On November 23, 2023, Brazil’s Ministry of Labor issued Federal Decree No. 11,795/2023. This update to Brazilian Labor Law regulates its “Equal Pay Law” 14,611 of July 3, 2023 and came into effect immediately.
Companies with 100 or more employees are now required to publish biannual salary transparency reports. In cases of pay disparities, employers must create action plans, with detailed goals, deadlines, and training programs. The decree also provides further clarity on labor law amendments.
Like the US and much of the world, Brazil faces a long wait for gender pay equality at present rates of progress. While it is making big strides towards achieving equality, the country is still ”decades away from wage equality.” It’s estimated that women in the Brazilian workforce will not see equal pay until 2047. For Black Brazilians that date is pushed out to 2089.
Available data on the pay gap supports those estimates. Female workers in Brazil earn 21% less than men, according to data from the Inter-Trade Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIESSE). In sectors such as health, education, and social services, that gap widens to 32%.
Further, the WEF’s 2023 Global Gender Gap report ranks Brazil 110th for ”wage equality for similar work”. That’s out of 146 countries. Overall, Brazil is ranked 57th for equality (compared to the US in 43rd place).
The Brazilian Constitution...
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