Mariana Saroa de Souza
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
In a recent decision handed down by the 7th Labor Court of Goiânia[1], the use of a medical certificate to deceive the employer who benefited from the use of the certificate for time off was considered serious misconduct, leading to dismissal for just cause.
The magistrate’s understanding was that “when presenting a medical certificate, the employee is expected to be away from his work activities to recover, to rest, so that he can return to his source of livelihood as soon as possible”. However, this was not the case here, since during his absence, the employee held a party, inviting even his work colleagues.
When it was observed that the employee was in full condition to perform his duties, but presented a medical certificate in bad faith, the company decided to dismiss him for just cause.
In this way, the misuse of the medical certificate can lead to dismissal for just cause, which is the majority view in the Labor Courts. It should be noted that in cases like this, the company’s agility in making the decision is extremely important, as is the documentation of all the evidence that led to the dismissal for just cause.
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[1] Goiás. Regional Labor Court of the 18th Region. Sentença. 0010804-19.2019.5.18.0007. Rapporteur: Eunice Fernandes de Castro. Goiânia, December 19, 2019. Available at: https://sistemas.trt18.jus.br/visualizador/pages/conteudo.seam?p_tipo=2&p_grau=2&p_id=14965420&p_idpje=133537&p_num=133537&p_npag=x. Accessed on: March 11, 2020.
