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After Monitoring Employee Productivity in Home Office with Corporate Software, Itaú Unibanco Offered Up to Ten Extra Salaries as Compensation to Fired Employees, in an Agreement Mediated by the Regional Labor Court; Union Speaks of Abusive Surveillance and Demands Limits for Digital Control
About a thousand Itaú Unibanco employees dismissed for low productivity during home office may receive up to ten extra salaries as compensation. The agreement, negotiated with mediation from the Regional Labor Court of the 2nd Region, includes a fixed amount of R$ 9,000, the payment of the 13th meal voucher, and variable compensation according to time worked.
The case exposes the rise of digital monitoring tools in remote work, a practice that has been expanding in large corporations and raises questions about privacy, transparency, and limits of electronic productivity control.
How the Agreement Was Constructed
According to the Union of Bank Workers of São Paulo, Osasco, and Region, the proposal presented on Monday includes four salary floors for those who worked up to 23 months at the bank and six floors plus half a salary per additional year of tenure for those who exceeded two years, with a cap of ten salaries.
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The TRT of the 2nd Region conducted the negotiations and emphasized the conciliatory nature of the process.
The bank stated in a note that the final terms are under judicial secrecy, at the union’s request, and that the mediation aimed to avoid collective and individual litigation.
The final decision will be made in a hybrid assembly of the workers.
Union Sees Progress, but Maintains Criticism
For Neiva Ribeiro, president of the union and member of the National Command of Bank Workers, the result is “positive,” but does not eliminate the indignation over the dismissals.
According to her, Itaú refused to reinstate the employees and maintained the understanding that there was no mass dismissal.
“We will continue mobilized in defense of the future of home office, privacy, and transparency in monitoring tools,” Neiva stated, emphasizing that the issue affects not only Itaú but the entire banking category.
Digital Monitoring and Criteria for Dismissal
The bank reported that the dismissals do not constitute collective layoffs, but rather individual performance evaluations, based on adherence to working hours and digital activity captured by internal systems.
For four months, Itaú used software like xOne, which tracks computer usage time, breaks, and hours of activity.
The survey indicated around 2,000 employees with low digital interaction rates, some with only 20% of activity recorded in a day, even while reporting overtime in their reports.
Half of these cases were justified by managers based on tasks that did not require continuous laptop use or health-related situations.
The others were dismissed even after meeting targets and participating in regular meetings.
What Affected Employees Say
Among those dismissed, there are reports of professionals who claim to have been unfairly punished, stating that the productivity metrics did not reflect their actual deliveries.
Some claim to have spent hours in video conferences on Microsoft Teams, which were not always counted by the automatic recording systems.
Others reported that they notified managers about availability for new tasks, but were instructed to wait for the internal system flow, which reduced the measurement of activity.
“If we were idle, there would have been delays, which did not happen,” said a former employee who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Legality and Dilemmas of Remote Control
Labor lawyers affirm that monitoring in home office is allowed, as long as it is provided for in the contract and communicated to the employee.
However, they warn that the collection of digital data requires transparency and proportionality, under penalty of violating the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and workers’ privacy rights.
Experts point out that, although home office has established itself as a hybrid model in large banks, the boundary between management and surveillance remains thin.
“The challenge is to measure productivity without turning remote work into a corporate Big Brother,” summarizes a digital governance consultant.
The Impact on the Future of Work
The case of Itaú may become a legal reference on digital monitoring and remote work relations.
Other companies are closely monitoring the outcome of the negotiation, as the model of electronic performance control is expected to gain traction in sectors with strict targets and high digitalization.
For unions, the discussion goes beyond compensation: it is about defining ethical and legal limits of home office.
The category wants the productivity tools to be auditable and collectively negotiated, avoiding arbitrariness.
The dispute between control and trust in home office marks a new frontier in the labor market.
To what extent can companies measure digital productivity without invading employees’ privacy? And are the compensations sufficient to offset the damages caused by excessive surveillance? Share your opinion in the comments.
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