Work-related mental health in the precedents of the Regional Labor Courts of the State of São Paulo

Abstract

Objective: This research aimed to understand: (i) which procedural discussions have required the TRTs of the 2nd and 15th Regions to deal with issues related to work-related mental health (WRMH); (ii) whether the decision grounds, when they allude to the subject, do so from the perspective of scientific precepts offered by academia; and (iii) examine whether the judicial decisions of these Courts have addressed WRMH in a central and decisive way or perfunctory and not decisive for the outcome of the judgments.

Methodology: This was qualitative empirical research of the exploratory descriptive case study type, based on documentary analysis of judgments handed down between 2020 and 2022 by the TRTs of the 2nd and 15th Regions.

Results: The results point to the need to broaden the understanding by Labor Magistrates officiating in the State of São Paulo about the complexity and multifactoriality of the phenomenon of WRMH, as well as about the tools for diagnosing and eliminating the various factors and agents of risk to the mental health and well-being of those who work.

Contributions: The research reported sought to provoke a discussion on how the Brazilian Labor Courts have been carrying out their legal mission to protect WRMH, in order to contribute to the realization, through jurisprudence, of the human right to a safe and healthy working environment, without omitting or deficiently considering its dimension relating to the mental health and well-being of those who work.