Digital Evidence in Labor Proceedings: balance between evidentiary effectiveness and fundamental rights
Name: JOÃO VICTOR LOSS DE SOUZA
Publication date: 16/05/2025
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| CLAUDIO IANNOTTI DA ROCHA | Presidente |
| PLATON TEIXEIRA DE AZEVEDO NETO | Examinador Externo |
| RICARDO JOSÉ MACEDO DE BRITTO PEREIRA | Examinador Externo |
| TIAGO FIGUEIREDO GONCALVES | Examinador Interno |
Summary: Object: This research analyzes digital evidence in labor proceedings, aiming to verify how itsproduction and evaluation can balance the fundamental rights established in the FederalConstitution with evidentiary effectiveness. Research Problem: The increasing adoption ofdigital evidence in labor litigation brings advances in efficiency and accuracy but also poseschallenges in reconciling fundamental rights such as adversarial principle, broad defense,privacy, and dignity. The production of such evidence may expose risks like abusivesurveillance, improper use of data, and fragility in preserving validity and utility requirements.Its evaluation demands technical and legal criteria that ensure impartiality, especially given theasymmetries between employers and employees. The core issue concerns how to apply legaland technological mechanisms to secure a balance between evidentiary effectiveness and theprotection of fundamental rights. Research Question: How to ensure the balance betweenprotecting workers’ fundamental rights and evidentiary effectiveness in the production andevaluation of digital evidence in labor proceedings? Hypothesis: The use of digital evidence inlabor proceedings is constitutionally valid, provided that proportionality and reasonableness inobtaining such evidence are assessed, weighing the right to proof against the protection ofworkers’ fundamental rights, such as privacy, intimacy, and personal data. Methodology: Itconsists of a qualitative documental analysis of legal literature, the Constitution of theFederative Republic of Brazil, the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT), the Code of CivilProcedure (CPC), the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), and jurisprudence from theSuperior Labor Court (TST) and Regional Labor Courts (TRTs). Starting from generalpremises, through deductive logical reasoning, it proposes a thesis of balancing fundamentalrights in the production and evaluation of digital evidence in labor proceedings.Contributions:The research contributes to an updated interpretation of due process of law, considering thechallenges posed by digital evidence in labor proceedings and reinforcing fundamental rights.It offers solutions to harmonize evidentiary production with the protection of constitutionalrights such as privacy and intimacy. Practically, it suggests technical and legal parameters forthe evaluation of digital evidence in this procedural context. Area of Concentration: Justice,Process and Constitution. Line of Research: Justice Systems, Constitutionality and Protectionof Individual and Collective Rights.
