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The case of a former Itaú bank employee who was unjustly arrested and had his image destroyed by an unfounded accusation resulted in compensation of R$480, a decision upheld by the Superior Labor Court.
Um former employee of Itaú bank was compensated in R $ 480 thousand after being unjustly imprisoned for nine days, accused of involvement in a bank fraud. The arrest took place in 1998, after the bank contacted authorities on suspicion of embezzlement. Years later, the court concluded that there was no evidence against the employee, acknowledging the institution's serious error.
The final decision was handed down by the Superior Labor Court (TST) em 2012, confirming the understanding do Regional Labor Court of Rio de Janeiro (TRT-RJ). In addition to compensation, the dismissal for just cause was reversed, and Itaú was ordered to pay all due labor benefits.
The charges that led to the arrest
The employee, who held the position of bank manager, was accused by his own boss of participating in a scheme fake check fraud.
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The complaint led to his temporary arrest and public exposure of your name in the press, which associated his image with fraudsters and caused irreversible moral and professional damages.
According to the ruling, the bank did not present consistent evidence e acted rashly, directly contributing to unjust imprisonment.
The court found that the institution violated the duty of care and responsibility, when forwarding a criminal complaint without concrete elements.
The Court's decision and the amount of compensation
The Labor Court understood that Itaú bank exceeded its legal and moral limits by exposing the former employee without evidence and holding him responsible for the damages caused.
The value of compensation for R $ 480 thousand was fixed based on the seriousness of the offense to the honor and image of the worker, in addition to the psychological and social impact of unjust imprisonment.
At the time, the amount was considered one of the largest compensations for moral damages granted by the Labor Court.
Updated by inflation rates between 2012 and 2025, the value would exceed R $ 1 million.
The decision had a character punitive and pedagogical, serving as a warning for companies to adopt greater responsibility before taking legal action against employees.
Human and professional impact of wrongful imprisonment
During the nine days he was detained, the former manager saw his reputation crumble.
Colleagues, friends and family have moved away, and he faced difficulties returning to the job market.
The Court recognized that the undue arrest profoundly affected his personal and professional life, making it impossible to fully restore his public image.
The sentence highlighted that, even after the acquittal, the stigma of having been arrested remained attached to his name, which justifies the high value of moral reparation.
For the TST, the bank's conduct represented an abuse of power and corporate negligence, causing unnecessary and unjustifiable suffering.
The case and the new rules on labor moral damages
Since 2017 labor reform, the value of compensation for moral damages began to be limited based on the worker's salary.
However, in 2023, Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided that judges can surpass this ceiling in situations of high severity or recurrence, such as wrongful arrests or unfounded accusations.
Similar cases show the diversity of decisions: a man wrongfully imprisoned for 10 years in Rio Grande do Sul has received R $ 1,6 million, while another, detained by three years in the Federal District, was compensated in R $ 100 thousand.
In this context, the case of the former Itaú employee remains as a judicial reference of reparation proportional to the damage.
#retireesdeserverespect #retireesdeservehealth
And it wasn't enough... waiting almost 30 years to receive this??? But it was expected; the bank has been unfair to its former employees. This gentleman, because after all this time, must be old by now, has suffered a lot to see justice done. Recently, the bank summarily fired about 1000 employees, justifying poor performance after "hitting" all the absurd targets to make the bank increasingly rich and the largest private bank in Latin America. Now it's doing even more injustice to its retired former employees, leaving many without health insurance because they can't afford it. The bank is violating Law 9656/98. As a retired bank employee, and realizing that soon I won't be able to continue paying, I'm waiting for someone to listen to us and force the bank to comply with the law, giving us the opportunity to continue enjoying our health insurance, especially now that we need it most, as demand grows with age. It's unfair, because we were the ones who made @itau the bank it is today.
This is common in Brazil. My husband was hospitalized with an injury due to mistreatment at the Albert Schuweitzer Hospital, and Judge Sirley Abreu Biondi said that "it is common for this to happen in public hospitals." Obviously, it was not with her family, and in the end, she closed the case.