As in many other areas of law, in labor law there are situations in which a conflict (real or apparent) of two important norms may occur. This is also the case in the case of termination of an employment contract by mutual consent in a way that shortens the notice period – on the one hand, the employee may believe that the remuneration due to him should be subject to special protection (resulting from art. 84 et seq. of the Labor Code), but on the other hand, the freedom to shape the relations between the parties in the event of their mutual consent should create greater flexibility.
In practice, this conflict is only apparent. Yes, in a situation in which the employee remained employed throughout the notice period, he would be entitled to remuneration and would not have the possibility (even by agreement of the parties) to waive it. However, if the termination of an employment contract by mutual consent occurs earlier than would result from the provisions governing the duration of the notice period, the employee terminates employment earlier – so there is no basis for paying him remuneration for the period when, in fact, he was not employed.