Employment law for companies
Employment law advisory for companies
Advisory, litigation and employment compliance for companies. Law firm in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, acting nationwide.
Talk to the employment team
Whom we represent
The firm acts exclusively for the employer. We do not bring employment claims against companies.
The first move
Your company has been served with an employment claim. What happens now?
Once served, the company is summoned to a hearing and the deadline to file a defense starts running. The procedure requires a written defense supported by documents, a company representative who knows the facts, and, where the case calls for it, a list of witnesses.
Before that comes work that rarely shows: gathering the employment contract and its amendments, working-time records, payslips and payroll, occupational health exams, proof of delivery of protective equipment and the e-Social history. That body of evidence defines what can actually be argued in court.
In parallel, the case must be classified by risk. That classification is what feeds the accounting provision and the decision between settling and defending — a decision that, made without method, is expensive in both directions.
Employment liabilities
How employment liabilities are measured and reduced
Employment liability is not only the sum of pending claims. It is also the risk that has not yet become a lawsuit: routines, contracts and practices repeated every month that produce the next claim.
Employment audit
A review of hiring, working time, variable pay, health and safety and termination routines, cross-checked against the company’s history of adverse rulings. The output is a map of what generates claims.
Review of contracts and internal policies
Employment and service contracts, internal regulations, remote-work and hour-bank policies, targets and commission schemes, and the design of relationships with contractors and service providers.
Remediation plan and provisioning
Root-cause correction ordered by risk and amount, with the effect reflected in the accounting provision. Reducing liability starts with no longer producing it.
High-volume litigation
High-volume employment litigation and case portfolios
Companies facing repetitive claims need a standard, not individual effort in every case. We manage high-volume portfolios with a unified defense strategy and objective decision criteria.
Standardized defense strategy
Defenses, evidence and appeals built from a common core and adapted to each case. It removes rework and eliminates contradictions between filings by the same company.
Settlement policy by risk band
Authority levels set together with the client: what gets settled, in which value band and at which stage. The decision is no longer made case by case in the dark.
Indicators, management reporting and provisioning
Periodic reporting on volume, stage, risk and amounts at stake, in a format the controllership can use to classify contingencies as probable, possible or remote, in line with Brazilian accounting standard CPC 25.
Prevention and compliance
Preventive employment law and compliance
NR-1 and psychosocial risks
Since 26 May 2026, psychosocial risk factors must be part of the risk inventory of the occupational risk management programme, with assessment and an action plan, with no exemption by company size. A poorly built programme is not only an enforcement risk: it becomes evidence against the company in moral damages and occupational illness claims.
Independent-contractor arrangements and STF Theme 1389
The Federal Supreme Court will set a binding precedent on the lawfulness of engaging service providers as legal entities (ARE 1,532,603). Since June 2026 these cases resumed at first instance and before the Regional Labour Courts, which put evidence gathering back at the centre. What defines employment is how the work is actually performed, not the contract signed.
Working time, time records and hour banks
Working-time control, shift patterns, on-call time, breaks and offsetting agreements. Faulty records are the most common origin of overtime awards and their knock-on effects.
Hazard pay and occupational health
Classification of hazardous and unhealthy agents, health and safety programmes, delivery and monitoring of protective equipment, and defense in claims for hazard premiums and occupational illness.
Outsourcing and secondary liability
Outsourcing is lawful regardless of the activity, but the contracting company remains secondarily liable. That defense is built with documented supervision of the contract, not after being served.
Harassment, safety committee and reporting duties
Anonymous reporting channels, investigation and sanctions, the periodic training required by Law 14,457/2022, the pay transparency report for companies with one hundred or more employees, and consistency of the information filed through e-Social.
Collective relations
Union relations and collective bargaining
Union classification, negotiation of collective agreements, collective disputes and the handling of mass dismissals — which, under Theme 638 of the Federal Supreme Court, require prior union involvement, without this meaning that the union authorizes the dismissals.
The Supreme Court also held, in Theme 1046, that collective bargaining agreements limiting or waiving rights are valid, except for absolutely non-waivable rights. Used well, collective bargaining is an instrument of predictability, not merely of concession.
We also act in civil inquiries and public civil actions brought by the Labour Prosecution Office and in the negotiation of conduct adjustment agreements.
Corporate exposure
Corporate groups, employer succession and shareholder liability
Sharing the same shareholders does not by itself create a corporate group: article 2, §3 of the Labour Code requires integrated interest, an effective community of interests and joint action. Once the group is established, however, liability becomes joint and several, and enforcement reaches the other companies.
Family structures with a holding company, the operating business and real estate held under separate entities concentrate this exposure. We act on the preventive organization of these structures, on employer succession in corporate transactions and on the defense in piercing-the-corporate-veil proceedings.
Sectors we serve
Employment exposure changes with the business. These are the sectors where we have the deepest operational knowledge.
Automotive
Dealerships combine four sources of risk at once: retail (working time, targets and commissions), workshop (hazardous and unhealthy conditions), outsourcing of washing, towing and yard services, and corporate group exposure between store, workshop and holding company. The binding precedents of the Superior Labour Court on sales commissions apply directly to this operation.
Real estate and construction
Brokerage is among the activities cited by the Supreme Court in the case on engaging service providers as legal entities. Developers are secondarily liable for the contractors they hire, must comply with construction safety rules and face corporate group exposure between special purpose entities.
Services and industry
The two most litigated sectors in the Brazilian labour courts: services accounted for 27.9% and industry for 20.6% of the cases filed in 2024, according to the Superior Labour Court’s general report. They concentrate safety regulations, hazard pay, accidents and occupational illness.
Public sector contracts
Companies providing services to public entities live with permanent documentary oversight. Theme 1118 of the Supreme Court, decided in February 2025, placed on the claimant the burden of proving the contracting entity’s failure to supervise, which changes the defense strategy in these contracts.
How we work
What a company can expect from the routine
In high-volume litigation what sets a firm apart is not the individual filing: it is the method repeated every month.
A named lead lawyer
Every company has an identified lead lawyer who knows the operation and answers for the portfolio as a whole.
Triage before the deadline
Every new claim is reported to the client and classified by risk before the deadline to file a defense runs out.
Reporting the controllership can use
The portfolio is reported periodically with volume, stage, risk and amounts at stake, in a format usable for provisioning.
Plain language
Opinions and reports written to be read by decision-makers, with an explicit recommendation and not only the scenario.
Who leads the practice
The employment practice is led by Thaís Savedra, devoted exclusively to Labour Law since 2020, from litigation to preventive corporate advisory, with experience in highly litigious sectors. Institutional coordination is provided by partner Mayara Attié, and the link with the firm’s ongoing corporate advisory is handled by Lucas Teixeira.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I engage service providers as legal entities instead of employees?
- It depends on how the work is actually performed, not on the contract signed. Where there is personal service, regularity, payment and subordination, an employment relationship exists even with a service agreement in place. The Supreme Court will set a binding precedent in Theme 1389. The model is not prohibited today, but it requires careful design and organized evidence.
- Are my cases on contractor arrangements still suspended?
- Partly. Since June 2026 they resumed at first instance and before the Regional Labour Courts. After the regional ruling they are suspended again, and at the Superior Labour Court the suspension remains, until the Supreme Court sets the precedent.
- Has the six-day work week been abolished?
- No. The constitutional amendment proposal was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in May 2026 and is now before the Senate. Until it is enacted, the 44-hour week remains in force.
- Does my company need to do anything about NR-1?
- Yes, and the deadline has passed. Since 26 May 2026 labour inspectors may issue infraction notices. Psychosocial risk factors must be part of the risk inventory, with assessment and an action plan setting owners and deadlines.
- Does NR-1 apply to small companies?
- Yes. The rule created no exemption by company size or headcount. What varies is the level of detail required in the programme.
- Am I liable for the employment debts of a company I outsourced to?
- Yes, secondarily, even where the outsourcing is lawful, under Theme 725 of the Supreme Court. The defense is built through documented supervision of the contract throughout its performance.
- My companies have the same shareholders. Is that already a corporate group?
- Not automatically. Beyond common ownership, article 2, §3 of the Labour Code requires integrated interest, an effective community of interests and joint action. Once the group is established, liability becomes joint and several.
- Do I need to involve the union in a mass dismissal?
- Yes. The Supreme Court held in Theme 638 that prior union involvement is an indispensable requirement for mass dismissals. This does not mean the union authorizes the dismissals or that a collective agreement is required.
- Can I agree with the union on terms that differ from the statute?
- As a rule yes, under Theme 1046 of the Supreme Court, even without explicit consideration, provided that absolutely non-waivable rights and health and safety rules are preserved.
- Is there a cap on moral damages under the Labour Code?
- No. In 2023 the Supreme Court held that the scale in article 223-G is a guiding criterion for reasoning, and judges may award higher amounts with proper justification.
- Does my company need to publish a pay transparency report?
- If it is a private entity with one hundred or more employees, yes, twice a year, under Law 14,611/2023 and Decree 11,795/2023.
- How long does an employment claim take?
- According to the National Council of Justice, the average time in the labour courts is around two years and seven months for the full cycle. The Superior Labour Court, measuring only the first-instance merits phase, reports around six months to judgment. These are different metrics: one measures the whole case, the other only the first stage.
Contact
Talk to the employment team
To discuss a specific matter or to review your company’s employment structure, you can reach us through the channels below.
Office
Av. Almirante Júlio de Sá Bierrenbach, 65, Bloco 1, Sala 324
Barra Olímpica · Rio de Janeiro / RJ
22775-028
Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. Portuguese and English.
M. Attié Sociedade Individual de Advocacia · OAB/RJ 007.748/2025 · Av. Almirante Júlio de Sá Bierrenbach, 65, Bloco 1, Sala 324, Barra Olímpica, Rio de Janeiro/RJ, 22775-028.