employee can challenge the waiver(s).

Article. 2113 of the Civil Code states that are not valid “waiver and transactions” if concerning the rights of workers provided for by mandatory law or collective agreement concerning the relationship of article 409 of italian c.p.c. (including the agency if rpovided by an individual) are not valid. Such waiver and transactions are null and void and may be challenged/appealed by any act, including extra-judicial, within 6 months of the termination or the date of the transaction (mutual agreement or waiver) if established after the termination date.

The employee (or individual agent) can not challenge the transactions (mutal agreements) that took place in court or those that occurred at the provincial office of employment or any term of the trade unions (articles 410 and 411 c.p.c.).