Fired by church says he was the target of homophobia; Justice orders reinstatement

A former employee of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is suing the religious institution in the Labor Court for being fired for cause on charges of having committed marital infidelity and, therefore, having violated the prescribed code of conduct. by your employer.

For the employee, however, the church’s decision was motivated by homophobia. In fact separated (when the couple does not formalize the divorce) since 2016, Frederico Jorge Cardoso Rocha, 61, has been in a homosexual relationship for about two years.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints denies it. “An employee is not fired because of their identity or sexual preference,” it says in a statement. The religious entity says that all its employees voluntarily agree to live up to the institution’s standards, such as marital fidelity.

Rocha worked for the church for 37 years as a buyer. He prospected and negotiated land throughout Latin America where new meetinghouses and temples would be installed.

On Friday (3), the substitute judge Caroline Ferreira Ferrari, from the 15th Labor Court of São Paulo determined the provisional reinstatement of Rocha to work, through an appeal called emergency guardianship.

The health conditions of the former employee – who has surgery scheduled for June 15 – weighed heavily on the concession, as Ferrari wrote in the decision – and the risk of an aggravation due to the break with the health plan as a result. dismissal for just cause.

Due to the type of dismissal, whose application is foreseen by the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) for serious faults, Rocha was not entitled to a fine of 40% of deposits made in the FGTS (Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço), to the prior notice and unemployment insurance.

He also lost his health plan. As he had more than ten years as an insured, he could, if the dismissal had been without cause, keep the health plan, as long as he assumed the full payment of the benefit.

The provisional reinstatement to employment, as well as the reinclusion of the former employee in the health plan, must be completed within 48 hours, under penalty of a daily fine of R$ 500. The church may appeal.

In the lawsuit against the Church, Rocha asks for the dismissal to be reversed and the payment of salaries and other benefits that have not been paid since the beginning of April, when he was dismissed. If the dismissal is maintained, he wants the cancellation of just cause and the release of the labor funds resulting from the common dismissal, such as the fine of 40% of the FGTS.

The former employee also asks for the payment of compensation for moral damages of R$ 750 thousand, which includes compensation for what he considered a violation of his privacy and private life and for discriminatory dismissal.

Church member called his ex-wife

Rocha is convinced that his relationship – and not his unconsummated divorce – was the reason for his dismissal because a church member approached his ex-wife to ask if he was, in fact, homosexual.

The investigation, explains the former employee, stems from an internal procedure of the church’s doctrine, which is the need for employees to have a credential called “temple recommendation”, during which there is a face-to-face interview held every two years. .

When he underwent this procedure, in February of this year, Rocha says he was informed that the church had received a complaint that he was homosexual and was in a homosexual relationship.

At that moment, says Rocha, he denied the questioning. He was afraid of losing his job and considers the church to be “admittedly homophobic”, according to his defense in the labor lawsuit.

“It’s not easy to tell the truth. I spent many years of my life to accept who I am, that I’m homosexual, it’s years of therapy. It’s hard to say that when you know the prejudice you’re going to suffer”, he says.

The church based the dismissal, according to the statement it presented to the former employee, on two items provided for just cause, which are misconduct and insubordination. In the discharge notice, he is informed that he has violated “duties of marital fidelity”.

The requirement of marital fidelity is provided for in a contract that all employees had to sign from 2008 onwards.

He claims that the legal separation of his ex-wife was never materialized because the maintenance of the bond allowed her to be his dependent on the health plan. “I am a discreet person, I have never exposed the church to any embarrassment. My work has always been performed with integrity, I do not accept humiliation for a just cause.”

For lawyer Maria Helena Autuori, a partner at the Autuori Burmann office, the invasion of privacy is an aggravating factor, regardless of the values ​​of the religious institution. “He didn’t commit any illicit acts. What he did in his private life doesn’t affect the employment contract, it doesn’t hurt anyone and not even the church,” she says.

Frederico Rocha also sent a representation to the State Public Ministry for the church to be questioned criminally. Since 2019, homophobia is a crime under the Racism Law.