Non-compete clauses in pre-2006 labor contracts are civil law agreements, not voidable labor law provisions.

The Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal filed by two former employees against a judgment ordering them to pay contractual penalties for violating non-compete clauses. The court determined that because these clauses were agreed upon before the 1996 Labor Code amendments, they constituted independent civil law obligations rather than labor law provisions subject to specific invalidity sanctions. Consequently, the employees failed to challenge the clauses under the correct civil law mechanisms, such as mutual lawsuits for unfairness or requests to reduce excessive penalties.