Marília Silva de Melo
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
The 4th Panel of the Superior Labor Court upheld the conviction of a plaintiff to pay court costs, even though she was entitled to free legal aid.
The decision was upheld due to the former employee’s unjustified absence from a hearing in the case she had brought against her former employer.
For the panel, the order to pay costs even if she benefited from free legal aid, which is supported by article 844 of the CLT, a legal amendment made by Law 13,467/2017, does not prevent access to justice, but, according to the justices, “discourages uncompromising litigation”.
The plaintiff, who worked as a credit operator, filed a labor complaint, claiming various credits such as overtime, notice period, FGTS, arbitrating the cause in the amount of R$ 11,300.00. However, on the day appointed for the pre-trial hearing, he didn’t show up and didn’t justify his absence.
Faced with this attitude, even though she benefited from free legal aid, the magistrate of the 51st Labor Court of São Paulo ordered her to pay costs equivalent to 2% of the value of the case, or R$ 226.29.
Under the terms of article 884 of the CLT, the party has 15 days to prove and justify their absence.
The conviction was upheld by the Regional Court of the 2nd Region, and ratified by the 4th Panel of the Superior Labor Court, which was not convinced by the workers’ reasons for appeal that the conviction would violate the Federal Constitution, precisely with regard to broad access to justice and full and free assistance.
According to the rapporteur of the case, Justice Ives Gandra Martins Filho, the law removes the obligation to pay costs from those who can prove their absence, giving prestige to responsible litigation and thus discouraging the irresponsible filing of lawsuits.
