Minister André Mendonça, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), suspended this Thursday (25) fines for non-compliance with mental health rules in companies, provided for in the new wording of Regulatory Standard No. 1 (NR-1), which came into effect on May 26th. The suspension is valid for 90 days to enable the construction of an agreement between the government and companies.
The injunction responded to a request from the National Confederation of Educational Establishments (Confenen) and will be submitted to a plenary referendum between August 7th and 18th.
The NR-1 update included psychosocial risks in companies’ occupational risk management, alongside physical, chemical, biological and accidents. The standard includes factors such as moral harassment, abusive goals and overload among psychosocial risks. In May, Estadão showed that 57.8% of companies had not yet adapted their risk plan to NR-1.
In the decision, the minister stated that the agreement must overcome the “vagueness of the current rules” and provide a greater degree of certainty and objectivity. According to him, the solution must be able to resolve the practical difficulties alleged in the application of the rule without relaxing the degree of protection of fundamental rights that the regulation aims to protect.
