On Nov. 25, Brazil’s Superior Labor Court (TST) ruled that the labor reform (Law 13,467/2017) had an immediate effect on ongoing employment contracts, but only to facts occurring after the law’s effective date of Nov. 11, 2017. The court reached this majority decision in a repetitive appeals incident, establishing a binding precedent to be followed by the entire Labor Justice system.
The judgment involved a worker from JBS S.A. in Porto Velho who sought payment for horas in itinere— the time spent commuting using company-provided transportation, which had previously been considered time at the employer’s disposal prior to the labor reform. When the labor law entered into force, this obligation was eliminated. The main issue in question was whether the new rule would apply to contracts established before the reform.
Initially, the Third Panel of the TST ruled that JBS should pay for the horas in itinere, determining that this right was part of the worker’s legal entitlement, covering the entire contractual period from December 2013 to January 2018. However, JBS appealed, and the case was taken up by the Full Court of the TST due to its prominence, aiming to set a precedent for similar cases.
The reporting judge, Minister Aloysio Corrêa da Veiga, argued that the changes introduced by the labor reform should be immediately applied to ongoing contracts, but only for facts occurring after the new legislation. The court’s opinion states that, when contract conditions are derived...
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