Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America (by both population and geographical size). The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states and the Federal District. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas. Brazil is also one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world. It is the most populous Roman Catholic-majority country and the ninth-largest economy in the world. The leading employing sector is services, followed by industry, and agriculture. Brazil has advanced industries in the fields of petroleum processing, automotive, cement, iron and steel production, chemical production, and aerospace.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Brazil.
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Fast-track your talent onboarding while ensuring 100% compliance with local regulations. using an Employer of Record in Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America (by both population and geographical size). The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states and the Federal District. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas. Brazil is also one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world. It is the most populous Roman Catholic-majority country and the ninth-largest economy in the world. The leading employing sector is services, followed by industry, and agriculture. Brazil has advanced industries in the fields of petroleum processing, automotive, cement, iron and steel production, chemical production, and aerospace.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Brazil.
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026 and are critical for hiring in Brazil planning:
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026.
| January 1 | Universal Confraternization / New Year’s Day | National holiday |
| February 16-17 | Carnival | Optional - Movable |
| April 3 | Good Friday | Optional - Movable - Friday before Easter |
| April 21 | Tiradentes' Day | National holiday |
| May 1 | Labor Day | National holiday |
| June 4 | Corpus Christi | Optional - Movable |
| September 7 | Independence Day | National holiday |
| October 12 | Our Lady of Aparecida | National holiday |
| November 2 | All Souls' Day | National holiday |
| November 15 | Republic Day | National holiday |
| November 20 | Black Consciousness Day | Rio De Janeiro only |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | National holiday |
The approximate time for sharing the contract with an employee in Brazil is 10 business days assuming no special requests or changes to our standard employment contract. Any such requests or changes would need to undergo internal and external review, directly leading to a time delay.
NOTE: This number is subject to change and is only an estimation of the Contract Sharing Time. The estimated Contract Sharing Time begins from the moment that WorkMotion has received all required information from both the client and the employee.
The monthly employer cost comprises of the following contributions:
|
Encargos Sociais |
Rate |
|
INSS (Social Security Contribution – Employer) |
20% |
|
SAT (Work accident insurance) |
1% |
|
SNA (National Service of Learning) |
2.5% |
|
INCRA/SENAI/SESI/SEBRAE (Third parties engaged in social development activities) |
3.30% |
|
FGTS (Employees’ Severance Indemnity Fund) |
8% |
|
Total |
34.8% |
|
Company Taxes |
Rate |
|
PIS (Program of Social Integration) |
1.65% |
|
COFINS (Contribution for the Financing of Social Security) |
7.60% |
|
IRPJ (Corporate Income Tax) |
1.2% |
|
CSLL (Social Contribution From Legal Entities) |
1.08% |
|
ISS (Municipal Service Tax) |
5% |
|
Total |
16.53% |
A full-time employee can work for 44 hours per week or eight hours per day. The starting and the end time of the daily work period depend on contractual provisions. An hour’s rest period is required for employees who work more than six hours per day.
In case that work has to be interrupted due to accidents or force majeure, working time may be extended by two hours during the days required to make up the lost time, but not exceeding 10 hours per day, and not exceeding 45 days per year. Such work is subject to prior authorization of the competent authority. Overtime is limited to up to two hours per day. Overtime is paid at the rate of at least 50% more than the regular pay.
The probation period is for a period of up to 90 days and can be renewed once. If an employee works beyond the probation period, the contract is automatically deemed to be for an indefinite period. However, for the purposes of determining compensation for unjustified dismissal, the first year of a contract of an unspecified duration is deemed to be a trial period and any worker who has not completed such period would not be entitled to compensation.
The probation period does not apply to fixed term employment contracts.
Termination of the employment agreement initiated by the employer:
| Duration | Notice |
| Up to 1 year of employment | 30 days’ notice |
| Over 1 year of employment | 30 days’ notice + 3 additional days for each year worked (up to a maximum of 60 additional days) |
Termination initiated by the employee:
Termination under mutual consent:
A full-time employee can work for 44 hours per week or eight hours per day. The starting and the end time of the daily work period depend on contractual provisions. An hour’s rest period is required for employees who work more than six hours per day.
In case that work has to be interrupted due to accidents or force majeure, working time may be extended by two hours during the days required to make up the lost time, but not exceeding 10 hours per day, and not exceeding 45 days per year. Such work is subject to prior authorization of the competent authority. Overtime is limited to up to two hours per day. Overtime is paid at the rate of at least 50% more than the regular pay.
The probation period is for a period of up to 90 days and can be renewed once. If an employee works beyond the probation period, the contract is automatically deemed to be for an indefinite period. However, for the purposes of determining compensation for unjustified dismissal, the first year of a contract of an unspecified duration is deemed to be a trial period and any worker who has not completed such period would not be entitled to compensation.
The probation period does not apply to fixed term employment contracts.
Termination of the employment agreement initiated by the employer:
| Duration | Notice |
| Up to 1 year of employment | 30 days’ notice |
| Over 1 year of employment | 30 days’ notice + 3 additional days for each year worked (up to a maximum of 60 additional days) |
Termination initiated by the employee:
Termination under mutual consent:
The monthly employer cost comprises of the following contributions:
|
Encargos Sociais |
Rate |
|
INSS (Social Security Contribution – Employer) |
20% |
|
SAT (Work accident insurance) |
1% |
|
SNA (National Service of Learning) |
2.5% |
|
INCRA/SENAI/SESI/SEBRAE (Third parties engaged in social development activities) |
3.30% |
|
FGTS (Employees’ Severance Indemnity Fund) |
8% |
|
Total |
34.8% |
|
Company Taxes |
Rate |
|
PIS (Program of Social Integration) |
1.65% |
|
COFINS (Contribution for the Financing of Social Security) |
7.60% |
|
IRPJ (Corporate Income Tax) |
1.2% |
|
CSLL (Social Contribution From Legal Entities) |
1.08% |
|
ISS (Municipal Service Tax) |
5% |
|
Total |
16.53% |
WorkMotion’s Employer of Record operates through its own entity in Brazil, which means every hire is managed directly — no third-party intermediaries, no gaps in accountability.
WorkMotion generates an employment contract aligned with Brazil’s Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho (CLT) — the primary statutory framework governing employment relationships in the country.
The contract is drafted in Portuguese, as required by Brazilian law, and covers all mandatory terms:
English-only contracts carry no legal standing under Brazilian law, so getting this step right from the start matters.
Before your new hire’s first day, WorkMotion registers the employment relationship on Brazil’s eSocial digital platform, a mandatory step that must be completed before the employee starts work.
Late registration triggers automatic administrative penalties. Through eSocial, the employee’s digital Carteira de Trabalho e Previdência Social (CTPS), Brazil’s official work record, is updated with hire date, salary, position, and employment terms.
WorkMotion handles this registration as part of the standard onboarding process, so your hire starts on the right legal footing from day one.
WorkMotion configures payroll in Brazilian reais, accounting for all mandatory deductions and employer contributions.
This includes:
Employer INSS contributions add approximately 20% to base labour costs before other statutory obligations.
These figures are calculated and reported through eSocial and the FGTS Digital portal.
WorkMotion enrolls your employee in all statutory benefits required under the CLT:
Beyond the CLT baseline, WorkMotion monitors the applicable Convenção Coletiva de Trabalho (CCT) — the collective bargaining agreement for your employee’s professional category and state.
CBAs in Brazil are binding on all employers in the relevant sector, regardless of union membership, and can mandate additional minimums for salary, health insurance, and overtime.
WorkMotion processes payroll, remits INSS and FGTS contributions through the correct government portals, withholds and submits IRRF, and issues compliant payslips to employees.
Salaries must be paid by the 5th business day of the following month under Brazilian law.
Brazilian labour laws are not static.
WorkMotion’s compliance team monitors legislative changes, court decisions from the Superior Labour Court (TST), and CBA renewals that affect your employees‘ terms. When something changes, WorkMotion updates contracts and payroll configurations — so your company doesn’t need to track Brazilian regulatory developments on its own.
Want to estimate the full employment cost for a hire in Brazil before you commit? Use WorkMotion’s employment cost calculator to see salary, employer contributions, and service fees in one view.
For most companies hiring one to ten people in Brazil, entity setup is not the right starting point. Here’s why.
| WorkMotion EOR | Brazil Entity Setup | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup cost | Per-employee monthly fee; no incorporation costs | R$5,000–R$25,000+ in registration, legal, notarization, and accounting fees |
| Time to first hire | Days from signed contract to payroll enrollment | 60–90 days for incorporation, per TMF Group’s Global Business Complexity Index 2024, excluding bank account setup |
| Ongoing legal exposure | WorkMotion holds legal employer liability; your company directs the work | Your entity is the legal employer — CLT violations, labour court claims, and eSocial penalties fall directly on your company |
| Ongoing admin burden | WorkMotion manages eSocial reporting, FGTS Digital, INSS remittance, CBA monitoring, and payroll | Your team (or local accountants and lawyers) manages all of the above, plus annual filings, state and municipal tax registrations, and UBO reporting to Receita Federal |
| Exit flexibility | Wind down a hire without dissolving a legal structure | Closing a Brazilian entity involves its own regulatory process and timeline |
An EOR in Brazil is a good fit for companies that need to hire in Brazil now.
Entity setup makes more sense when a company is building a large, permanent team in Brazil and wants direct employment control for the long term.
WorkMotion’s Direct Hiring solution, available in European markets, supports that transition path for companies expanding into Europe. However, for Brazil specifically, an Employer of Record is the most practical route for most SMEs at the hiring stage.
Brazil has one of the most employee-protective labour frameworks in Latin America. Most compliance errors by foreign employers are not deliberate — they’re the result of applying home-country assumptions to a system that works differently.
Here are the rules that catch companies off guard.
Any employment contract intended to be legally enforceable in Brazil must be written in Portuguese. English-only contracts have no legal standing under Brazilian law.
Foreign companies that issue contracts in English — even with a Portuguese translation attached — risk having key terms (non-compete clauses, confidentiality provisions, specific working arrangements) rendered unenforceable in a Brazilian labour court.
The employment relationship must be registered on Brazil’s eSocial platform before the employee’s first day of work.
This is not a formality — late admission reporting carries a fine of R$3,000 per employee for larger companies under Art. 47 of the CLT.
eSocial also cross-references data in real time. Therefore, if payroll figures don’t match FGTS deposits, the system flags the discrepancy immediately.
WorkMotion handles eSocial registration as part of the standard onboarding workflow, so there is no gap between contract signing and government registration.
Every professional category in Brazil has a sindicato (labour union) that negotiates a Convenção Coletiva de Trabalho (CCT).
These agreements are binding on all employers in the relevant sector and state — regardless of whether the employee is a union member or the employer has any relationship with the union. For example, a technology company hiring a software engineer in São Paulo is bound by the SINDPD-SP agreement, which mandates minimum salary floors, annual inflation adjustments, and specific health insurance requirements.
Ignoring the applicable CBA creates retroactive liability. WorkMotion’s local HR team identifies and applies the correct CBA for each hire.
Terminating a Brazilian employee without cause requires:
Payment must be made within 10 days of termination — missing this deadline triggers an automatic penalty equal to one month’s salary.
Foreign employers who haven’t modelled these costs at the point of hiring often face cash flow surprises. WorkMotion’s transparent pricing structure breaks down termination costs before onboarding begins, so finance teams can forecast accurately.
Brazil has a specific legal framework for telework (teletrabalho) under Law 14,442/2022, with further clarifications introduced in 2024 and 2025.
The employment contract must expressly state that the employee is engaged under the telework regime, and this must be reflected in the eSocial registration.
The contract must also specify who bears the cost of equipment and infrastructure — and if the employee bears those costs, the basis for reimbursement must be documented in writing.
B2B SaaS, AI, and fintech companies headquartered in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK increasingly hire senior software engineers and product specialists in Brazil. Brazil produces over 475,000 tech graduates annually, and salary levels for mid- to senior technical roles are meaningfully lower than in Western Europe, without compromising on skill levels.
For a 50–300 person tech company that can’t fill specialized roles domestically, Brazil offers a large, English-proficient talent pool accessible through EOR without entity setup.
WorkMotion handles the CLT-compliant contract, eSocial registration, and monthly payroll in Brazilian reais, so the engineering team can start contributing within days of signing.
German, Austrian, and Swiss companies entering the Brazilian market often need a local sales lead, country manager, or business development hire before they’re ready to commit to setting up an entity.
Using WorkMotion as an employer of record in Brazil lets these companies place a local hire quickly – with a compliant employment contract, proper CBA coverage, and statutory benefits in place – while they evaluate whether the market justifies a permanent legal structure.
This is the EOR use case WorkMotion is built for: fast, compliant, reversible.
Brazil has one of the most detailed labour frameworks in Latin America — CLT compliance, eSocial reporting, FGTS contributions, CBA obligations, and mandatory benefits that add meaningfully to the cost of every hire.
Getting any of these wrong creates legal exposure that falls on your company.
WorkMotion operates through its own entity in Brazil, acting as the legal employer, so your team can hire compliantly without setting up a local structure or managing Brazilian payroll administration internally.
If you’re ready to hire your first employee in Brazil, or add to an existing team, the fastest path to a compliant hire starts here.
Book a Demo today.
With WorkMotion’s employer of record service in Brazil, a new hire can be onboarded in a matter of days from contract signing — provided all required employee documentation is in order.
The critical path item is eSocial registration, which must be completed before the employee’s first day of work. WorkMotion handles this registration as part of the standard onboarding workflow, so there is no gap between contract execution and the mandatory government filing.
Brazilian employees must provide a valid CPF (Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas — the individual taxpayer registration number), their PIS/PASEP number (used for FGTS and social security identification), proof of a Brazilian bank account for payroll deposits, and their digital CTPS access credentials so the employment record can be updated through eSocial.
Employees hired for remote roles must also confirm their home address and state of residence, as this determines which collective bargaining agreement (CCT) applies and which state-level tax rules govern their payroll. WorkMotion’s onboarding team guides employees through the documentation requirements in Portuguese.
No. Brazilian law requires that employees hired under the CLT be paid in Brazilian reais, and payroll contributions — INSS, FGTS, and IRRF — must be remitted through Brazilian government portals in reais.
A foreign company without a CNPJ (Brazilian tax registration number) cannot make valid statutory contributions or register the employment relationship on eSocial, which means any direct payment arrangement in foreign currency would leave the employee without legally required social security coverage and severance fund accumulation.
Yes. Collective bargaining agreements (Convenções Coletivas de Trabalho) in Brazil are negotiated at the state level by professional category sindicatos, which means the specific CBA — and its minimum salary floors, health insurance requirements, and overtime rules — can differ significantly between São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and other states, even for employees in the same role.
A software engineer hired in São Paulo falls under the SINDPD-SP agreement, whereas the same role in another state may be governed by a different union with different minimums.
WorkMotion identifies the correct CBA for each hire based on professional category and state of residence, and applies it to the employment contract and payroll configuration from day one.
Engaging a Brazilian software engineer as an independent contractor, typically through a Pessoa Jurídica (PJ) arrangement, carries meaningful misclassification risk if the working relationship has the characteristics of employment: fixed hours, exclusive dedication, ongoing subordination, and personal service.
Brazilian labor courts apply a substance-over-form analysis, and a misclassified contractor can file a retroactive CLT claim covering unpaid FGTS, 13th-month salary, vacation entitlements, and INSS contributions for the entire engagement period.
Hiring through WorkMotion’s employer of record service in Brazil establishes a compliant CLT employment relationship from the outset, with all statutory entitlements properly structured – eliminating the retroactive liability risk that PJ arrangements carry when the working relationship resembles employment.
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