By Rafael Mello and Fabiana Aparecida da Silva

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, health reasons and the resulting health situation and state of public calamity, the daily lives of employees and employers have changed completely. With social distancing, many companies have had to reorganize themselves not only financially, but also structurally.

Companies have instituted home-office for their employees, implemented reductions in working hours and salaries, suspended employment contracts and, as a result of the financial crisis, have also laid off employees as a last resort.

Considering that emergency measures had to be taken quickly, the Government, through rules and provisional measures, sought to provide some legal certainty so that companies could face the challenges imposed by COVID-19, as exemplified by provisional measure no. 936/2020, later converted into law no. 14,020/2020.

Without prejudice to the joint efforts of civil society, government and companies, the direct impact of the pandemic on the emergence of new labor demands is already a reality.

Currently, just over 145,000 lawsuits have been filed nationwide since the COVID-19 outbreak. These labor lawsuits deal with matters directly or indirectly related to the pandemic. It is possible to extract from the data on the platform in question that a good portion of the labor complaints deal with issues directly related to the pandemic and another considerable portion includes discussions about unpaid severance pay (advance notice, FGTS 40% fine, fine provided for in article 477 of the CLT, etc.).

São Paulo is currently the state with the highest number of labor claims filed, with 39,019 new cases, followed by the state of Rio de Janeiro with 13,621 new cases and the state of Rio Grande do Sul with 13,526 new cases. The state with the lowest number of claims filed is Roraima with only 140 new cases.

The number of actions involving topics directly or indirectly related to COVID-19 tends to increase until the end of this year and the first months of 2021.

There is no doubt that the pandemic took employers, employees, regulatory agencies and the judiciary by surprise. However, after a few months of this unprecedented crisis, the scenario that has emerged and is being imposed is an increase in employees seeking their rights in specialized labor courts. We are facing a potential and significant 'wave' of new labor lawsuits that are equally unprecedented.

Although we are facing a new and serious situation, the traditional and valuable advice that we have given to our clients over the years is still valid for companies: (i) the HR department must be properly legally advised so that it can provide clarifications and assist employees with doubts and complainants, (ii) the company's legal department can, and should, rely on external legal opinions and advice that provide greater security in decision-making, including in relation to the profusion of regulations issued due to COVID-19, (iii) the company must seek dialogue on reasonable terms with inspection bodies, members of the Public Ministry of Labor and unions.

Our office remains available to support its clients in this new phase resulting from COVID-19.