Working time in Brazil
Understanding working time in Brazil is one of the most common challenges for foreign companies hiring locally. Brazilian labor law is detailed, protective, and strictly enforced. Small misunderstandings around hours, breaks, or exemptions often lead to disputes.
This guide answers the most frequent employer questions about working time in Brazil, based on the rules of the Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho (CLT).
What Is Considered “Working Time” in Brazil?
In Brazil, working time is defined as the period during which the employee is at the employer’s disposal, regardless of whether the employee is actively performing tasks at every moment.
This means that working time may include periods of waiting, availability, or restricted freedom, as long as the employee cannot use that time fully for personal purposes. This broad interpretation explains why Brazilian courts tend to favor employees when disputes arise over overtime or excess hours.
For employees hired under the CLT, the duration of the workday must be clearly stated in writing in the employment contract. The law does not allow vague or undefined working-hour arrangements.
What Are the Legal Daily and Weekly Working Hours?
The Brazilian Constitution establishes, as a fundamental labor right, that the normal working day may not exceed eight hours per day and forty-four hours per week. This rule appears in article 7, item XIII of the Constitution and is detailed in articles 58 to 65 of the CLT.
Per day
Up to 8 hours
Per week
Up to 44 hours
The law also allows flexibility. Employers and employees may agree on compensation of hours or reduction of the workday, provided this is done through an individual agreement or, more commonly, through a collective bargaining agreement.
In practice, this is why many Brazilian employees either work part of the day on Saturdays or slightly extend their weekday schedule to meet the forty-four-hour weekly limit.
Do All Employees Follow the Same Working Hours?
No. Some professional categories are subject to special working-time rules because of their specific regulations.
For example, bank employees generally work six hours per day or thirty hours per week. Journalists typically work five hours per day. Doctors, radiologists, aeronauts, and lawyers also follow differentiated schedules defined by law or regulation.
These exceptions are not optional. Employers must apply the correct regime based on the employee’s professional category and role.
How Must Employers Control Working Time?
The general rule in Brazil is that working time must be tracked and recorded.
According to article 74, paragraph 2 of the CLT, establishments with more than ten employees are required to record employees’ entry and exit times. This control may be manual, mechanical, or electronic, as long as it follows the rules issued by the Ministry of Labor.
Brazilian case law reinforces this obligation. Under the jurisprudence of the Superior Labor Court (TST), particularly Súmula 338, the employer bears the burden of proof regarding working hours. If the employer fails to present time records without justification, courts may presume that the employee’s claims about their working hours are true.
This point is critical. In Brazil, the absence of proper time records is often enough to lose an overtime lawsuit.
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Are Breaks and Lunch Time Considered Working Time?
No. The intrajornada interval, which is the break for rest and meals, is not counted as working time.
However, Brazilian law strictly regulates the duration of this break. Employees who work more than six hours per day are entitled to a minimum lunch break of one hour. If the daily work period exceeds four hours but does not reach six, the minimum break is fifteen minutes.
When the employer fails to grant the legally required break, the consequence is severe. The employer must pay the suppressed break time as overtime, with an additional charge of at least fifty percent over the normal hourly wage.
The law allows the lunch break to be reduced to thirty minutes in specific situations. After the Labor Reform (Law 13.467/2017), this reduction is permitted when there is a collective agreement or collective convention authorizing it.
What Is the Paid Weekly Rest?
Every employee in Brazil is entitled to a paid weekly rest period, known as Descanso Semanal Remunerado (DSR).
This rest must consist of at least twenty-four consecutive hours and should preferably occur on Sundays. If the employee works on Sundays or public holidays, compensation rules may apply, either through paid time off or additional pay, depending on the situation.
Failure to grant weekly rest is a common source of labor claims and often results in overtime liabilities.
What About Daily Rest Between Workdays?
Brazilian law also requires a minimum rest period of eleven consecutive hours between the end of one workday and the beginning of the next.
This rule applies to all employees, regardless of position or work modality, and is frequently overlooked in practice. When violated, it may lead to claims for additional compensation.
How Are Overtime Hours Regulated?
Brazilian labor law allows employees to work up to two additional hours per day, provided there is an agreement in place. These extra hours must be compensated with an additional payment of at least fifty percent over the normal hourly rate, unless a collective agreement sets a higher percentage.
Alternatively, overtime may be compensated through a bank of hours, subject to legal requirements and time limits.
Is Commuting Time Considered Working Time?
Before the Labor Reform, certain commuting times (horas in itinere) could be considered working time when the employer provided transportation to remote locations without public access.
Today, this is no longer the case. As a rule, time spent commuting between home and work does not count as working time, even if transportation is provided by the employer.
What Is Considered “Time at the Employer’s Disposal”?
The Labor Reform also clarified what is not considered time at the employer’s disposal.
Periods during which the employee remains on company premises by personal choice — for example, for meals, personal hygiene, religious practices, study, leisure, or social activities — are not counted as working time, even if they exceed the regular schedule.
This clarification reduced some uncertainty but did not eliminate disputes, especially when employers exert indirect control over employees’ availability.
How Do Shift Work and Special Schedules Work?
Certain industries operate under uninterrupted shift systems, such as refineries, steel plants, and manufacturing facilities. In these cases, employees rotate between different shifts, often covering day and night periods.
Because of the increased physical and mental strain, the Constitution limits these shifts to six hours per day, unless a collective agreement provides otherwise.
Another recognized exception is the 12×36 schedule, where employees work twelve hours followed by thirty-six hours of rest. This arrangement is commonly used in healthcare and security services and is accepted by the TST, provided it is authorized by law or collective agreement.
Who Can Be Exempt From Working-Time Control?
Brazilian law recognizes limited exceptions where employees are not subject to working-time tracking or overtime pay. These exceptions are interpreted very strictly.
External employees may be exempt only when their activities are genuinely incompatible with any form of time control. If the employer has any means of monitoring schedules, routes, or system access, overtime rules apply.
Employees in positions of trust, such as managers and supervisors, may also be exempt. However, courts analyze this on a case-by-case basis, considering actual decision-making power, autonomy, and salary differentiation. Titles alone are not enough.
Remote workers are defined as employees who provide services predominantly outside the employer’s premises using information and communication technologies. Despite common misconceptions, remote work does not automatically exclude employees from overtime. If working hours can be monitored, the general rules apply.
How Can Europortage Support Your Business in Brazil?
Managing working time in Brazil requires deep local expertise. Europortage acts as your Employer of Record (EOR), hiring and managing employees on your behalf while ensuring full compliance with Brazilian labor law.
We handle employment contracts, working-time rules, payroll, and ongoing compliance, allowing you to focus on your business without navigating Brazil’s legal complexity alone.
If you are planning to hire in Brazil or already employ staff locally, Europortage helps you operate safely and efficiently.
