According to paragraph 1 of part 1 of Art. 36 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, an employment contract may be terminated by agreement of the parties.
For most workers who intend to be dismissed, the grounds for resignation “by agreement of the parties” differ from the grounds for “voluntary resignation”, they believe that resignation “by agreement of the parties” is much more profitable, because there is an opportunity to receive unemployment assistance in the State Employment Center. But this is not the case. If we turn our attention to the concept of “agreement of the parties”, then we can understand that this is nothing more than an agreement that is concluded by the parties jointly and can be terminated or changed only as a result of joint will, and not at the request of only one party.
Moreover, in most cases, employees also do not understand that the “agreement of the parties” with the employer can be both in oral and in written form. Although agreement of the parties in written form is less common in practice. One way or another, after reaching an agreement, neither the employee nor the employer can simply “change their minds”.
If, however, we consider the case as the employee wrote to the employer a letter of resignation “by agreement of the parties”, after which the employer issued a resignation order, in which he indicated the date of resignation (the last working day). Later on, the employee changed his mind, sent a statement to withdraw his letter of resignation to the employer by mail, but was still fired on the day determined by the order of resignation. After that, the employee applied to court, and the court of first instance reinstated the employee in a job with all the ensuing circumstances and consequences. At the court meeting, the employee claimed that he had written the letter of resignation “by agreement of the parties” being under pressure. However, according to decision of the appellate court, with which the cassation court agreed, the claim was dismissed. In particular, the Supreme Court emphasized that the requirements of the Labor Code of Ukraine did not provide for the employer to accept the employee’s withdrawal of his application for resignation in the event of an agreement on resignation as agreed by the parties. That is, if an employee changes his mind about being dismissed, then the employer has the right to agree or disagree to this.
Thus, it should always be borne in mind that when dismissing from job, you should very carefully and thoughtfully draw up all the documents for its registration, and also remember that resignation “as agreed by the parties” reserves the right of the employer to accept or not accept the employee’s application for recalling such a statement.
Darya Vasina – lawyer @ “Dynasty Law & Investment”.
