TST class sees employment link between delivery man and Rappi

The 6th Panel of the Superior Labor Court (TST) decided that there is an employment relationship between a delivery driver and the delivery company Rappi.

The decision is due September 13th. The collegiate followed the vote of the rapporteur, minister Kátia Magalhães Arruda, who understood that there was an employment relationship based on the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) and decisions from other countries, such as Germany, Belgium, Australia, Chile and Uruguay.

According to her, in the case in question the requirements of personality, onerousness, habituality and full exercise of disciplinary power were proven.

In her text, the minister affirms the prevalence of article 6 of the CLT, which establishes that “there is no distinction between work carried out at the employer’s establishment, work carried out at the employee’s home and work carried out remotely, as long as the assumptions of the employment relationship”.

“With technological developments and the possibility of carrying out work outside the employer’s headquarters, the CLT began to expressly provide for legal subordination verified through telematic or computerized means”, pointed out the minister.

The decision goes against the decisions of the 4th Panel of the TST. In a recent interview with People’s Gazette, jurist Ives Gandra Martins Filho, who is part of the group, said that the decisions do not recognize an employment relationship between digital platform workers and companies, mainly due to the fact that the contracts do not meet the subordination requirement. “The worker’s choice to make themselves available or not for the race is typical of self-employment and not an employment relationship,” he said.

In her report, however, the minister pointed out that cases judged by other TST classes – 3rd, 6th and 8th – recognize an employment relationship in the service provided by digital platforms.

Rappi informed the newspaper “Valor Econômico” that it will appeal the decision. The Colombian company has been operating in the country since July 2017, and today serves 140 cities in 24 states.

“The company received a favorable decision from the Labor Court of the 2nd Region due to the lack of links between the platform and delivery drivers (decision of the Public Civil Action filed by the Public Ministry of Labor against Rappi),” the company said in a statement. “In addition, , we consider the debate regarding the relationship between couriers and platforms to be important, and we are actively collaborating with the GT that discusses the subject”, he added.

The GT cited by Rappi is the tripartite working group created by the Ministry of Labor to discuss the regulation of work through applications. The government intends to present a bill to Congress by the end of the month to regulate the matter.

Judge ordered Uber to hire workers and pay a fine of R$1 billion

One day before the judge’s decision, judge Mauricio Pereira Simões, from the 4th Labor Court of São Paulo, ordered Uber to hire all workers under the CLT regime, in addition to paying a fine of R$1 billion for collective damages. .

The sentence responded to the public civil action filed by the Public Ministry of Labor in São Paulo (MPT-SP), in 2021. It was the first favorable decision in a series of actions filed by the MPT-SP against transport applications, requesting the recognition of the link employment of drivers and delivery people.

According to the judge, Uber will have a period of six months after the action becomes final (when resources are exhausted) to comply with the determinations. New professionals must also, according to the judge, be included in the CLT. Uber has already announced in a statement that it will appeal the decision.