Ticket seller denied any connection to bingo hall, but receives employment benefits.

The First Panel of the Regional Labor Court of the 4th Region (TRT-RS) did not recognize an employment relationship between a bingo card seller and the bingo hall where he worked for six months. The judges justified their decision by stating that the employment contract concerned an illegal activity. The decision partially overturns, in this aspect, a ruling issued by the 27th Labor Court of Porto Alegre.

The judge at the first instance understood that, although the activity was illegal, it was possible to recognize the existence of an employment relationship, since the one who commits the illegal act is the employer, not the employee. Thus, based on the evidence presented, she declared the existence of an employment relationship between the salesperson and the bingo hall, ordering the registration of the employment contract in the work card and the payment of severance pay and FGTS (Brazilian employee severance fund). Overtime pay and transportation allowance were also granted to the plaintiff.

The parties appealed to the TRT-RS (Regional Labor Court of Rio Grande do Sul). According to the rapporteur of the appeal in the 1st Panel, Judge Laís Helena Jaeger Nicotti, since bingo activity is a criminal offense under Article 50 of Decree-Law No. 3.688/41, it is not possible to characterize its object as an employment contract. Based on this argument, the rapporteur dismissed the employment relationship recognized in the original ruling and the order to register the employment in the work card.

However, according to the judge, although the contract is null, the situation generates labor-related effects in the form of compensation, based on the principles of protection and non-unjust enrichment. Therefore, she upheld the sentence in the part that recognized the worker's right to payment of overtime, outstanding salary, prior notice, vacation pay with 1/3 bonus, and proportional 13th-month salary, in addition to the severance pay fund with a 40% penalty. The payment of transportation vouchers was not the subject of the appeal.

The decision was unanimous in the 1st Panel. Justices Rosane Serafini Casa Nova and Fabiano Holz Beserra also participated in the judgment. An appeal to the Superior Labor Court (TST) is possible. ( Secom TRT-RS )