Former employee nicknamed Patati Patatá wins BRL 10,000 compensation from Coca-Cola factory

The Labor Court ordered Spal Indústria de Bebidas, which manufactures beverages for Coca-Cola, to pay R$10,000 in compensation for moral damages to a former employee who was the target of profanity, nicknames and curses by a superior.

Patati Patatá, Tico and Teco and B1 and B2 were some of the nicknames aimed at the worker, as he said in a lawsuit presented to the 35th Labor Court in Belo Horizonte (MG).

Spal said in a statement that it does not comment on ongoing cases in the Judiciary, but that it values ​​respect and does not accept discrimination or prejudice in its operations. “In this sense, it constantly invests in qualification and training of its employees.”

In addition to what the worker said in the action, the Labor Court heard a witness who confirmed the report and said that the manager did not address the former employee by name, only by cursing and nicknames.

The manager also referred to the man as Bananas in Pajamas, also characters in a children’s series, according to the witness. According to the former co-worker, the employee was also called by his nicknames after being taken to a stage, in front of an audience of more than 500 people, at a company convention.

According to the testimonies, when the manager saw the employees in formal clothes, instead of the red uniform used at the factory, he said aloud to his colleagues: “Look, the only clothes they have to go to mass they wore today”.

The man who sued Spal told the judiciary that he was hired as a self-service replenisher in May 2006, but also served as a marketing assistant. He was fired in January 2019.

This accumulation of function was denied by the company and the judge reporting the case of the TRT-3 (Regional Labor Court of the 3rd Region), Ângela Castilho Rogedo Ribeiro, considered that the worker was not able to prove the accumulation.

However, overtime payment requests were recognised. A witness told the Labor Court that time sheets were collected during meetings. In the action, the former employee was able to prove that his journey started at 7 am and ended around 5:30 pm, with a 30-minute break.

In all, the worker will receive, in updated values, almost R$ 140 thousand.

The sentence that determined the payment of funds and compensation for moral damages was published in September last year, but the execution – which is when the money starts to be paid – was only released this year.

Spal’s defense appealed the TRT-3 to overturn the conviction. The request was denied and they appealed to the TST (Superior Labor Court). In April, the ministers of the 2nd Panel of the TST unanimously denied the company’s request.