Government will regulate work by application and provides for contribution to the INSS

The Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government intends to regulate work by application in Brazil. According to the Minister of Labor and Social Security, José Carlos Oliveira, the intention is to announce the new rules “later this year”, although there is no specific date for the launch.

The proposal under discussion in the government provides for a specific type of contract for the segment, with some obligations for the platforms (such as contribution to Social Security), but at the same time maintaining the autonomy and flexibility of workers.

The model would be different from the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws), whose bond provides for a relationship of subordination between employer and employee — which entails greater obligations on the part of companies.

The topic has been discussed among government technicians and representatives of companies and workers working on the platforms.

“It has an advanced design,” said Oliveira at breakfast with journalists this Wednesday (27). The minister stressed, however, that there is a great challenge in reconciling all the interests of platforms and workers, without making the business model unfeasible.

The situation of fragility and informality of these professionals has gained more and more attention, not only in Brazil, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Around here, the debate gained strength after the demonstrations called “Breque dos Apps”, in July 2020.

The mobilization generated a wave of proposals in the National Congress to try to give some legal security and social protection to these workers. The category brings together about 1.4 million Brazilians, according to data from IPEA (Institute of Applied Economic Research).

In an election year, Bolsonaro has in part of this group a base of political support. The category has also received nods from the PT, which has former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a pre-candidate for the Planalto.

As the Panel showed, the PT defined the matter as a priority in the program of a new Lula government.

The executive secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, Bruno Dalcolmo, said that the government works on a specific type of contract for the segment.

It will be different from MEI (individual microentrepreneur), a type of formalization that is already accessible to delivery people and application drivers, but limits some benefits available to these professionals.

In MEI, the micro-entrepreneur contributes alone to the INSS (National Social Security Institute) and is entitled to a benefit of just one minimum wage (currently at R$1,212). In regulating apps, the government’s idea is to allow the collection of higher contributions, which entitle them to a benefit higher than the national floor.

The platforms will also have to bear a part of the contribution. “Everyone will have to give in a little. Companies will have to contribute, but the rate is the X of the matter”, stated Dalcolmo.

According to the secretary, the new rules should initially reach the “more consolidated” segments, such as passenger transport and delivery of goods. Other types of platform, offering services such as manicures, minor repairs and cleaning, could be incorporated in the future, if the model is successful.

The government’s assessment is that the strategy minimizes the chances of dosing error, as other platforms may have different interests and needs.

“The challenge is to harmonize the rules nationally without putting everyone in the same box,” said Dalcolmo. For him, the biggest difficulties in this discussion are the scope of regulation, geographic dispersion and the difference between platforms.

“Hard regulation is the easiest and it’s a possible balance. But what would be the impact of heavy regulation? A number of cities would no longer have the service”, warned Dalcolmo, criticizing models adopted by countries like Spain, which in 2021 approved a law for app workers to be recognized as salaried employees.

While the regulation of work by application is not launched, the government is working on a set of measures to try to improve the employability of workers, especially the younger ones and those affected by the pandemic.

Without giving details of these actions, Dalcolmo stated that this is not a reissue of the measures already presented by the government to exempt employers from hiring young people or create admission modalities through the payment of scholarships, but without some obligations such as the 13th salary. Both models were overturned in votes in the Federal Senate.

The idea is to launch the initiatives next week, after Labor Day, celebrated on May 1st. In addition to the symbolic date, the measures come at a time of still high unemployment.

Asked about the electoral effect of the package, the minister said that the measures “help Brazilian society”. “Of course, if the president is doing a good job, he will be favored,” stated Oliveira.

The ministry also wants to expand the formalization of workers who work in the countryside and try to curb the work of informal labor agents in rural areas — known as “cats”.

According to the Ministry, many of these intermediaries end up harming producers, who request labor for temporary planting and harvesting periods, and workers, who receive unfulfilled promises of remuneration and end up being subjected to working conditions similar to slavery.

One of the proposals is to encourage the performance of professional labor intermediation companies, which could mediate the hiring of temporary workers. Professionals, in turn, would have ensured all the rights of the CLT, such as proportional 13th and vacation.

“The ‘gato’ has no commitment to either the worker or the producer,” said Dalcolmo. According to him, producers will not be obliged to seek professional intermediation, but whoever continues to disobey the rules will be subject to inspection. “Each producer will have to do his own risk analysis,” he warned.

Temporary work is a contractual modality that already exists in Brazilian rules, but it is “poorly covered” in the rural sector, said the Ministry’s Secretary of Labor, Luis Felipe Batista de Oliveira.