Revue - Droit et société n°118-2024 - 131

Working Time and Work Intensity in Portuguese Courts
With regard to pace determinants and interdependency, the qualitative data
show, as mentioned before, a normalizing discourse of the high pace of work in the
judiciary. Operating at a high pace during the week is normalized, as is the habit
of working on weekends. In the words of the next interviewee:
I work at a high pace. We all think we work too hard. Take my own case, I usually get to court
at 8 a.m and I don't have a lunch break. I work right until 6-6:30 p.m, but I always take work
home to do at night, which is something that has been wearing me out. Every weekend without
interruption there has been a need to work.
- LX.Public Prosecutor.02
Analysis of the interviews shows that this normalization is legitimized by the
pressure these professionals put on themselves, but also, in a broader sense,
by the surrounding environment of quantitative-production evaluation. As the
following passage demonstrates, such an environment can lead, albeit in a subtle
and unintended way, to a situation of " control and verification " of production
indicators among peers, which, consequently, can lead to experiencing greater
pressure and (di)stress:
[The high pace] is part of the demands of the profession. It has always been like that and
it always will be. And not only that, there is a perverse outcome, which is that it is not just
the judge who demands this of himself. Their peers also demand it. It seems that judges are
expected to work themselves to death, and that that is actually the proper thing for them to do.
- LX.Judge.03
While it is true that the quarterly assessment charts on the correlation between the number of
incoming cases and the number of resolved cases are essential in order to adequately measure
what justice should be like and how it is working, they also often end up having this counterproductive
aspect, which is the feeling of stress on the part of the magistrate, who tries to fulfil
an objective based on what he sees the colleague next to him doing. It becomes a bit stressful.
- LX.Judge.08
Notwithstanding this " control and verification " system, and despite recognizing
the need to assess productivity and the quality of justice, judicial professionals offer
a critical perspective on the assessment mechanisms currently in place. In addition
to the previous statements, the following responses illustrate the relationship the
interviewees themselves establish between quantity, quality, satisfaction, and
productivity, thus denouncing the absence of qualitative evaluation parameters
for measuring the quality of the work produced.
People evaluate in numbers. They don't assess quality, and I think that's unfair. This does not
mean that there aren't people who do little work, but most people I know work a lot and are
not limited to working hours. They work on weekends too.
- LX.Judge.02
Droit et Société 118/2024 ■
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Revue - Droit et société n°118-2024

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