Professional from Rio Grande do Sul must be compensated R$24,700 for moral damages

A cashier who suffered harassment for being black and pregnant must be compensated R$24,700 for moral damages. She also gained the right to indirect termination of the employment contract, in addition to compensation for the period of gestational stability – indirect termination guarantees the same funds as unfair dismissal. The value of the sentence reaches R$60 thousand.

The decision was taken by the judges of the 3rd Panel of the Regional Labor Court of the 4th Region (RS). They upheld the sentence of judge Valtair Noschang, from the 4th Labor Court of São Leopoldo.

According to the action, the offenses against the cashier came from the manager of the store where she worked. Two witnesses reported that the employee was ‘swearing in front of other employees’. The situation worsened after she announced her pregnancy.

The information was released by the TRT-4 Communication Secretariat. The girl was often called a ‘stupid black woman’. She also almost always heard that she was ‘good for nothing’.

In addition to the routine of insults, when informing the company about her pregnancy, the employee was demoted from boss to assistant, with a 30% salary loss.

In the records, another employee, who became pregnant during the course of her contract, reported that she was also demoted. She stated that the manager said that ‘these people don’t do anything right’.

The boss also said that the author of the action was demoted for stealing money from the cash register – which was never proven.

After registering a police report due to the constant offenses, the employee left for health treatment. The psychological shock resulted in the granting of a social security benefit.

When asking for help from the human resources department and the company owner, the girl was informed that they could not do anything, as the ‘manager made a profit for the company’.

In the process, the store defended itself by claiming that the position demotion could occur at any time, as it was the employer’s free decision. It also claimed that ‘there was no evidence of racism and abusive treatment’.

For judge Valtair Noschang, from the 4th Labor Court of São Leopoldo, ‘the evidence demonstrated flagrant disrespect for the rights of the worker and the baby’.

He highlighted that the witnesses were unanimous in stating that the manager had ‘harsh behavior’ and inappropriate conduct towards pregnant employees, in addition to confirming racial discrimination.

“The hierarchical superior’s treatment of the plaintiff and other pregnant colleagues demonstrated the occurrence of serious events, capable of characterizing moral harassment. The defendant, as a beneficiary of the services provided by the plaintiff, did not take the minimum measures necessary to support the worker in a gestational state”, said the judge.

The parties appealed to TRT-4. Unanimously, the judges increased the amount of compensation for moral damages, from R$16,500 to R$24,700, and rejected the company’s request to dismiss the conviction.

The rapporteur of the ruling, judge Marcos Fagundes Salomão, applied the Protocol for Judgment with a Gender Perspective of the National Council of Justice (CNJ) to the case. In the judge’s understanding, ‘the serious acts of racism and sexism caused moral damage subject to compensation’.

“The author was affected in her dignity as a black worker, woman and pregnant woman. She suffered discrimination, persecution and moral harassment by the manager who treated female employees with insults and contempt because they were pregnant and, in an equally or more disgusting way, because of their color of the skin, with acts of racism. The complainant, even though she was aware of the facts, was omitted. Furthermore, there is proof of the complainant’s demotion due to her pregnancy”, concluded the rapporteur.

Judges Ricardo Carvalho Fraga and Clóvis Fernando Schuch Santos also participated in the trial. The decision can still be appealed.