Revue - Droit et société n°118-2024 - 135

Working Time and Work Intensity in Portuguese Courts
decrease in the areas of trade and commerce. These findings align with studies
conducted in other countries, namely France,55 United States,56 and Brazil.57
The major discrepancies have to do with " profession " and " judicial district
court " there by reinforcing the argument that the competencies within each profession
are a key factor for the values obtained in relation to working time and
work intensity, as mentioned above, as is the location of the work place, namely
the judicial district court where the professional is working. Due to the country's
judicial organization, a number of differences can be found from one court to
another, which explains the different results.58
Conclusion
The courts' performance relies on the working capacity of the judicial professionals.
To ensure fair, swift, and quality justice and to reduce the risk of burnout,
it is imperative to provide these professionals with the best possible working
conditions. Among the various dimensions related to the judicial professionals'
working conditions are working time and work intensity. Based on the EUROFOUND
approach-with the necessary adaptations to the country's judicial specificities-,
this article highlighted the possible impact of working time and work intensity on
burnout in Portuguese's judges, public prosecutors, and court clerks.
In the study we developed on the working conditions of judicial professionals
in Portuguese courts, an online questionnaire was sent to all the professionals
involved and interviews were conducted with 73 of them working in the district
courts of Coimbra and Central Lisbon (the selected case studies). The quantitative
and qualitative results permit us to draw three conclusions related to the impact
of working time and work intensity and, consequently, on the risk of burnout.
The first conclusion has to do with the need to work extra hours to meet the
procedural deadlines. This is more demanding on judges and public prosecutors
than in the case of court clerks, who work less overtime, and impact on the personal
and family life of these professionals is significant: their capacity to participate in
family duties and activities is diminished. Therefore, the amount of working time
devoted to the profession is higher than professionals would like it to be, with
multiple negative effects on their quality of life. The time necessary to fulfil the
judicial demands takes priority in the decision-making of these professionals- " the
55. Benoit Bastard and Christian Mouhanna, Une justice dans l'urgence. Le traitement en temps réel
des affaires pénales, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2007. DOI: 10.3917/puf.bast.2007.01.
56. Stuart Lustig, Kevin Delucchi, Lakshika Tennakoon, Brent Kaul, Dana Leigh Marks, and Denise
Slavine, " Burnout and Stress Among United States Immigration Judges, " Bender's Immigration Bulletin,
13, 2008, p. 22-30.
57. Marilda Lipp and Maria do Sacramento Tanganelli, " Stress e Qualidade de Vida em Magistrados
da Justiça do Trabalho: Diferenças entre Homens e Mulheres, " Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 15 (3),
2002, p. 537-548.
58. João Paulo Dias and Conceição Gomes, " Judicial Reforms 'Under Pressure', " cited article, p. 174-186.
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Revue - Droit et société n°118-2024

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