STF SUSPENDS ARTICLES OF MP 927/2020
NEW PROVISIONAL MEASURE NO. 959/2020 DISCIPLINES THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE PAYMENT OF EMERGENCY BENEFIT WITH PROHIBITION OF INDICATION OF SALARY ACCOUNT FOR RECEIPT OF BENEFIT
By majority vote, the Plenary of the Supreme Court (“STF”) decided Wednesday, April 29, 2020, that COVID-19 can be characterized as an occupational disease, even if the worker cannot prove the causal link with the company’s conduct. Thus, in a Direct Unconstitutionality Action (ADI) trial, the Court suspended article 29 of Provisional Measure (“MP”) No. 927, which required proof of the causal connection for the configuration of an occupational disease.
The STF also decided for the suspension of article 31 of MP no. 927 of 2020, which relaxed the actions of labor inspectors, since it determined that they should proceed in an orienting way regarding the irregularities verified (with the exception of serious infractions, foreseen in items I and IV of article 31), therefore avoiding infraction notices for a period of 180 (one hundred and eighty) days, as of the publication of the referred MP.
Moreover, through the publication of Provisional Measure 959 of April 29, 2020, which, among other things, complements Provisional Measure 936/2020, the Federal Government disciplined the operationalization of the payment of the emergency benefit to preserve employment and income, as well as the monthly emergency benefit due to employees with intermittent work contracts, providing for the exemption from bidding to hire Caixa Econômica Federal and Banco do Brasil to operationalize these payments.
To receive the benefit, the employee must indicate the financial institution where he/she has a savings or demand deposit account (checking account), except for a salary account, and expressly authorize the employer to inform his/her bank details to the Ministry of Economy. In cases of non-validation, rejection of credit in the account initially indicated, or failure to indicate an account for deposit, the MP authorizes the payment to be credited at any financial institution where the beneficiary holds a savings account. If no savings account can be found, the payment will be made through an automatic digital account with no maintenance fee.
MP No. 959 of 2020 takes effect immediately and is provisionally valid for 120 days.
The above text is not exhaustive and does not represent or replace a specific recommendation from an analysis of the case. DDSA Advogados will be available to guide its clients regarding the applicability of governmental measures issued due to the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus agent.