THE ROLE OF THE LABOR INSPECTORATE IN THE PROTECTION OF THE MENTAL HEALTH OF WORKERS: FROM PREVENTION TO THE LEGITIMACY TO PROPOSE JUDICIAL PROTECTION

Abstract

The mental health of workers has become one of the greatest challenges of contemporary labor relations, given the significant increase in psychological disorders associated with working conditions and the organization of work. In this context, the present study analyzes the performance of the Brazilian Public Labor Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público do Trabalho – MPT) in the protection of workers’ mental health, focusing on its preventive, extrajudicial, and judicial functions, as well as its constitutional legitimacy for the collective defense of a psychosocially healthy work environment. The study examines the normative advances introduced by Ordinance MTE No. 1,419/2024, which amended Regulatory Standard No. 01 (NR-01) to expressly include psychosocial risks within the Occupational Risk Management (GRO) and the Risk Management Program (PGR), reinforcing the need for the prevention of psychological illness in the workplace. A qualitative methodology is adopted, of a descriptive-exploratory nature, based on bibliographic and documentary procedures, developed through legislative, doctrinal, jurisprudential, and institutional research. The investigation demonstrates that psychosocial risks transcend the individual sphere of the worker and assume a collective dimension, requiring coordinated and permanent action from social protection institutions. In this scenario, the strategic role of the Public Labor Prosecutor’s Office is highlighted, especially through preventive and resolutive instruments such as recommendations, civil investigations, terms of conduct adjustment, and public civil actions. The relevance of the Psychosocial Report is also emphasized as a technical-scientific instrument capable of identifying organizational risk factors, supporting investigations, guiding corrective measures, and strengthening the evidentiary basis required for the collective protection of mental health. It is concluded that the effectiveness of collective protection of workers’ mental health depends on the integration of prevention, inspection, and accountability, with the Public Labor Prosecutor’s Office playing an essential role in promoting safer, healthier, more humanized work environments compatible with the constitutional values of human dignity, the social value of work, and social justice.