Labor Courts have been recognizing that contractual changes and terminations made through text messaging Apps are lawful

Due to pandemic and social distancing, employer and employees are making use of Apps for communication regarding changes in the work routine and even termination of the employment agreement. Due to that, many lawsuits were filed before Labor Courts challenging the use of communication Apps for these purposes.  The trend of the Courts is to validate the communication made through Apps under the argument that the communications were valid as proof, since the employment agreement does not require excessive formalities, what would also be applicable to its termination, especially when it is possible to imply that the employee was unequivocally aware of the termination, considering that apps such as WhatsApp are a communication tool like any other.
 
Notwithstanding the relevance of the labor precedents on the subject, employer must be cautious of the language used in the dismissal communications, in order to avoid the employee facing embarrassing and humiliating situations. This is because, even though there is no legal prohibition on this form of communication, it must be based on good faith and urbanity that govern labor and employment relations.
 
In addition to being necessarily clear and fluid, such communications must also comply with  their reasonable and transparent use, whose purpose is to preserve the employee’s rights of personality and intimacy, under penalty of such non-compliance generating the duty to indemnify the victim, in view of the disrespect of the worker’s human condition.
 
It is also recommended that the employer adopts all possible precautions, observing the prudence and sensitivity required at the time, since the employee, as a rule, is in a state of weakness and emotional exposure, not existing to date a consolidated understanding issued Superior Labor Court.