Employment 2025

BRAZIL Law and Practice Contributed by: Caio Medici Madureira, Rodrigo Souza Macedo and Nestor dos Santos Saragiotto, Tortoro, Madureira & Ragazzi Advogados

representative committee, with proxy voting pro - hibited; • if there are not enough candidates, the employee representative committee may be formed with fewer members; • the term of office of the members of the employee representative committee shall be one year; • a member who has served as an employee repre - sentative on the committee may not be a candidate for the two subsequent terms; • the term of office as a member of the employee representative committee does not imply suspen - sion or interruption of the employment contract, and the employee must remain in the exercise of their duties; and • from the registration of the candidacy until one year after the end of the term of office, members of the employee representative committee may not be dismissed arbitrarily, meaning without disciplinary, technical, economic or financial grounds. 6.3 Collective Bargaining Agreements In simple terms, both collective agreements and collective bargaining agreements are collective bar - gaining instruments that establish rules and work - ing conditions, but with different levels of coverage. A collective bargaining agreement is an agreement between employers’ and employees’ unions, covering an entire professional category in a given region. A collective agreement, on the other hand, is an agree - ment between one or more workers’ unions and one or more specific companies. The Federal Supreme Court ruled, in a binding opinion, that “collective agreements and conventions are constitutional when, consider - ing the negotiated sectoral adequacy, they agree on limitations or waivers of labour rights, regardless of the specified explanation of compensatory advan - tages, provided that absolutely inalienable rights are respected”. The CLT establishes, in Article 611-B, the limita - tions on collective bargaining. This list is not exhaus - tive, meaning that it can be interpreted broadly by the courts, but it provides an indication of the most obvious prohibitions. The following rights may not be suppressed or reduced in collective bargaining agree - ments or collective labour agreements:

• professional identification standards, including entries in the Work and Social Security Card; • unemployment insurance, in the event of involun - tary unemployment; • value of monthly deposits and severance pay from the Guarantee Fund for Length of Service (FGTS); • minimum wage; • nominal value of the thirteenth salary; • remuneration for night work higher than that of daytime; • protection of wages in accordance with the law, with intentional withholding constituting a crime; • family allowance; • paid weekly rest; • remuneration for overtime work at least 50% higher than normal; • number of days of holiday due to the employee; • paid annual leave with at least one third more than the normal wage; • maternity leave with a minimum duration of 120 days; • paternity leave under the terms established by law; • protection of the female labour market through specific incentives, in accordance with the law; • notice proportional to length of service, with a mini - mum of 30 days, in accordance with the law; • health, hygiene and safety standards at work pro - vided for by law or by regulatory standards of the Ministry of Labour; • additional remuneration for arduous, unhealthy or dangerous activities; • retirement; • insurance against accidents at work, paid for by the employer; • action regarding credits resulting from labour rela - tions, with a limitation period of five years for urban and rural workers, up to a limit of two years after the termination of the employment contract; • prohibition of any discrimination regarding salary and admission criteria for workers with disabilities; • prohibition of night work, dangerous or unhealthy work for minors under 18 years of age and any work for minors under 16 years of age, except as apprentices, from the age of 14; • legal protection measures for children and adoles - cents; • equal rights between workers with permanent employment and casual workers;

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