Article 31 of the so called “Labour Attachment”, approved on 29th September 2010 by the Senate, includes significant amendments regarding settlement and arbitration. In particular, the new letter of the article states that the arbitration clauses (i.e. provisions concerning the devolution of possible disputes to arbitrators rather than to the labour Court):
– shall be agreed only once after the termination of the trial period, if any, or 30 days after the stipulation of the employment contract;
– shall not regard disputes on the termination of the employment contract.
Furthermore, it is set that:
– before the settlement commissions, the parties may be assisted by a lawyer or by a union representative;
– the disputes triggered during the employment relationship may be previously assigned to arbitrators. The Senate has amended the letter of this last provision, therefore the Chamber of Deputies shall deliberate on it again.