The Specialized Subsection I on Individual Labor Disputes (SDI-1) of the Superior Labor Court (TST) dismissed the claim of a commercial representative of a distribution company in Belo Horizonte for the payment of commission differences on installment sales.
According to the decision, the commissions must be calculated on the cash sale value.
Commission differences on installment sales
The representative reported in the labor action that he commercially represented the company in the region of Belo Horizonte and Ribeirão das Neves (MG) for the sale of construction products and materials. According to him, the company did not include in the commission value the interest arising from the financing of installment sales.
The court of first instance dismissed the claim for receipt of the differences. However, the Regional Labor Court of the 3rd Region (TRT-3) (MG) held that the commissions also apply to the portion of the price relating to the financing.
With the non-acceptance of its appeal for review by the Fifth Panel of the TST, the company filed motion for review before the SDI-1, in which it argued that the sale of the product and the financing are distinct operations.
Distinct relationships
The reporting justice of the case observed that it was not the company that financed the installment sale to the clients, but the financial institution. According to him, it is necessary to consider the difference between the legal relationship existing between the representative and the represented company, of intermediation of the sale with the client, and the transaction concluded between the latter and the financial institution, in which the representative neither participated nor directly collaborated for it to happen.
Cash value
Considering that contracts in general must be interpreted in accordance with good faith (Article 422 of the Civil Code) and in view of the prohibition of unjust enrichment (Article 884), the reporting justice concluded that the commissions due to the autonomous commercial representative must be calculated on the cash sale value, unless otherwise stipulated. The decision was unanimous.
See here the case
Source: Labor Justice
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