Time Bank

The extinct MP 927 allowed an individual or collective time bank bargaining agreement for compensation within 18 months, counted from the end of the state of public calamity (Dec-31-2020). Only the agreements signed during the term of the MP are valid under these terms.

In such cases, compensation must be made from January 1, 2021, for up to 18 months. At the end of this period (June 2022), if the worker has not compensated for the negative hours, the company must evaluate what is the best action to take, always guided by the CLT and collective bargaining agreements of the category.

It is worth mentioning that many points were not clarified by the MP and it is worth analyzing each case with specialized support.

Home-based work or telework

With the pandemic, companies were under pressure to implement the home-based work method. For some months now working in this format, there are still many doubts about structure, costs, resources, working hours, health and safety at work, since there is no clear discipline on this.

As the modality seems to have come to stay, in full or hybrid scheme, the Brazilian legislation, which dedicates only five articles to the theme, will need to be improved to account for the new situations experienced by employees and employers, ensuring more legal certainty.

Companies must be aware that the communication about the change from the home-based to the face-to-face system must be made, at least, 15 days before the return date, as established by the Law 13.467/2017.

Green and Yellow Contract

Another step towards easing labor legislation is the Green and Yellow Contract, proposed through MP 905, which encourages hiring people between 18 and 29 years-old (who had never worked with a formal contract), in a model in which that employers pay less taxes.

This MP was in force from January to April 2020, when it was revoked. Since then, it is expected to be re-presented with some adjustments to the text.

The vision for next year is for the government to present a new proposal. As has been reported in the press, the issue should soon be brought up as another mechanism to stimulate employment generation in Brazil.

Payroll exemption

One subject that we should monitor is the evolution of the payroll exemption of 17 sectors, including civil works, information technology, urban public transportation, communication, and textiles.

The extension of this measure was approved by the Legislative and vetoed by the Executive. Then Congress cancelled the veto, prompting the government to call the Supreme Court to try to reverse the situation.

Until then, the exemption remains valid until Dec-31-2021. This allows the replacement of the social security contribution of 20% on salaries by a rate of 1% to 4.5% on gross revenue, which gives breath to the sectors benefited in the current scenario.

Changes in eSocial

Throughout 2020, eSocial had adjustments to the layout, which lead to several changes in the information provision. Companies must remain attentive to the requirements, also considering the crossings of the data inserted in this platform with other integrated systems.

Covid as an occupational disease

The Special Secretariat for Labor and Social Security formalized a technical note on Dec-11-2020, stating that Covid-19 can only be considered an occupational disease after the employee being examined by a federal medical.

Thus, the case may be recognized as an occupational disease and, consequently, the contamination may be classified as a work accident "due to a similar disease", including reflections on the calculation of the Accident Prevention Factor - FAP, with the possibility of increasing social security contributions. for the next few years.