Ariadne Fabiane Velosa
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
The 6th Panel of the Regional Labor Court of the 4th Region held that a photo posted on a social network by a witness in a labor lawsuit leads to his testimony being disregarded, as it proves that he was not telling the truth about his friendly relationship with the Claimant in the lawsuit. According to the collegiate body, this “does not give the witness exemption to testify”.
Before being questioned, the witness denied having a close friendship with the Claimant. He stated that he did not meet the plaintiff, nor that he was his friend. However, in his defense, he presented a printed photo posted on a social network showing the witness and the Complainant having lunch together.
The plaintiff stated that there was no plausible reason to disregard the witness, simply because they had met after the end of the employment contract to have lunch together, this being a common occurrence in people’s lives, which cannot lead to the testimony being discredited.
The rapporteur, Judge Simone Maria Nunes, stated in her vote that
“in view of the untruthful information provided by the witness, with proof that he met the plaintiff after the end of the employment contract (although he denied this fact), as well as the fact that he was contradicted because of close friendship, the testimony must effectively be valued on the basis of this information”.
In addition, the judge stated in her vote that the attitude showed that the witness intended to benefit the Claimant, and did not confer impartiality to testify. ”
Thus, the 4th Panel of the TRT held that the plaintiff’s witness had relative credibility and that the Claimant had not discharged the burden of proving the reality portrayed in the time cards in relation to overtime.
