A possibilidade de execução das empresas integrantes do grupo econômico no processo trabalhista

Abstract

The Economic Group is characterized when two or more companies operate in a coordinated manner, with common objectives, maintaining a certain degree of administrative and managerial interrelation, with or without hierarchy between the companies. The Consolidation of Labor Laws attributed joint and several liability to companies that are part of such an economic conglomerate, even if the employment contract was formally signed with only a single company. However, this type of liability has generated many doctrinal and jurisprudential debate, particularly regarding the point at which other companies within the group may be included in the defendant’s position (passive pole) of the claim. This has raised questions about the possibility of redirecting enforcement proceedings to other group companies, even if they did not participate in the cognition stage of the process. This legal issue eventually reached the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court, due to criticisms regarding potential infringements of defense resulting from measures adopted by labor courts, generating a scenario of legal uncertainty. As a result, the topic has gained significant prominence in national jurisprudence, leading to the nationwide suspension of ongoing enforcement proceedings addressing this issue, following the recognition of general repercussion in 2022, under Theme No. 1,232, which is still pending judgment by the STF. In this context, the present study aims to analyze the criteria for the configuration of an economic group, the limits of its legal liability, as well as to examine the legal controversy that gave rise to Theme No. 1,232. It also seeks to assess the possible effects of enforcing labor debts against companies within the same economic group, even if they were not formally included in the passive pole during the cognition phase of the proceeding. This analysis will be conducted under the lens of the principles of adversarial proceedings and ample defense. To this end, the research adopts a qualitative approach, based on a bibliographic, normative, and jurisprudential review, as well as documental analysis of public and archived legal case files related to the proposed topic, specifically focusing on General Repercussion Theme No. 1,232 and the potential impacts of its ruling, along with the positions taken by key judicial bodies on related matters.