Labour & Employment | Edition 21

10.02.2026

Key Highlights

Agribusiness. Unemployment Insurance for Seasonal Rural Workers.

The Labour Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved Bill No. 714/2019, which provides for the payment of unemployment insurance to seasonal rural workers, a benefit that will be granted on a staggered basis according to the length of service provided under contract. Once all legal requirements are met, unemployment insurance may be requested only once per year. The workers will be entitled to two instalments if they worked for a period of more than 2 and up to 4 months, or three instalments if the contracts exceeded 4 months, subject to a maximum of 6 months of benefits.

Discriminatory dismissal. Age discrimination

The 7th Panel of the Labour Court of São Paulo unanimously upheld the first-instance decision and confirmed the obligation of a healthcare employer to indemnify four employees over the age of 50 for having suffered discriminatory dismissal. According to the Panel, documentary and testimonial evidence evidenced the existence of “age-based selectivity” in the termination of employees’ employment agreements. Source: TRT SP.

Discriminatory dismissal. Chemical dependency

The 5th Panel of the Superior Labour Court upheld a decision acknowledging as discriminatory the dismissal of a production operator employed by a company operating in the oil & gas sector. The employee, who was undergoing treatment for chemical dependency, was dismissed without cause shortly after a period of medical leave. Source: TST.

Education. Adjustment to the minimum salary for basic education teachers

The Federal Government enacted Provisional Measure No. 1,334/2026, establishing a 5.4% increase in the national minimum salary for basic education teachers, raising it from BRL 4,867.77 to BRL 5,130.63. The increase applies to public education systems throughout Brazil, based on a 40-hour working week. The Provisional Measure, which is already in force, also provides that the adjustment percentage may never be lower than the inflation rate of the previous year, as measured by the National Consumer Price Index (INPC). Source: Senate News.

Labour enforcement proceedings. Absence of legal liability of a former partner

The 1st Panel of the Labour Court of Campinas upheld a decision denying the inclusion of a former partner in labour enforcement proceedings, on the grounds that the claim had been filed outside the statutory two-year limitation period following the partner’s withdrawal from the company. The decision further emphasised that, although part of the employee’s contractual period coincided with the former partner’s participation in the company, the determining factor for liability is the date on which the labour claim is filed, rather than solely the period during which services were rendered. Source: TRT 15.

Labour enforcement proceedings. Instalment payment of debt

The Labour Court of São Paulo initiated Case Law IRDR No. 40 proceeding to determine the applicability of the instalment payment mechanism provided for under Section 916 of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure to labour enforcement proceedings. The IRDR will assess whether labour debtors may settle their debts in up to six instalments, provided that they acknowledge the validity of the credit and demonstrate an initial deposit of 30% of the total debt amount. Source: TRT 2.

Labour enforcement proceedings. Insufficient evidence of good-faith acquisition of real property by a third-party purchaser

The Superior Labour Court dismissed a rescissory action filed by a third party seeking the cancellation of a judicial attachment imposed by the Labour Court of the State of Bahia on rural property acquired in 2000. Although the claimant argued that the property could not be subject to attachment because the purchase predated the labour enforcement proceedings and that he had exercised good-faith possession for more than ten years, including the execution of improvements on the land, the Court upheld the reasoning of the lower courts, finding that the purchase and sale agreement had not been formally registered and that there was no evidence of lawful possession of the property by the third-party purchaser. Source: TST.

Moral damages. Defamatory email

The 18th Panel of the Labour Court of São Paulo upheld the original decision acknowledging the unlawful conduct of a childcare management entity and its obligation to pay compensation for moral damages to a former employee due to the sending of emails containing defamatory content. The Panel set the compensation at BRL 6,000, in accordance with the criteria established under Section 223-G of the Brazilian Labour Code, which sets limits for compensation for non-pecuniary damages. In addition, the institution was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to 2% of the updated value of the claim for bad-faith litigation, as it denied the content of the email in contradiction to the evidence on record, including at appellate level. Source: TRT 2.

8. Recruitment process. Prohibition on requiring physical fitness

The 4th Panel of the Superior Labour Court dismissed an appeal filed by a company against a decision that annulled the disqualification of a candidate in a recruitment process for the position of meter reader based on a physical fitness test. Although included in the recruitment notice, the requirement was deemed unconstitutional, as the physical exertion test was not relevant to the duties to be performed, constituting a disproportionate requirement misaligned with the principles governing recruitment. Source: TST.

Slave labour. Conviction of foreign companies

The Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations will review Bill No. 2,203/2023, which prohibits Brazilian companies from engaging in commercial transactions with foreign firms that have been convicted of exploiting slave labour or labour analogous to slavery, in accordance with the laws of the country in which they are headquartered. The bill has already been approved by the Human Rights Committee and will continue to proceed through other committees before being submitted to the Chamber of Deputies. Source: Senate News.

Termination for cause. Employer liability excluded for murder occurring at a construction site

The 2nd Specialised Subsection for Individual Labour Disputes of the Superior Labour Court excluded a construction company from liability for the murder of a service provider who was shot and killed at a construction site in the city of Santos. The Court held that there were no elements linking the homicide to the activities performed by the service provider or to the employer’s conduct, as the crime resulted from the actions of third parties unrelated to the work. The Court further considered it unreasonable to require the employer to conduct daily searches or to maintain full surveillance throughout the entire construction site, noting that the use of uniforms by the perpetrators did not, in itself, evidence a security failure, as such garments may be replicated. Source: TST.

Working hours. Judgment annulled due to denial of evidentiary production

The 11th Panel of the Labour Court of Campinas acknowledged a violation of the right to defence and annulled a judgment rendered by a lower court in the city of São Carlos, which had denied questions concerning working hours on the grounds that the employee had allegedly confessed the matter. Upon reviewing the employee’s appeal, the Panel concluded that there had been an undue restriction on the production of oral evidence during the evidentiary hearing, thereby compromising the exercise of adversarial proceedings and full defence. By annulling the judgment, the Panel ordered a new evidentiary hearing with the reopening of oral evidence on working hours, ensuring that the parties are allowed to submit all relevant questions. Source: TRT 15.