José Roberto Freire Pimenta was born on February 4, 1956, in São Sebastião do Paraíso, Minas Gerais. First place admition to the college entrance exam, he enrolled in 1974 in Belo Horizonte, at the Law School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, graduating with a bachelors degree in December 1978, when he was awarded the "Barão do Rio Branco Award", given to the best student in the class. He later became a Specialist and then a Doctor of Constitutional Law from the same UFMG.

After his first-place admition in the public tender in 1982, he served as prosecutor of the State of Minas Gerais until December of 1988, at the same time that he developed intense activity as a labor lawyer for several trade union organizations. In December 1988, he took office as substitute District Labour Judge, after having been first-place admitted in the public tender.

He worked as a Labour Judge in Minas Gerais for nearly 22 years, from 1988 to 2010. From 1990 to 2002, he was Labour Judge President and, from 1999, holder of the District Labour Court in João Monlevade, in the 2nd District Labour Court in Betim, in the 3rd District Labour Court in Contagem and the 14th District Labour Court in Belo Horizonte. In July 2002, by merit, he became a Regional Labour Court Judge of the 3rd Region, where he also served on the Internal Rules Committee, as of January 2004, and in the Special Commission, as a member elected by his peers, for the terms 2006-2007 and 2008-2009. At the same time, he was also a member of several public contest committees for the position of substitute District Labour Judge of the 3rd Region.

From 2001 onwards, he was also a member of the Advisory Council of the Judicial School of the Regional Labour Court of the 3rd Region, acting as its academic coordinator in 2005 and its director from January 2006 to December 2007. He joined the Advisory Board of the National School for the Formation and Improvement of Labour Magistrates (ENAMAT) since its structuring, in September 2006, in one of the two vacancies for Regional Labour Judges, having been reappointed in March 2009 by unanimous vote of the Plenary of the Superior Labour Court, leaving this position on September 3, 2010, when he took office as a Justice of the Superior Labour Court (TST). He has also been a member of the ENAMAT faculty since its creation. On February 28, 2018, he was again elected by the TST Plenary to integrate, this time in one of the vacancies for the Justices of the Superior Court, the Advisory Board of ENAMAT.

From February 2002 to September 2017, he worked as a professor - undergraduate and graduate - of the Law School of the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) of Minas Gerais, teaching disciplines in the areas of Labour Law and Labour Procedural Law. In August 2010, he turned his dedication, exclusively, to the master's and doctorate in Law from PUC-Minas (PUC Minas Virtual). From August 2018 onwards, he started to work as a Professor at the University Center from Distrito Federal - UDF, in the areas of Labour Law and Labour Procedural Law.

He is the author of several articles published in collective books or academic journals in the labour area, having contributed as co-author and co-organizer of the collective books "Direito do Trabalho: evolução, crise e perspectivas" (São Paulo: LTr, 2004) and "Tutela metaindividual trabalhista: a defesa coletiva dos direitos dos trabalhadores em Juízo" (São Paulo: LTr, 2009).

He took office as a Justice of the Superior Labour Court on September 3, 2010, in a vacancy destined for the magistracy. He integrates the Second Chamber and Subsection I of the Specialized Section on Individual Disputs (SbDI-1) of the Superior Labour Court. In March 2011, the Full Court elected him as a member of the Permanent Commission on Internal Regulations and the Commission to coordinate the work of the Center for Formation and Improvement of Assessors and Civil Servants TST - CEFAST. On March 10, 2014, the same Full Court brought him back to the same Commissions and also elected him Chairman of the CEFAST Commission from February 10, 2014 to February 25, 2016. On August 4, 2015, he was elected President of the Second Chamber of TST, having been reelected in February 2016 and February 2018 to serve two-year terms. On June 27, 2016, he was elected by the Full Court to be a member of the Special Commission of the Superior Labour Court, as of August 12, 2016, for a term of two years.