On April 14, Justice Gilmar Mendes of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) ordered a nationwide suspension of all cases related to the legality of hiring self-employed workers or legal entities to provide services, a practice popularly known as “pejotização”.
This type of hiring has become increasingly common in sectors such as associate law, health, commercial representation, technology, among others, generating discussions about its legality and compliance with labor standards.
The decision was made in the context of Extraordinary Appeal with Interlocutory Appeal (ARE) 1532603, in which the Federal Supreme Court’s Plenary recognized the general repercussion of the topic (Topic 1389), which covers not only the validity of the contracts, but also the Labor Courts’ competence to judge allegations of fraud, in addition to defining who should bear the burden of proof: the worker or the contracting party. With this decision, the Justice suspended the processing of thousands of cases underway in the Labor Courts, temporarily interrupting a series of discussions on “pejotização” and outsourcing. The confusion between these two topics, widely debated in the Constitutional Claims, was one of the factors behind the decision to rule on the issue with general repercussion.
Justice Gilmar Mendes stressed the importance of a broad and careful approach to the issue, taking into account all forms of civil/commercial hiring, so that the issue can be resolved in a comprehensive and efficient manner, protecting the interests of all parties involved.
For companies, this is a highly relevant issue, especially in a context where “pejotização” has been widely used as an alternative to formal employment. The suspension of the lawsuits and the future definition of the matter by the Federal Supreme Court will have significant impacts on hiring strategies and labor risk management, requiring companies to prepare for the new guidelines that may be established.
Stay tuned for the outcome of this important discussion, which will certainly influence the way companies deal with service agreements.
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