Labor Courts Bar Employers From Forcing Workers Into Campaign Activity

Overview

• Labor courts granted emergency injunctions after Ministério Público do Trabalho complaints, stopping employers from pressuring staff to take part in campaign acts or to share political content.
• A São Paulo ruling by substitute judge Yara Campos Souto demands the city publish the decision and complaint channels within 10 hours, provide a worker-rights guide and faces fines of R$50,000 per unmet obligation per day.
• A separate order from judge Karla Rafaelli Ribeiro Valente forced a supermarket in Anajás to delete a recorded meeting, issue a rights notice within one hour and prove compliance within 48 hours or face R$10,000 plus R$1,000 per affected employee in fines.
• The MPT presented reports and a video showing alleged coercive tactics such as calls to mobilize staff, collection of phones, demands for photos to confirm attendance and a speech with insults toward Afro-Brazilian religions.
• Affected employers have short windows to comply or contest the rulings, managers may face personal liability for breaches, threatened workers are to get temporary job protection and fines will fund public-interest defense programs.