Brazil's Lower House Approves Text for Labor Reform Bill

04/27/2017 - 10h53

After a plenary session thar lasted over 10 hours, Brazil's Lower House approved on Wednesday night (the 26th) the base text for labor reform, one of the legislative priorities of Michel Temer's Government.

Six amendments that could alter significant parts of the text are still to be analyzed. After that, the reform legislation will move on to the Senate.

The Project has support from business groups. Among the changes is the prevalence, in some cases, of pre-existing agreements between employers and employees to the new legislation, the end of compulsory union dues, obstacles to the filing of labor lawsuits, limits on decisions of the Supreme Labor Court, the possibility of paying holiday pay in three installments, and the flexibilization of employment contracts.

The Government's main argument is that the reforms will encourage and stimulate the business community to resume investments and hiring, thereby reducing the current record unemployment rate of 13,2%.

The opposition as well as some congressional members of the governmental block will still attempt to pass an amendment to re-establish compulsory union dues, which are an annual discount of one day of a worker's wages and employer's contributions.

A transitional period would be approved which would maintain the current rules for the next three years, and for the following three consecutive years, would reduce the compulsory payments until their final extinction.

Among the changes adopted at the last minute by the bill's Rappourter is a fine for companies that pay different salaries for men and women who perform the same function and have the same amount of time on the job in the same position.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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