The Brazil 40-hour week proposal: what PEC 221/2019 would change and how to prepare

The Brazil 40-hour week proposal is a constitutional amendment, PEC 221/2019, that would cut the maximum working week from 44 to 40 hours, guarantee two paid rest days a week and bar any reduction in pay. It is still a proposal: as at 25 September 2026 it had not been approved by the Senate and was not law.

In Brazil the campaign behind it is known as the fim da escala 6×1, the end of the six-days-on, one-day-off schedule. That pattern is common in retail, hospitality, security and other shift-based sectors, where a 44-hour week is often spread over six days.

Because working hours are written into the Federal Constitution (art. 7, XIII), changing the ceiling requires a constitutional amendment passed by both houses of Congress. That is why the proposal carries the PEC label, proposta de emenda à Constituição, and why its progress through the Senate matters so much.

Foreign employers with Brazilian staff should follow it for two reasons. If it becomes law, the hourly cost of a full-time employee on the current maximum rises with no change in monthly pay, and shift-based teams would need new rosters. Until then, every contract, roster and payroll calculation must keep using the current rules.

PEC 221/2019 has passed the Câmara dos Deputados and the Senate’s constitution and justice committee, but it still needs a Senate plenary vote, and that vote has been postponed until after the October 2026 elections. Until the amendment is approved and promulgated, the 44-hour week remains the legal maximum.

The steps so far, from official legislative sources:

• 27 May 2026. The Câmara approved the text in two rounds, with a 40-hour week, two paid rest days and no pay cut (Câmara news report).
• 2 September 2026. The Senate’s Comissão de Constituição e Justiça (CCJ) approved it and sent it to the plenary (Agência Senado report).
• September 2026. The plenary vote was postponed until after the October elections.

What happens next is uncertain. The Senate could approve the Câmara text, amend it, or leave it waiting. An amended text would change the timetable and possibly the transition periods, so employers should read any headline about “approval” carefully and check which body voted and on which version.

Treat the proposal as pending until it has completed every step. Any plan made now should be a contingency plan, ready to use if the amendment is promulgated and easy to shelve if it is not.

Today the ceiling is a 44-hour week with no more than 8 ordinary hours in a day (Constituição Federal art. 7, XIII; CLT art. 58), and CLT art. 59 allows at most 2 overtime hours per day. These are the rules that apply to every CLT contract signed in 2026.

Within that ceiling, employers organise hours in different ways. Many office roles run five days a week, while shift-based operations often use the 6×1 schedule the campaign is named after. Remote staff are covered too: teletrabalho (remote work) falls under CLT arts. 75-A to 75-F, and the contract has to say so expressly.

Collective agreements add another layer. A sector-wide convenção coletiva de trabalho (CCT) or a single-company acordo coletivo can set specific arrangements on listed matters and, under CLT art. 611-A, can prevail over statute on those points. Some sectors therefore already work shorter or differently structured weeks under their agreements.

For an employer planning ahead, the first task is to know which of these rules currently governs each employee: the statutory 44 hours, a shorter contractual week, or a CCT schedule. That inventory determines how much a 40-hour ceiling would change in practice. For the way hours appear in the contract itself, read our guide to CLT contract terms and probation.

If the Senate approved the text passed by the Câmara, the maximum week would fall to 42 hours two months after promulgation and to 40 hours fourteen months after it, with two paid rest days a week and no cut in pay. The phasing gives employers a little over a year to adjust fully.

The cost effect follows from the no-pay-cut rule. An employee on a 44-hour week who moves to 40 hours keeps the same monthly salary for 4 fewer hours, so the cost of each hour worked rises by 10%. The monthly payroll bill does not change, but the output bought with it does, unless the work is reorganised.

The intermediate step matters for budgets too. At 42 hours, the same monthly salary buys 2 fewer hours a week, which raises the hourly cost by about 4.8%. Employers would therefore face the change in two stages, with the second and larger step arriving a year after the first.

Using our São Paulo worked example, an employee on R$ 15.000,00 a month would still cost the employer R$ 271.600,00 a year including the 13º salário, the holiday bonus and employer charges of 35.8%. The difference would appear in hours: any work above the new ceiling would count as overtime, and teams that relied on the extra 4 hours would need more staff, different rosters or different processes.

Two paid rest days a week would also end the 6×1 pattern as a standard schedule. Operations that open six or seven days would need to cover the extra rest day, which in practice means more people or a different rotation. For those employers the scheduling change may matter more than the hourly cost.

Employers whose staff work the full 44 hours over six days would feel the change most, because they would lose both hours and a working day. Employers whose contracts already set 40 hours or fewer over five days would see little difference.

• Shift-based operations. Retail, hospitality, logistics and customer-service centres open six or seven days would need new rosters and, in many cases, extra staff.
• Teams on 44-hour contracts. Office or technical roles contracted at the full 44 hours would see a 10% rise in hourly cost and a need to review workloads.
• Roles relying on overtime. Any regular overtime would start earlier in the week, so overtime budgets should be modelled again.
• Five-day roles already at 40 hours. Where the contract already sets 40 hours over five days, little changes in practice, though the wording should still be checked.

Collective agreements could soften or complicate the picture. A CCT that already sets a shorter week reduces the impact, while one built around six-day schedules may need renegotiation. Sector unions may well revisit their agreements once the constitutional text is settled.

Foreign companies hiring a small number of remote professionals in Brazil are usually in the least affected group. Their main task is to confirm the hours written into each contract and to know whether any employee is on a 44-hour or six-day pattern.

Companies hiring in Brazil for the first time during 2026 face a simpler choice. They can contract at the current 44-hour maximum and accept a possible adjustment later, or agree a shorter week from the outset as a matter of company policy. Either route is open under current law, provided the contract states the hours clearly.

Employers should prepare a contingency plan now and change nothing in contracts until the amendment is promulgated. The current 44-hour rule still governs every contract, and a premature change could create obligations the law does not yet impose.

• Take an inventory. List each Brazilian employee’s contractual hours, working days, overtime pattern and applicable CCT.
• Model two scenarios. Show the hourly cost and staffing need at 42 hours and at 40 hours, using the Câmara timetable as a working assumption.
• Review rosters. Identify any six-day schedules and the extra cover a second rest day would need.
• Watch the Senate. Track the plenary vote after the October 2026 elections and check whether the text is amended.
• Keep offers accurate. Continue to state hours under the current rules in new contracts, and avoid promising a 40-hour week as a legal entitlement.

Budget holders should also note the timing. Under the Câmara text, the move to 40 hours comes fourteen months after promulgation, so a vote late in 2026 would push the full effect into 2028 at the earliest. That window gives time to plan hiring, rosters and budgets in stages.

For remote staff, confirm that the teletrabalho terms in each contract state hours clearly, because any future change would be applied to what is written there.

Under Employer of Record Brazil, we hold the employer’s role as employer of record and would therefore update contracts, rosters recorded in payroll and eSocial reporting if the amendment became law. Your company would decide how to reorganise the work and would fund any extra hours or staff.

In practice we would review each employee’s contracted hours against the new ceiling, flag anyone above it, and apply the transition dates set by the final text. Where an employee is covered by a CCT, we would also check whether the sector agreement changes.

Nothing changes before that point. We continue to apply the 44-hour limit and the 2-hour daily cap on overtime, and to pay the 13º salário, holiday with its one-third bonus and FGTS as usual. Your monthly cost stays as it is, including the fee from USD 560 per employee a month (R$ 2.901,24 or so at the ECB’s 24 September 2026 rate).

Employees will read the same headlines and may ask whether their hours are about to change. A short, factual message helps: the proposal is pending in the Senate, current contracts remain in force, and the company will explain any change once the final text is known. Keeping that message consistent across managers avoids promises the law does not yet support.

If you want to see how a 40-hour ceiling would affect a particular role or team, the Brazil team can prepare a comparison of both scenarios using your current contracts.