Supreme Federal Court Suspends Billion-Dollar Labor Lawsuit Against Petrobras

In June of Last Year, TST Ruled in Favor of Employees in Case That Could Have an Impact of R$ 17 Billion

The Federal Supreme Court has recently been the stage for significant victories for the state-owned company. The most recent was formalized this Friday, June 21, when Minister Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of a case against Petrobras in the Superior Labor Court.

The case concerns the payment of a salary amount to Petrobras employees, addressing an appeal filed by the defense of the oil company in a decision published in the Justice Gazette this Friday.

Recomendado para você

Oil and Gas

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

The Technical Agenda and the Fair in the City of Macaé Should Boost Discussions on Investments, Energy Transition, and Development of the Oil, Gas, and Energy Chain in the National...

Paulo Nogueira

1

The issue originates from a labor complaint filed by an oil worker seeking payment of salary differences resulting from the calculation of RMNR.

The decision is yet another development in the case where TST, in June of last year, ruled in favor of employees in a labor dispute that could have an impact of R$ 17 billion on the company.

The backdrop is whether or not Petrobras has to make a financial supplement to state employees for a salary item that it was already paying, called Minimum Remuneration of Level and Regime (RMNR). The state-owned company disagrees.

Subsequent to the TST decision, the president of the STF, Dias Toffoli, and Alexandre de Moraes granted injunctions to suspend the effects of the previous ruling and halt the execution of this case.

In 2018, the state-owned company estimated that the case affects 51,000 Petrobras employees, in 47 class actions and over 7,000 individual actions. The argument from the two Supreme Court ministers is that, due to constitutional matters involved, the final word must come from the Supreme Court.

However, the defense of Petrobras returned to the Supreme Court with a different type of appeal because the TST, when analyzing a specific case, “completely ignored” the determination to suspend the progress of actions at a national level.

In practice, this could lead to a future execution against Petrobras, even with the issue not being finally resolved by the Supreme Court.

In his decision, Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of this TST process until the Supreme Court gives the final word on the matter. He also cited other cases where the Supreme Court decided in this regard to suspend TST decisions.

On this Friday, June 21, Petrobras paid Vantage Drilling approximately US $ 690.8 million following a ruling in the Federal Court of Texas, in the United States.