A Brazilian labor court will hold a trial on Wednesday to judge the merits of a union complaint that charges Embraer with illegally laying off 4,300 employees, company CEO Fred Curado confirmed during an interview with AIN today. The court forced Embraer to suspend its plan to cut 20 percent of its 21,000-strong workforce after it agreed to hear the collective lawsuit, but not until the company had already let go and paid severance to “the vast majority” of the 4,300 production workers and managers slated for dismissal, according to Curado.
“Brazilian legislation is very clear about the right of any party, either the employer or the employee, to terminate his labor contact,” said Curado. “Of course, there are compensations which are clearly outlined and the laws are respected. That’s what we did and we actually already paid everybody who left…It would be very hard not to implement what has already been implemented. So [the lawsuit is] kind of a non-starter.”
