The author of the complaint stated that she was admitted in October 2016 as a cashier - the person responsible for selling chips to players - and that she was dismissed with fair cause in June 2018. In the complaint, she requested the reversal of the dismissal and the condemnation of the employer to pay salary and severance pay.
In defense, the company pointed out that its predominant activity is the promotion of poker tournaments and that the woman's job was to exchange customers' money for cash chips and pass them on to the buyer. The company said the dismissal occurred because the woman committed a serious misconduct in exchanging chips for money.
In dismissing all the claims of the worker and ordering the dispatch of office to the Public Prosecution Service, the first-instance judge cited jurisprudence of the Superior Labor Court saying that the employment contract was not valid because it was linked to an illegal activity such as the ‘jogo do bicho’, which subtracts the validity requirement for the formation of the legal act.
According to the magistrate, although the case under consideration does not involve the ‘jogo do biccho’, it is a misdemeanor conduct, with the same labor jurisdictional consequences, that is, no labor effects are recognized.
The worker resorted to TRT-10 stating that the employment contract should be considered regular, since there was note in the work card, and the employer is a regularly incorporated company. She also stressed that the Ministry of Sport recognized poker as a sport, arguing that luck has little relevance to the outcome of the game, which is why it would not fit the concept of gambling.
According to the judge, the evidence from the file confirms that the company was engaged in gambling activities. On testifying, the company's partner stated that the establishment promotes cash poker tournaments, with prizes for the top finishers, the rapporteur said. Likewise, the complainant explained that her job was to sell the tokens, which could be bought using money, credit card or signature on a debt acknowledgment document. According to her, if customers lost their chips in the game, they could buy more.
"It follows, therefore, that this is not a sports tournament where there is a natural elimination of the participants until they reach a winner, because customers could renew the lost chips, remaining indefinitely in the game," he said.
For the magistrate, it was proved that the card games in question worked on a bet basis, and losers from each poker round could stay in the game and renew the cards, increasing the amount spent. And that the company exploits poker as a lucrative activity, as its income is earned by exchanging chips for cash, with retention of the percentage of bets placed on the table.
Licit object
For the rapporteur, the activity developed by the company and its former employee does not validate the employment contract, since the law is clear that "the validity of the legal business" requires that it be firm in "lawful object", as provided Article 104 (item II) of the Civil Code.
"Acting the claim’s author in an illegal activity and in an wrongdoing place managed by the employer, correct the sentence that dismissed the claims made by the first mentioned," concluded the judge by voting for the maintenance of the sentence, including the determination of dispatch of office to the Ministry Public.
Source: Consultor Jurídico Magazine
