By Leticia Cordeiro and Fabiana Silva

The Economic Freedom Law No. 13,874/2019, sanctioned on 09/20/2019, brought changes in several areas of Law and, in particular, Labor Law, so much so that it is called by some a “mini labor reform”.

The aforementioned law brought substantial changes and alterations to the provisions contained in the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT), such as, for example, the possibility of issuing an electronic work card, specifications for disregarding the legal personality and changes regarding timekeeping, which is the main focus of this information.

It is worth remembering that previously the text contained in article 74, §2, of the CLT, ratified by Summary 338 of the Superior Labor Court (TST), provided for the mandatory recording of time by employers with more than 10 employees.

Currently, with the validity of law 13.874/2019, the same CLT provision provides for the mandatory recording of hours only for employers who have more than 20 employees, even allowing the recording of time by exception, which is characterized as the recording of hours only when there is overtime, without the obligation to record the employee's regular working hours.

Therefore, the following changes to Labor Legislation come into effect:

“Art. 74.  Working hours will be recorded in the employee register.

(…)

• 2nd For establishments with more than 20 (twenty) workers, it will be mandatory to record the time of entry and exit, in a manual, mechanical or electronic register, in accordance with instructions issued by the Special Secretariat for Social Security and Labor of the Ministry of Economy, with pre-indication of the rest period permitted.

(…)

• 4º The use of time recording as an exception to the regular working day is permitted, by means of an individual written agreement, collective agreement or collective labor agreement.”[1]

It is important to highlight that the so-called exceptional timekeeping will only be valid after the conclusion of a collective labor agreement or convention or, even, an individual written agreement between employer and employee.

In summary, these are the main changes regarding the topic of “workday control” brought about by the economic freedom law.

[1] http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2019-2022/2019/lei/L13874.htm