Brazil. JBS, owner of the Friboi brand, received a new conviction for violation of workers' rights. This time he was fined $2 million reais (about US$855,000) for collective damages for failing to provide adequate sites for thermal recovery to employees working in artificially cold environments in factories in Puentes and Lacerca, 450 km from Cuiabá.
This is the company's fourth conviction this year, raising its fines to about $8.5 million reais (about $3.5 million) in compensation for labor law violations at factories in Acre, Maranhão and Rio Grande do Sul.
In the sentence, the judge forced in June of this year, that the refrigerator make the improvements in the work environment. The company has 60 days to build the space from the point of view of thermal and acoustic comfort, for the rest of the employees. The expiration of this period has an expected fine of $ 50,000 reais per day for non-compliance.
Local laws indicate that the recovery from the cold corresponds to the subsidy of 20 minutes every 1 hour and 40 minutes worked for those who carry out activities in environments with a temperature not higher than 15°. Workers who move goods from normal cold environments and vice versa are also entitled to a break.
Some of the irregularities of the refrigerator highlight that the employees did have spaces for rest but one of them was located at a distance of 250 meters from the workplace. The journey was made on foot, under the sun or rain. The second, which is effectively used for heat recovery, was mounted on a large cemented area without any ventilation or cooling to ensure a minimum of extreme comfort.
