Put Leonardo Neri and Barbara Oliveira – 30/04/2020

After the arrival of the Coronavirus in the country, the economic scenario underwent strong changes, with the inevitable facing of a crisis, especially borne by informal workers and micro and small business owners.

The federal government has adopted emergency measures in an attempt to contain the consequences of the severe economic crisis, while also seeking to contain the spread of the virus. Among the measures adopted, the Emergency Employment and Income Maintenance Program was established, through Provisional Measure 936/2020, which provides resources to guarantee the payment of emergency benefits to workers who have had their income reduced (see “Labor measures to combat Covid-19 – MP 927 and MP 936”).

With the establishment of the program, millions of Brazilians began to request the benefit, which should be paid within 30 days from the date of publication of MP 936/2020. However, the accumulation of requests caused an overload of the system and, also, of the analysis department for approval, which has caused crowds in bank branches and the consequent delay in payments.

In view of the situation, Provisional Measure 959/2020 was published yesterday, April 29, which establishes measures to be adopted to operationalize the granting of benefits.

MP 959/2020 authorizes the waiver of bidding for contracts aimed at operationalizing the payment of benefits by Caixa Econômica Federal.

Payment of the benefit to the beneficiary's bank account at any banking institution, except for the salary account, is also authorized, provided that the beneficiary authorizes his/her employer to provide his/her bank details.

If the credit in the indicated account is rejected or not validated, even by the recipient financial institution, Caixa Econômica Federal may make the payment in another account owned by the beneficiary that is located by checking the registration data, as long as it is a savings account.

If no other account is found, payment may be made into an automatically opened digital account, provided that no documents are required, no fees are charged, at least one transfer per month to another account is permitted, at no cost to the beneficiary, and the issuance of a physical card or check is prohibited. In this case, if it is found that the deposited benefit has not been used within 90 (ninety) days, the funds will be returned to the Union.

Furthermore, the payment of the benefit cannot be discounted or offset by the financial institution to pay any debts, even to replenish a negative balance or settle the beneficiary's debts, unless previously authorized by the beneficiary.

Finally, MP 959/2020 establishes a new extension for the entry into force of the General Data Protection Law (Law No. 13,709/2018), which was previously scheduled for August 2020, but was changed to May 3, 2021. This is already the second extension of the vacatio legis of the LGPD, which, in its original text, would come into force in February 2020.

The extension, however, does not prevent companies from anticipating the adjustments established by the LGPD, which is even recommended, especially due to the widespread use of online platforms with the increase in remote work and consumption, which tend to perpetuate in relationships, even after the end of the crisis.