PRINCÍPIO DA PROTEÇÃO E ATUAÇÃO RESOLUTIVA DO MINISTÉRIO PÚBLICO DO TRABALHO: UMA ANÁLISE DA ATUAÇÃO DA PROCURADORIA REGIONAL DO TRABALHO DA 13ª REGIÃO DIANTE DA PANDEMIA DE COVID-19

Abstract

The Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 established the Democratic State of Law in Brazil, causing numerous changes in the republican institutions’ structure. Therewith, the Public Prosecution Office had its institutional profile redefined as of the constitutional text’s promulgation, becoming closer to society and more committed to defending group rights in a broad manner. In this context, two paradigms of action were defined for the Public Prosecution Office: the plaintiffs' one and the resolutive one. From the first one the ministerial body has more legal action, as a law keeper, while in the second, it acts predominantly out-of-court, what proves to be a broader, more proactive and effective way to realize fundamental rights in general. Bringing this perspective to the Labor Public Prosecutor's Office, it is believed that a resolutive activity is currently more suitable for its mission of defending the legal order, the democratic regime and the workers social and the unavailable social and individual interests of the workers implementing fundamental labor rights. The resolute also allows for a better consecration of Labor Law’s protection principle, which, as a constitutional principle, constitutes a binding legal element for public authorities’ policies and actions. Thus, taking into account the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has greatly deepened the vulnerability status to which Brazilian workers are subject, the development of resolutive actions by the Labor Public Prosecutor's Office has become even more urgent. Therefore, an assessment was made, analyzing specifically the performance carried out through the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Labor from the 13th Region (PRT-13); how the Labor Public Prosecutor's Office’s resolutive actions allowed the promotion of public actions and policies to face the pandemic, based on the protection principle, especially with regard to its harmful effects on the labor world. Based on an exploratory research methodology, historical comparative methods and the indirect documentary technique, and documentary and bibliographic research methods, it was concluded that, in order to materialize the democratic project defined by the Constitution, the Labor Public Prosecutor's Office, facing the pandemic, had to base itself on institutional plans, programs and projects, in order to have well-defined goals to be achieved, as well social values promoted through its activity, making wide use of its resolutive instruments, all of that based on the worker’s protection principle. It was also noticed that merely plaintiffs' actions would not have been enough to promote qualitative changes in this context in a quick and effective way. The resolutive Public Prosecution Office, however, is not a consolidated paradigm within the institution, which is still predominantly based on a plaintiffs' action, therefore a broader political, social and institutional mobilization is still necessary for its consolidation.