The complexity of Brazilian Employment Laws

It’s not a secret that hiring or firing in Brazil is not cheap!

In fact, it is common in Brazil to say that an employee costs twice his salary.

If you are doing business in Brazil, it is crucial to understand the complexities of Brazilian employment laws and their relationship with their employees. In fact, those laws are mainly protecting the employee’s interests above the ones of the employer, leading companies to seek innovative agreements for contracting workers.  

Regarding the working hours in Brazil, they should not exceed 44 hours a week and 8 hours a day. In this case, the employee would have to work 4 hours on Saturday. However, even if Brazil passed a law that allows employees to claim this extra work outside of regular office hours as overtime, lot of employees are not working extra 48 min every day in order to take Saturday off because they are afraid of being judge too negatively by their superiors.

Regarding the vacation, employees also get a vacation bonus, which is 33 percent of their monthly salary, and enjoy 41 vacation days per year (which includes public holidays).

If you are a pregnant woman in Brazil, you will see that the judicial system  has also been established in your favor. Indeed, after giving birth to your child you will receive a generous maternity leave policy including six months' paid leave. Also, with the exception of those working on trial period, don't worry because you can't be fired once the pregnancy has been found out and five months after the baby was born.

Besides, if you are working far away for your office or if you are friendly with the food (I am sure you are!) you have found in Brazil your country of predilection! Indeed, Brazilian employers are obliged to cover its employees’ transportation costs and provide a meal for those working 8 hours a day. 

You also have to remember that terminating someone’s employment in Brazil is really difficult. The employer who want to dismiss his/ her employee will have to give the proof for terminating employment, by filing an explanation’s contract with the relevant labor authority.When dismissing your employee, you must notify him one month in advance or pay him the amount equivalent to a month salary. Earlier this month a new legislation was implemented and besides the previous 30 days, now there is the addition of three days per year of work, so an employee who has worked for 20 years will receive an ‘aviso prévio’ of 90 days, which corresponds to three months of salary (which is a lot).

Finally, there is a common behavior that you need to be aware of: Brazilians love to sue their employers. It is a cultural behavior, a way to make 'easy money'. Aware of that, many companies decide to operate illegally and wait to see if the employee is going to sue them or not. In many cases, this practice is a lot cheaper than working under proper regulation. 


So,through this article, I would just advice you to be familiar with the Brazilian employment laws if you intend to do business in this country.

And remember: "Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers". Stephen R. Covey