When I give up, do I also give up the ability to withdraw my resignation?

A foreign worker with Filipino citizenship filed a lawsuit claiming that he worked as a nursing care provider for a person who had suffered a severe stroke for 16 years until his employer’s death, when he was employed 7 days a week, without receiving vacation or rest days. After his employment ended, a settlement was reached with him, in which he signed a waiver in English, confirming that he had received all the rights to which he was entitled, according to the information he himself provided to his lawyer. Can the worker withdraw the waiver after consulting with another lawyer and believing that he was entitled to additional rights?

As a general rule, a future right to claim can be waived, either mutually or unilaterally, and the waiver can be in a separate document (for example, at the time of termination of the transaction or as a condition for receiving insurance benefits) or as a clause in the agreement (for example, within the standard agreements with institutional entities and banks).In a matter discussed in the Supreme Court in September 2003, there was a claim waiver clause that was included in a settlement agreement between a bank and its customer, and which the customer claimed was signed due to economic duress. The court ruled that since the arrangement benefits the customer, he cannot retroactively withdraw the waiver, which was mutual and also included risk-taking on the part of the bank, so that both parties hedged their chances and risks. As always, interpretation is a subjective matter, and when it comes to waiving interpretation, this has a fateful meaning, because it is possible that at a certain moment the waiver may indeed seem beneficial, but at a later moment, when you can no longer sue, it may suddenly seem less beneficial, and therefore it is also important to formulate the waiver clause or waiver in a way that will make it difficult to attack in the future.

However, there are cases in which it is possible to retroactively withdraw from a waiver, for example in the event that there was a contractual defect in the signing of the waiver agreement and in certain cases unique to waiver agreements. Thus, for example, as a rule,only rights that already exist at the time of the waiver can be waived, but not a future right, because the meaning of such a waiver is a violation of the right of access to the courts and other constitutional rights of the person waiving his rights.In addition,a waiver will not apply in the case of fraud, althoughin a case heard in the Economic Department of the Tel Aviv District Court in March 2016, parties to an investment agreement determined that the investor could only sue for certain representations and the court refused to accept a claim alleging fraud that concerned representations that were not included in the agreement due to that waiver clause and determined that the party that waived hedged its risk when it chose to include certain representations in the agreement and waived the inclusion of other representations.In a case heard by the Supreme Court in December 2019,a woman signed a very broad waiver, waiving any possible cause of action, including a future cause of action. In retrospect, it turned out that the woman had been given misleading information when she signed the document, and the court ruled that she would not have assumed the risk if she had known that she was relying on misleading information, and therefore the waiver was invalid.

Similarly,in a November 2024 ruling in the Tel Aviv Labor Court,the facts of which are described at the beginning of the article, it was determined that in order for an employee’s waiver to be valid, it is required that the rights that the employee waived were known to him, that the employee was given a clear and understandable account of the amounts he received or transferred to him before signing the waiver; and that the waiver was clear and unambiguous. In that case, the court determined that the waiver signed in English complied with the requirements and was binding on the employee.

In conclusion, the world of waivers is a complex one, especially when it comes to waiving a right to sue. Therefore, before signing an agreement that includes a waiver clause or a separate waiver, it is important to consult with a lawyer who is knowledgeable in the field of contracts and the commercial field, who will know how to draft the clause in a way that best aligns with the interests of his client and minimizes the need to initiate legal proceedings in connection with it.