The Chamber of Deputies approved, in two rounds, on Wednesday, May 27, the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that ends the 6×1 schedule and establishes a weekly work schedule of 40 hours distributed over five working days and two days of paid rest. The text now goes to the Senate for analysis.

The proposal was approved in the second round with 461 votes in favor and 19 against. In the first round, there were 472 votes in favor and 22 against.

The approved text is a substitute presented by Representative Leo Prates (Republicanos-BA) to the proposals of Representatives Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG) and Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP).

The proposed constitutional amendment (PEC) foresees a gradual transition to reduced working hours. Two months after the enactment of the future constitutional amendment, workers governed by the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) will be entitled to two paid days off per week, one of them preferably on Sundays.

Within that same timeframe, the maximum weekly working hours will decrease from 44 to 42. The definitive reduction to 40 hours should occur 14 months after the enactment of the Constitutional Amendment.

During the transition period, collective agreements and conventions may extend the daily work schedule beyond eight hours to compensate for the weekly reduction, provided that the two paid rest days are respected.

The text also stipulates that the reduction in working hours cannot result in a salary cut, either nominal or proportional. This guarantee applies even to already established minimum wages.

The proposed amendment, however, creates exceptions for workers with a higher education degree and remuneration above 2.5 times the Social Security ceiling, as well as outsourced employees linked to the public administration.

The proposal also allows ordinary laws to establish differentiated regimes for certain categories, provided that the constitutional limits of 40 hours per week and two days of rest are respected. Cases such as 12×36 shifts and essential activities in health, security, transportation, and urban cleaning may maintain specific rules through collective bargaining.

For individual micro-entrepreneurs (MEIs), micro and small businesses, the proposed constitutional amendment (PEC) includes transitional rules that will be regulated later by complementary law. The expectation is that the government will present measures to mitigate the impact of the change on small businesses.

Another point in the text establishes that clauses in collective agreements and conventions that are incompatible with the new work schedule will lose validity two months after the promulgation of the constitutional amendment.

First published in Portuguese by Brasil de Fato.

The post Brazil approves end to 6×1 work schedule and reduction of the work week to 40 hours appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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