Drudgery from the perspective of the labor court of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian Constitution assign the payment of an additional salary for drudgery in the same way as it is established for unhealthy or hazardous work. However, the hard work is still not legally characterized. Even considering the impropriety of the question of health monetization, this regulatory gap can allow various interpretations of what is regarded as drudgery and hinder the work of the judiciary in the prosecution of actions that have hardship claims. The objective of this study was to investigate what the labor court of the Brazilian 15th Region has understood by hardship at work and how this issue has been addressed in its judgments. A quantitative, qualitative, exploratory, retrospective, and descriptive research was developed based on documentary analysis and literature review. The documentary research examined containing “painful”, “hardship”, or “drudgery” descriptors contained in the Regional Labor Court of the 15th Region’s database, tried from 2011 to 2013. The results indicated that most of the judgments related to drudgery involved working hours (46.6%) and came from companies related to rural labor (57.3%). Decisions analyzed indicated a broad understanding of the judiciary about drudgery, which includes features inherent to the activities performed and work organization models that may cause harm to the workers physical and mental health, as well as its impacts on their social and economic relations.