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Long service time without disciplinary offense was an aspect considered to avoid the maximum penalty.

From the Editor

 

Thursday, June 6, 2024

 

Updated at 07:29

 

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The 1st class of the TST reversed the dismissal for just cause of a baker who made an aggressive comment on WhatsApp to complain about the delay in paying his 13th salary. The majority of the panel understood that, despite the inappropriate language, a brief publication unfairly complaining about a legal benefit after eight years of service does not constitute a total breach of trust necessary to terminate the employment relationship.

 

The author was employed at a bakery in GO. On 11/30/20, he posted the following text on his WhatsApp status: "Where is this crap about the 13th that doesn't come out? This bakery that doesn't pay."  The post was removed within minutes. Days later, he was dismissed for just cause.

 

In the labor complaint, the worker claimed that he was an exemplary employee and that he had expressed himself through his personal telephone number, that is, the message could only be seen by his contacts. He also said that the post was displayed for less than 15 minutes and would not be enough to undermine the employer's honor and good reputation.

 

The bakery, in its defense, stated that the 13th salary had been deposited on the same day of posting, within the legal deadline. According to the establishment, the baker had exceeded his right to freedom of expression, by attributing to the employer an illegal act in a virtual environment, in an application of great scope and repercussion.

 

 

Baker manages to reverse just cause after comment against company on WhatsApp. 

Baker had a history of good service

 

When reversing the just cause, the court of the 10th Labor Court of GO highlighted that, although the baker had used vulgar language, the dismissal for just cause completely ignored his record of almost eight years of good services provided, with no record of disciplinary infraction.

 

The sentence was upheld by the TRT of the 18th region, which understood that the situation was not serious enough for the just cause applied.

 

Penalties must be graduated

 

In the judgment of the bakery's review appeal, the vote of Minister Hugo Carlos Scheuermann prevailed. In his view, the aggressive language used momentarily to express unfair discontent, although reprehensible, did not represent a total breach of the employer's trust after so long of service without previous infractions. For Scheuermann, the situation required the company to follow the principle of grading penalties, adopting less severe disciplinary measures, such as warning or suspension, before applying just cause.

 

The rapporteur, minister Amaury Rodrigues Pinto Junior, was defeated. In his opinion, defaming the employer is behavior serious enough to break the employment relationship. "If an employer verbally attacks and defames its employee, there are clear grounds for indirect termination" , he considered. “Therefore, similar employee behavior is not acceptable.”

 

Process: RR-11752-15.2020.5.18.0010

 

link: https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/408761/tst-reverte-justa-causa-de-padeiro-apos-comentario-no-whatsapp