Forced to dance on TikTok will receive compensation of R$ 12 thousand – 04/17/2023 – Market

The Labor Court of Teófilo Otoni (MG) determined payment of compensation to a worker forced by her former employer to do a sensual dance that was posted on the company owner’s TikTok.

At the time, the employee was pregnant, which, for the Court, was an aggravating factor in calculating the financial compensation.

In the ruling, Judge Fabrício Lima Silva set the compensation for image rights at R$12,000. There are also other sums to be paid for the period in which the employee worked without registering in a portfolio, in addition to the obligation for the company to register with the CTPS (Employment and Social Security Card).

“The video in question has sexual innuendo content, being, in fact, embarrassing, even more so if we take into account, when it was recorded, the pregnant state of the claimant”, says the sentence.

The judge gave 24 hours for the video to be removed from the air. In its defense, the employer stated that the videos are posted on its own social network and not on the company’s pages, a furniture store. Therefore, he claimed in the action that the publications had no commercial purpose or connection with the sales page.

The owner acknowledged that several employees participate in the videos, but said he did not oblige them. About the employee, he said that she even suggested themes for videos. According to him, the workers’ participation “was voluntary, without threats or any other form of harassment”, says the ruling.

understand the case

The salesperson, who also worked as a cashier, worked at the furniture store from 2020 to 2022. To the Labor Court, she said that she worked without a formal contract between May 2020 and February 2021.

The employee also said that in 2022 she was promoted to administrative assistant, opening the store around 8 am and leaving at 6:30 pm, with a 15-minute lunch break. The promotion would have resulted in an increase of R$200, paid outright.

Witnesses heard in the process confirmed part of the reports, which made the judge understand that there was a right to a formal contract for the entire period —since May 2020—, FGTS (Self-Service Guarantee Fund), vacations and 13th salary, in addition to severance pay, as requested by the attorney in the case.

The request for overtime, break and financial impact on these amounts was denied.

Businesses and Employees Beware of TikTok

In 2022, another TikTok use case led to the payment of a fine, but against the worker. Young Esmeralda Mello, 21, was fined by the Labor Court after posting a dance on TikTok alongside witnesses of a lawsuit against the company where she worked.

In addition to the dance, the subtitles and the music were displeasing. “Me and my friends going to sue toxic company,” the text read. She and her two witnesses then danced, with a song that said “this one is for you young, JT”, which was understood in the Judiciary as a reference to the Labor Court.

The debauchery and proximity between the three weighed in and she was fined, although she won part of the lawsuit. The Justice understood that there was litigation in bad faith due to the proximity of the former employee with the witnesses. The post had more than 100 thousand views and other videos about the case reached almost 1 million views.

At the time, she told Sheet who was making “lemons into lemonade” after the repercussions of the case. In a new video, at the time, she used a catchphrase attributed to lawyer Deolane Bezerra — “in the mouth of the people and in the hand of God”.

“What am I going to do? Sit down and cry? As Deolane says: ‘in the mouth of the people and in the hand of God. The mother is broken. Forget it,'” he said.