Dismissing a public employee without just cause is illegal, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The majority accepted the argument of the president of the Supreme Federal Court, who defended that a public employee can be dismissed, but has the right to know the reason that led to their dismissal.
By Carolina Pimentel, reporter for Agência Brasil - The Supreme Federal Court (STF) decided this Thursday (8), by majority vote, that public employees of public companies and mixed-economy companies can be dismissed, but a formal reason for the dismissal must be presented.
The ministers began on Wednesday (7) the trial of the appeal filed by Banco do Brasil employees, dismissed in 1997 without just cause. They argue that public companies and mixed-economy companies are subject to the principles of legality, morality and publicity provided for in the Federal Constitution, and, therefore, cannot dismiss public employees without motivation. Banco do Brasil's defense argues that the institution carries out market economic activity and follows the same rules applied to the private sector. Therefore, there is no need to provide motivation for dismissing employees.
In today's decision, the ministers accepted the argument of the president of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Minister Luís Roberto Barroso. The minister argued that an employee, even one hired through a public competitive examination, can be dismissed, but has the right to know the reason for their dismissal, such as poor performance, unmet goals, budget cuts, among others.
Justices Barroso, Cristiano Zanin, André Mendonça, Edson Fachin, Dias Toffoli, and Cármen Lúcia voted in favor of the argument that state-owned and mixed-economy companies must disclose the reasons for termination. However, the appeal filed by the former bank employees was denied, and today's decision will be applied to future cases.
In Wednesday's session, the rapporteur for the case, Alexandre de Moraes, voted against the requirement to present a reason for dismissing employees of state-owned and mixed-economy companies, since these companies compete with private companies, which are not obligated to dismiss employees for just cause. Ministers Nunes Marques and Gilmar Mendes concurred with the rapporteur.