President of the TST will cut the salary of a judge who is absent to give a paid lecture

The president of the Superior Labor Court (TST), Luiz Philippe Vieira de Mello Filho, said that he will deduct unjustified absences from the salaries of ministers who are often absent to participate in lectures. The comment was made in an interview with Estado de S. Paulo published this Monday, following the repercussion of some of the judge’s speeches about the existence of “red and blue” judges.

“It’s completely conflicting. These lawyers who paid amounts that are not low were in a position of proximity, while the majority of Brazilian lawyers are not in a position to pay this. What’s more, ministers earning money with courses on how to advocate in court”, said the minister to Estado de S. Paulo.

Vieira de Mello Filho also stated that he does not want to prohibit judges from giving courses or lectures, but wants the topic to be regulated by a code of conduct. He defends transparency so that parties to TST processes can express their desire not to have their cases judged by certain judges when a conflict of interest is identified.

The president of the court then argued that unjustified absences result in discounts on judges’ pay. He also says that he should send a letter to his colleagues asking them to be “absolutely clear”.

“If it has an academic, pedagogical purpose, there’s no problem. Now, when it doesn’t have this academic, institutional, pedagogical purpose, that doesn’t justify it to me,” he told the newspaper.

‘Reds and blues’

Vieira de Mello Filho’s statement comes after he had a clash in court with Minister Ives Gandra Filho, with accusations of an “internal” attack to “destroy” the Labor Court. Vieira de Mello Filho spoke out after a speech he gave at an event went viral on social media.

“There is no blue or red judge. I am from the time when all of us, with our different thoughts, worked for the development, strengthening and growth of the Labor Court”, he stated during the event that generated the clipping classified as “evil”.

Vieira de Mello Filho explained that he was referring to an expression used by colleague Ives Gandra Filho in a paid lecture in which he taught lawyers how to act in court. Social media users linked the classification to the political position of magistrates.

The president of the TST said he made the decision after receiving material from a course for lawyers working at the TST, which divided members of the Labor Court between blue and red ministers, depending on whether they were “more liberal or interventionist, more legalist or activist”. Vieira de Mello Filho said that, in the statement that was cut and went viral, he sought to claim to be a defender of the Labor Court.

— I was baptized because of the color I was given, I wanted to make it clear what my cause was. My cause is defending the institution. I do not participate in any paid events. I was telling the judges that we need to defend our Justice, which is threatened — he said — As president of the Court, I could not remain silent on the course on how to advocate in this court. If that isn’t an ethical conflict, I don’t know what is.

Afterwards, the president of the TST gave the floor to his colleague, who reacted. Ives Gandra Filho said that there is an “internal division” within the court, “from the point of view of seeing labor law in one way or another”.

— Exactly the way I tried to put it in the course: there are ministers who have a more liberal and more interventionist vision; There are some more legalists, others more activists. All of this is a reality that we see every day in court. There are groups that are more liberal and there are groups that are more protectionist. This reality cannot be hidden. We have to know how to live with our differences, always respecting each other and through them we will build labor jurisdiction. I also love my justice with a passion — he said, in his defense.

The minister classified himself as a legalist and criticized the TST president’s statement, stating that Vieria de Mello Filho had made a “moral judgment” about the division between “blue and red judges”.

— I would like us to have positions in which we know how to better combine the principles of protection and subsidiarity. Within this context I have been self-critical and I think we have to know how, as a work justice, to be self-critical. We have to be self-critical, I try to do so and that is not contributing to the destruction of labor justice. We will be bigger and better if we have the humility to recognize where we went wrong, what we can do to get it right and do it in the smoothest way possible — he said.