What is Appellate ruling (acórdão)?

An appellate ruling is a decision handed down by a panel of judges (art. 204 of the CPC). In labor litigation it is the judgment of an appeal by a Regional Labor Court (TRT) or the Superior Labor Court (TST), which may uphold, reverse or annul the first-instance judgment.

The ruling addresses only what the appeal raised — the so-called devolutive effect. Claims not challenged stand as decided below; the panel’s silence on them does not mean denial, but that the judgment prevails. Only about one in seven adjudicated cases reaches an appellate ruling; labor litigation overwhelmingly ends in the first instance or in settlement.

How LABORIS AI uses it

LABORIS AI distinguishes the original outcome from the appellate one, applies precedence by instance (TST over TRT over the Labor Court), and keeps the ruling pattern faithful to what actually became final — not to what was merely claimed.