BRAZIL · LABOUR LAW
Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, has asked the Supreme Federal Court to strike down six parts of the work-week rules that Justice Flávio Dino set a day earlier. The Chamber of Deputies’ legal office, which represents the house in court, made the request on Friday 13 November 2026, according to Metropoles, a Brasília news site, and O Antagonista, a Brazilian political news site, which both reported on the filing.
The reported filing leaves the main change alone: from 16 December 2026 Brazil’s work week falls to 42 hours, with two paid rest days. It targets the flexibility Dino gave employers, which it says rewrites choices Congress made when it passed Constitutional Amendment 141/2026, which ends the “6×1” schedule of six working days and one day off.
Key Facts
- Filing The lower house’s legal office asked the Supreme Court on Friday 13 November not to endorse six points of Justice Flávio Dino’s ruling.
- Unchanged The 42-hour week and two paid rest days still start on 16 December 2026.
- Vote The court’s online plenary vote on Dino’s ruling is expected to end on Monday 16 November.
- Employers Without a deal, firms may spread 42 hours over five days of up to 8 hours 24 minutes until 15 December 2027.
- Power Index Brazil ranks 1st of 14 in The Rio Times Latin America Power Index, with 74.2 points (November 2026 edition).
What Did Dino Rule?
Dino, the justice handling two lawsuits by employer groups, the National Confederation of Commerce (CNC) and the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), against the end of the 6×1 schedule, issued an interim ruling, a provisional decision by one justice, on Thursday 12 November 2026. He refused to postpone the start date and kept the move to a 42-hour week on 16 December 2026, Agência Brasil, the state news agency, reported on 12 November.
He also let employers spread the 42 hours over five days of up to 8 hours 24 minutes until 15 December 2027, with no overtime on the extra 24 minutes. And he allowed collective agreements to loosen the limits on when rest days are taken, as long as workers keep both rest days.
What Does the Chamber Want Reversed?
According to Metropoles on 13 November, the legal office asks the court not to ratify, or endorse, six points. They are the daily limit of 8 hours 24 minutes without a collective agreement, the removal of weekly and monthly limits on compensating rest days, and the dropping of the order that Congress regulate differentiated work schedules within 180 days.
The other three are the removal of the 180-day deadline for Congress to regulate adaptation measures for micro and small businesses, the cut from one year to 180 days for adapting public contracts that involve labour, and the working-hours exception for employees of state companies in competitive markets.
Why Does the Chamber Object?
The legal office argues that the court should not replace choices Congress made when it passed the amendment, according to Metropoles and O Antagonista. Metropoles adds that, in the filing’s words, the amendment took about seven years to pass and won broad majorities in both houses.
The Chamber also asks the court to rule the lawsuits by the CNC and the CNI wholly unfounded, O Antagonista reports. It defends the hours cut and the schedule Congress approved.
What Happens Next?
The full court is voting on Dino’s ruling in its virtual plenary, an online session where justices cast written votes, and O Antagonista says the vote is expected to end on Monday 16 November 2026. Dino voted to uphold his own decision and Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the same court followed, the outlet reports. The Chamber’s request asks the court not to ratify the six points.
What It Means for You
For US companies with Brazilian payrolls, neither Dino nor the Chamber disputes the 16 December start, so planning for a 42-hour week can go ahead. What remains open is how much flexibility employers get during the first year.
Workers’ rest days are the other side of the question: Dino kept both paid rest days but allowed their timing to be deferred under collective agreements. The Chamber says that flexibility goes beyond what Congress wrote.
What Is Not Known
We have not seen the filing itself, only two outlets’ reports of it, so the six points and the arguments are as they describe them. It is also unclear whether the court will change course, since Dino and Moraes have, according to O Antagonista, already voted to uphold the ruling.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Brazil’s 42-hour week start?
On 16 December 2026, when the 42-hour week with two paid rest days begins. Dino kept that date on 12 November.
What did Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies ask the court to do?
Its legal office asked the Supreme Federal Court on 13 November not to ratify six points of Dino’s interim ruling and to rule the employer lawsuits unfounded.
Who is Flávio Dino?
Dino is a justice of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court and the judge handling the CNC and CNI lawsuits against the end of the 6×1 schedule. He issued the interim ruling on 12 November 2026.
Sources: Agência Brasil, Dino ruling report, 12 November 2026; Metropoles, Chamber request, 13 November 2026; O Antagonista, Chamber request, 13 November 2026.
Related coverage: Brazil news · Brazil judge keeps 42-hour work week date · Lower house approves end of the 6×1 workweek
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