Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa; 2021-09-15; 526/18.0T8FNC-B-4
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:PT:TRL:2021:526.18.0T8FNC.B.4.C0
Date: 2021-09-15
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Portugal

82021PT0915(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case regards a matter of admissibility of a jurisdiction clause brought before the Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’).
A Portuguese employee A (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) filed a suit in Portugal against an Italian company B (hereinafter ‘defendant 1’), a Portuguese Company C (hereinafter ‘defendant 2’), and a French company D (hereinafter ‘defendant 3’), for damages arising from the unlawful termination of an employment contract.
The Court of First Instance ruled that the Portuguese courts did not have jurisdiction regarding defendant 1, because it was not an employer of the plaintiff, but only a company whose stock options were given as payment to the plaintiff within the employment contract with defendants 2 and 3. Besides, the Stock Option Plan signed between the plaintiff and defendant 1 attributed jurisdiction to the Italian courts. Regarding defendant 2, the ‘Accord de Participation’ signed with the plaintiff had a jurisdiction clause which attributed jurisdiction to the French Courts. Finally, regarding the alleged violation of essential formalities in the pre-trial disciplinary proceedings to dismiss the employee, the Court of First Instance ruled that not numbering the pages of the file does not invalidate the disciplinary proceedings (although it is usual to do so, especially in large companies), since it does not violate any of the prerequisites of formality of Article 382(2) of the CT (1).
The Court of Appeal upheld the decision regarding the validity of the pre-trial disciplinary proceedings to dismiss the employee but reversed the decisions regarding the inclusion of defendant 1 in the same trial and the jurisdiction of the Portuguese courts.
The plaintiff alleged that defendant 1 was not merely a vehicle for paying stock options but was also, at a certain point, responsible for the international coordination of the work that the plaintiff carried out for defendants 2 and 3. All defendants are part of the same group. This relationship justifies including defendant 1 in the same trial, and not forcing the employee, as the weakest party, to file more than one suit. Under Article 334 of the CT, companies in the same group can be jointly responsible for employment credits. Despite the fact that Article 98L of the CPT (2) does not expressly apply Article 266(4) of the CPC (3) to these cases, the jurisprudence of the same Court of Appeal (4) has considered that there is enough connection between the parties to justify calling the company to intervene as a party in the case under Article 316(2) and (3) of the CPC.
As for the jurisdiction of the Portuguese courts, the Court of Appeal concluded that the jurisdiction clause included in the Stock Option Plan, attributing jurisdiction to the Italian courts, was valid under Articles 21 and 25 of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (5), but that this jurisdiction is not exclusive, thereby still allowing the case to be brought before the Portuguese courts, considering that, as stated in Recitals 18 and 19 of the Brussels I Regulation (recast), in relation to employment contracts, the weaker party should be protected by rules of jurisdiction more favourable to his interests than the general rules.
(1) Código do Trabalho (Labour Code).
(2) Código de Processo de Trabalho (Code of Labour Procedure).
(3) Código de Processo Civil (Code of Civil Procedure).
(4) A judgment issued on 30 May 2012 (case no. 190/11.7TTFUN) regarding companies of the same group and a judgment issued on  01/09/2016 (case no. 3584/15.5T8CS), regarding multiple employers.
(5) Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast).