The article deals with the issue of termination of an employment contract by agreement of the parties, which is relevant to labor disputes. The author draws attention to the fact that dismissal by agreement of the parties, based on general legal approaches on the permissibility of termination of an employment contract only if there is a voluntary expression of the employee's will to terminate the employment relationship, has its own specifics, since termination of an employment contract on such grounds requires the mutual will of both parties, both to terminate it and to determine termination conditions that should be of interest to the employee. The article emphasizes that the absence of any additional guarantees (compensation, payments, and similar «compensation payments»), provided to an employee by the employer in connection with the termination of an employment relationship, so an «empty agreement» does not meet the interests of the employee. In addition, the author analyzes modern judicial practice, including the legal position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which links an «empty agreement» with coercion to dismissal. It is concluded that such an approach by the courts may indicate the formation of a presumption of «forced dismissal» by an «empty agreement» of the parties to terminate the employment contract.