Caixa denies agreement in case of persecution of employees – 04/14/2023 – Market

Caixa Econômica Federal rejected the agreement proposed by the MPT (Ministério Público do Trabalho) to close the inquiry that investigates demotions and persecutions of bank employees in the management of former president Pedro Guimarães.

As Folha showed in July, employees who clashed with the former president or reached the top of their careers in PT governments —and held management and superintendence positions— were transferred to bank branches by decision of the company.

As the employees exercised the previous positions for more than ten years, they incorporated the highest salaries, even allocated in other activities. Thus, former managers who earned up to R$ 45,000 were placed in positions of newly hired employees who earn around R$ 3,000.

The draft of the TAC (conduct adjustment term), to which the Sheet had access, said that Caixa should ensure that “all workers who have been terminated and transferred to any of the agencies” since 2019 “can participate in the internal selection processes to compete for commissioned positions”.

“The possibility of participation referred to in this clause must be real and effective, fulfilling the commitment [Caixa] ensure all the necessary means for the participation of interested candidates, as well as the fairness of the internal selection processes, not using or allowing the use of potentially discriminatory criteria in the selection processes.”

The TAC also provided for the payment of R$ 500,000 as compensation for collective moral damages and the implementation of an “internal campaign, nationwide, to combat moral harassment in the work environment”.

Sought, Caixa did not want to explain why it refused the agreement. “Caixa informs that it will not comment on the agreement and reinforces that it repudiates any type of discrimination in its environment. The bank has an internal policy that establishes norms and conducts in this sense”, it says in a note.

According to reports from people involved in the negotiation, the company claimed that it has already entered into an agreement with the MPT within the scope of the process opened last year after the harassment complaints against Guimarães. The document —also confidential— has already been signed, but has not yet been ratified by the Court.

With the refusal of the TAC, the Sheet found that the Ministry of Labor should demand new information from the bank. Among other things, the prosecutor wants to know if the employees who were transferred and demoted from their position have managed to relocate themselves internally.

The MPT inquiry was opened in December 2020 – even before the allegations of sexual and moral harassment against Guimarães surfaced, in 2022 – and is under secrecy.

In a document sent to the MPT, Caixa states that, in Brasília alone, 123 employees were transferred from the headquarters to bank branches in a 90-day interval between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021.

Of the 228 movements made at the time, 212, according to the same document, occurred on the initiative of the company. Entities that represent bank workers claim that, in many cases, Caixa pursued employees to force them to ask for retirement and leave the bank.

As shown to Sheet, Guimarães is accused of sexual harassment and moral harassment in the lawsuit filed by the MPT last year. The former president refused a TAC to close the investigation, but has not yet responded to the proposal for an agreement in the labor sphere.

In the criminal sphere, Guimarães is accused of sexual harassment and sexual harassment. He denies the accusations. The case has been treated with strict secrecy and the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) refuses to inform even the month in which the investigation was concluded.

Caixa, on the other hand, entered into an agreement with the MPT and escaped compensation for collective moral damages in the amount of R$ 305 million – managing to lower the value to R$ 10 million.

According to reports, the company committed to receiving and forwarding employee complaints within 30 days, and to complete internal investigations within six months – deadlines that until recently did not exist.