Labor & Employment | Machado Associados – Edition 02
Key Highlights
Legislation
Work on Sundays and Holidays
a. Ordinance No. 1,066/2025 of the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MLE) – postpones until March 1, 2026, the requirement for employers to negotiate with labor unions for employee’s work on Sundays and Holidays. This is an additional postponement of the obligation established by Ordinance MTE 3,665/2023, which modified the prior rule that allowed for individual negotiation between employers and employees.
Gender Equality
a. Joint Ordinance No. 2/2025 of the Ministry of Women – republishes the normative act issued in April that established the National Plan for Equal Pay between Women and Men, along with the Steering Committee responsible for its implementation.
b. Decree No. 12,516/2025 – amends the decree regulating Law No. 14,133/2021 to require a minimum percentage of labor from women victims of domestic violence in public procurements. It also includes the adoption of gender equality initiatives at the workplace as a tie-breaker criterion in bidding processes within the federal public administration (direct, autonomous, and foundational entities).
National Congress
a. The Labor Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved Bill No. 3,348/2024, which sets a national minimum monthly wage of R$ 4,000 for translators, interpreters, and guide-interpreters of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). The amount is to be adjusted annually on January 1st, based on the INPC index
Labor Courts
a. ADO No. 82 – The Federal Supreme Court (FSC) upheld the claim by the federal government acknowledging unconstitutional the National Congress’s omission in enacting criminal legislation against the intentional withholding of wages from urban or rural workers, as determined by Section 7(X) of the Federal Constitution. The Court set a 180-day deadline for the legislative gap to be addressed.
Insights
a. Joint Ordinance No. 2/2025 of the Ministry of Women establishes a total of 78 initiatives within the framework of the National Plan for Equal Pay between Women and Men, many of which are likely to directly impact human resources practices in companies and institutions employing workers, such as:
i. Union leaders training for collective bargaining of contractual clauses, promoting women’s access to the labor market, and monitoring compliance with the Equal Pay Law.
ii. Employee training to help identify harassment situations, understand ways to respond, and learn how to report them.
iii. Definition and disclosure of internal guidelines by the MLE for monitoring and sanctioning employers engaged in gender-based wage discrimination.
The Plan reflects the Federal government’s commitment to accelerate the organization of public policies and inspection procedures related to the Equal Pay Law, which has been in effect since 2023. The Law requires companies and organizations with over 100 employees to release salary transparency reports and adopt mechanisms for oversight and reporting of discriminatory practices.
These governmental initiatives will present significant challenges for companies, which will need to accelerate the adoption and revision of internal policies to combat gender discrimination, especially regarding pay standards. Objective measures must be implemented to correct disparities and unjustified differences in compensation.
The National Plan also reinforces the challenging scenario for employers, who must adapt their OHS programs to the new guidelines of MLE’s Regulatory Standard No. 01, which mandates concrete actions to address psychosocial risks at the workplace, many of which intersect with the anti-harassment measures required under the Equal Pay Law.
Therefore, it is crucial that companies promptly develop an action plan addressing these areas, considering the immediate applicability of the Equal Pay Law and the May 2026 deadline for compliance with NR 01. This should involve direct participation from human resources, administrative, and legal departments, as well as senior management to identify inconsistencies and challenges, define responsibilities, and establish deadlines for implementing anti-discrimination measures.
This newsletter is for informational purposes only. For further clarification, please contact our Labor and Social Security team. Machado Associados. All rights reserved.
