Jayme Petra de Mello Neto
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
In a recent judgment, the Superior Labor Court ruled that the retention of a deceased employee’s Employment and Social Security Card (CTPS) makes it impossible for heirs to receive credits arising from the employment relationship, and is also liable for compensation.
By way of background, the Labor Claim, which was filed after the employee’s death, stated that the employee died of cancer, and that the employer did not cancel the employee’s work permit, nor did it pay the severance pay. In this regard, the plaintiff also considered that the failure to return the document prevented the heirs from withdrawing the former employee’s FGTS and PIS. The plaintiff therefore claimed that the employment contract should be terminated, the CTPS returned and compensation for the damages suffered, which was debated at length.
At first level, the company was successful and the claim for compensation for moral damages was dismissed on the grounds that there was no evidence of actual damage to the heirs, and the decision was upheld by the Court of the 12th Region (SC).
However, in a review appeal, Justice Cláudio Brandão, the appeal’s rapporteur, brought up the need to apply articles 29 and 53 of the CLT, which stipulate that annotating the work permit and returning it within the stipulated period is the employer’s obligation and that, therefore, its retention and return within a longer period unequivocally demonstrates the unlawfulness of the act and the occurrence of damage.
And it was in this sense that the Seventh Panel of the TST unanimously upheld the appeal to order the company to pay compensation for moral damages, sharing the understanding that the damage includes, in the event of death, the legitimate heirs and successors, because any credits depend on the annotations contained in the CTPS.
In this way, companies should take care when an employee dies, removing the CTPS and, above all, returning it to the heirs, since retaining it could result in financial losses.
