The Public Ministry of Labor in Mato Grosso (MPT-MT) filed a public civil action against the mayor of Cuiabá, Abilio Brunini (PL), after he suggested that workers who voted for the re-elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) should resign if they had Bolsonarian bosses. The action was filed on October 30 and published this Monday (9).
The organization states that the declaration may encourage discrimination at work based on political position and asks for R$300,000 in compensation for collective moral damage.
g1 contacted Cuiabá City Hall, but did not receive a response until the last update of this report.
The speech was made at a press conference on October 27, two days after the second round of the presidential elections. The video was published on the mayor's Instagram (watch above).
In the interview, Abilio was asked whether he supported Bolsonaro businessmen who defended the dismissal of PT employees. He responded that he was against dismissal on the boss's initiative and said that the right should not start a “witch hunt”. He then suggested that the workers themselves leave their jobs.
“So that he doesn't suffer, working in an environment where the boss is a Bolsonarista, I think that the people who voted for Lula have to resign so they can have a more peaceful life, enjoy the zero to zero scale, without having to work every day of the week”, he declared.
What the MPT asks for
For the MPT, the speech associates remaining in employment with the political position of workers. The body maintains that disagreements between employees and employers cannot serve as a reason for embarrassment, professional exclusion or breach of employment contracts.
The action also cites Abilio's previous statements on the topic. According to the MPT, the mayor had already responded to a recommendation from the body and made a formal commitment to avoid repeating conduct that associated employment with political preferences.
In addition to compensation, the MPT asks Abilio to remove the video from Instagram, stop encouraging discriminatory practices due to political conviction and release a statement about the prohibition of these practices. Among the definitive requests is the publication of a retraction video to clarify that partisan differences do not justify embarrassment or loss of employment.
To justify the value of R$300,000, the organization cites the repercussion of the speech, the reach of the mayor's profile, with more than 2.2 million followers, and the repetition of demonstrations on the topic after the commitment signed with the MPT.
Court denied urgent requests
Judge Ive Seidel de Souza Costa, from the 8th Labor Court of Cuiabá, denied the requests for urgency in a decision dated October 31, during court duty, but the public civil action remains ongoing. She considered that Abilio had taken a stand against dismissals on the initiative of employers and that the material presented so far did not provide evidence of dismissals or pressure from employers on employees due to their speech.
The judge understood that it would be necessary to analyze more evidence and hear the defense to assess whether the statement could encourage discriminatory practices. The decision dealt with immediate requests. The merits of the action, including compensation, are yet to be judged.
In an order dated Saturday (7), the judge in charge of the court, Mara Aparecida de Oliveira Oribe, determined that the Public Electoral Ministry be notified about the case. He also ordered Abilio's response to be awaited in the process.
How to report election harassment at work
The MPT-MT received 61 reports of electoral harassment in labor relations between January 1st and October 28th, 2026. Of this total, 31 were registered between October 26th and 28th, in the three days after the second round.
Anyone who suffers or witnesses electoral harassment at work can report it through the following channels:
MPT national channel
MPT reporting channel in Mato Grosso
Email [email protected]
According to the MPT, the identity of the complainant is preserved. In strictly individual cases, the agency recommends contacting the category union, a lawyer or the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), by calling 158.
