Labor Court of RJ Orders Offshore Company to Pay Overtime to Worker Who Quarantined in Hotel Before Embarkation; Case Could Set Precedent for Petrobras, Contractors, and Other Oil Companies to Follow

One of the Most Common Questions That Nogueira Advogados Has Received Is About the Requirement for Quarantine in a Hotel Before Boarding Platforms and Support Vessels. Learn How a New Determination from the TRT/RJ in August 2021 Can Benefit Oil Workers from Now On

With the advent of the pandemic, Petrobras and the offshore operation companies determined to their employees a confinement regime of 7 to 10 days in a hotel before boarding.

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During confinement, a COVID test is initially performed and isolation occurs prior to boarding, where the worker is monitored in isolation in their room, without social interaction, especially with their family, without any compensation for this.

According to Nogueira Advogados, the aforementioned hotels do not have the structure or support for any treatment of symptoms, also exposing other guests, who are unaware of such practices.

Thus, the worker who was supposed to comply with a schedule, whether 14/21 or 21/21, had their physical and especially psychological rest changed in an illegal and harmful way, in addition to being deprived of their family interaction.

Some operators, even under the support of the law, expanded their schedules to 28/28, jeopardizing the health and physical integrity of offshore workers, whether they are Petrobras employees or not and other outsourced workers.

TRT/RJ Decision May Set a Precedent for Other Similar Cases

The TRT/RJ (Labor Court of Rio de Janeiro) understands that the physical and mental health of these oil workers is non-negotiable. As if the exhaustive journey at sea were not enough, the offshore worker now finds themselves obliged to stay confined without any payment, for around 10 days in a hotel.

For this reason, many workers have their physical and psychological problems aggravated, and thus have been filing labor lawsuits to have their rights recognized by the courts.

The extraordinary news is that the presiding judge of the 56th Labor Court in the capital of Rio de Janeiro ordered the COMPANY to pay the mentioned days as overtime with the necessary legal consequences. An appeal can still be filed to higher courts.

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