Mariana Saroa de Souza and Monique Vieira Lessa
Lawyers at Marcos Martins Advogados
In recent years, thanks to the countless cases of corruption that have come to light, issues related to morals and ethics have gained great prominence on the international and national scene. As a result, the figure of compliancehas become increasingly present in companies.
However, although this institute is gaining more and more strength as an important tool within large companies, there are still many doubts about its concept and consequences for business.
According to Marco Assi (2013), compliance is “an internal control system that clarifies and provides greater security for those who use accounting and financial statements for economic and financial analysis”, and one of its missions is to bring solidity and stability to the institutions that are subject to this instrument.
Furthermore, in the words of the aforementioned author, the scope of compliance is “to ensure, in conjunction with other areas, the adequacy, strengthening and functioning of the Institution’s Internal Control System, seeking to mitigate Risks in accordance with the complexity of its business, as well as disseminating a culture of controls to ensure compliance with existing laws and regulations. In addition to providing guidance and raising awareness of the prevention of activities and conduct that could lead to risks to the institution’s image”.
It is true that companies need to guarantee their sustainability and the sustainability of their profits. For this reason, mitigating risks by implementing a culture of compliance is extremely important in order to achieve these goals, since one of the program’s aims is to prevent the company from losing value for its shareholders, insofar as it avoids liabilities arising without a corresponding active counterpart.
Already long practiced abroad, compliance became better known in the Brazilian legal system with the enactment of Law No. 12.846/13, popularly known as the “anti-corruption law”, and although it originated in criminal law, the compliance program has a multidisciplinary scope and can be applied strategically in various areas to comply with legal and internal rules, including in the labor sphere.
From a labor perspective, the program works not only to verify compliance with labor laws, but also to monitor, train and implement the program for employees.
Actions to prevent risks in labor relations aim to combat unethical and illegal practices by employees and employers, reducing the risk of institutions being fined or penalized. Labor compliance is one of the specialties of the integrity program and there is no doubt that the topic is essential for achieving a complete method, as there is an inseparable relationship between the worker, the company, labor legislation and compliance. This is part of a new way of managing the labour market, which brings a number of benefits to the organization and its employees, due to the change in culture towards ethical behaviour.
Furthermore, in addition to the direct benefits brought by the program, it is also notable that a well-executed program brings beneficial secondary consequences, because even if it is not its main objective, by mapping risks it is possible to prevent conduct that could cause damage to the company’s image, retaliation from consumers, a drop in share value, among others.
An example of this is a recent case of a multinational company, a manufacturer of stoves and washing machines, which was fined R$25.3 million for failing to comply with a Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TAC) signed with the Labor Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) in 2011.
The irregularities reported to the Labor Prosecutor’s Office, which led to the Conduct Adjustment Agreement, concern the occupational health of the company’s workers, who kept their employees in positions that did not comply with ergonomic standards. The compliance actions in the labor area would have mapped the risk, which would have helped to avoid not only the sanction applied by the public agency, but also to settle any liabilities that this conduct could have generated in individual lawsuits.
Thus, the importance of compliance programs within companies is remarkable, especially in the labor area, given their focus on risk mapping, which consequently helps to contain liabilities, making businesses more profitable in such a competitive market.
