Overview

• Minister Gilmar Mendes closed the public hearing by rejecting simplistic fixes and signaling that different labor models may need to coexist under clear guidelines.
• Any ruling will carry repercussão geral, setting a binding precedent nationwide, and roughly 34,700 related cases remain suspended awaiting the Court’s decision.
• Attorney-General Jorge Messias warned that widespread PJ contracting erodes the 1988 constitutional social pact and weakens labor rights and social security funding.
• Labor auditors reported about 4.4 million dismissed workers became MEIs from January 2022 to July 2025, with more than half continuing the same functions at the same companies.
• Business and legal representatives defended legitimate PJ arrangements for autonomous work and proposed objective fraud criteria, a burden-of-proof test based on worker vulnerability, and progressive taxation on legal entities.