STF panel forms majority to free Petrobras from billion-dollar labor conviction – 02/27/2024 – Market

The First Panel of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) formed a majority this Tuesday (27) to maintain a decision that frees Petrobras from a billion-dollar labor conviction, which could lead the case towards a definitive sentence, in the view of the representative of the state-owned company.

Three ministers rejected a new appeal presented by unions against the court’s own decision that had annulled the conviction of Petrobras by the TST (Superior Labor Court).

In a trial in the virtual plenary, minister Flávio Dino, sworn in last week at the STF, gave the third vote to accompany the votes of the rapporteur, Alexandre de Moraes, and his colleague Cármen Lúcia, to reject the appeal.

In the vote, the rapporteur said that the applicants wanted to re-discuss the substance, which did not fit the type of appeal presented. He voted to impose a fine on those who appealed because he understood that the request was merely delaying.

After the majority was formed by the STF panel, Petrobras’ lawyer, Gustavo Caputo, told Reuters that the expectation is that the case will finally be closed.

“The trend is this, but we have to wait for the voting to end. There are still two ministers left to vote [Fux e Zanin]”, said he, who is a partner at Caputo, Bastos e Serra Advogados.

The virtual trial will end on Friday (1st).

In 2018, the TST condemned Petrobras and won the case to the employees in an action with an impact of R$17 billion for the company. The cause is related to the Minimum Level and Regime Remuneration (RMNR), an item that concerns special work regimes, such as night shift pay and dangerous work.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court reversed the conviction in a series of decisions.