Brazil
Brazil is one of the most popular countries in the world to hire remote talent: It has a population of more than 200M people and a workforce that likes looking for remote work abroad. Want to know how you can hire there, in minutes, without wading into a months-long procession of legal paperwork? We’re about to teach you how.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Brazilian Real (BRL)
EMPLOYER TAXES
36.8%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Bi-Weekly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Portuguese
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It’s a lot cheaper
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
Some people want to be employees
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
You might not have as much control over your talent
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
Found some great remote talent in Brazil, but slightly more confused about how to hire that talent? Simply put, you’ve got two options: Hiring talent as employees, or hiring talent as contractors. Here are the big differences between the two.
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Brazil than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Brazil.
Employer tax
Social Security (INSS)
Guarantee Fund
Third Party Companies
Accident Insurance
Paid Time Off (PTO)
PTO is calculated by the:
- If an employee has been employed for 12 months, they are entitled to 30 days of paid annual leave.
- The leave must be taken within the following 12 month period.
- Leave can be taken on 3 different occasions, where one of the periods must be at least 14 days and the other two must be at least 5 days.
- Annual leave cannot be taken 2 days before a holiday or weekend.
- Employees are able to cash in 1/3 of their annual leave and receive a holiday bonus in lieu.
Public Holidays
There are 13 national holidays. Other additional holidays may apply depending on the region.
Sick Days
The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:
- For the first 15 days of illness, the employer pays 100% of the employee’s salary.
- From the 16th day onward, social security pays for the leave (up to 6,101 BRL).
Maternity Leave
Female employees are entitled to 120 days of paid maternity leave and extension by a maximum of 4 weeks on medical grounds (two weeks prior and two weeks after birth). Maternity leave is paid at 100% of the regular wages by the employer, however, the employer can claim payment back through deductions on social security payments.
If the employer is enrolled in the government scheme (Empresea Cidada), maternity leave can be extended to a total of 180 days.
Paternity Leave
Fathers are entitled to 5 days paid paternity leave. Pay is 100% of regular wages and is paid by the employer. If the employer is enrolled in the government scheme (Empresa Cidada), paternity leave can be extended to 20 days.
Parental Leave
There are no provisions in the law regarding parental leave.
Other Leave
None.
Marriage Leave
3 days.
Bereavement Leave
Death of a parent, child, or spouse- 2 days
Termination Process
Employment contracts can be terminated at any time, as long as the proper notice is given.
Employees who are exempt from this are those that fall under union representatives, members of the Internal Committee for Accidents Prevention (CIPA), pregnant employees, employees with work-related injuries, and employees who fall under certain collective agreements.
Termination must be communicated in writing.
Notice Period
The notice period in Brazil is:
Notice is only required in certain cases.
Termination of the employment agreement initiated by the employer:
- Up to 1 year of employment- 30 days’ notice
- Over 1 year of employment- 30 days’ notice + 3 additional days for each year worked (up to a maximum of 60 additional days)
Termination initiated by the employee:
- The employee must give 30 days’ notice. If the termination is initiated during the probation period, the employee may request to be released earlier than the 30 days.
Termination under mutual consent:
- The notice period is halved.
Severance Pay
The Severance Pay in Brazil depends on:
The amount of severance pau varies based on how the employment agreement is terminated.
When severance is required, the employee is entitled to one month’s wages for every year employed.
Employers contribute 8% to the Severance Fund (FGTS), and when the employee is dismissed by the employee, 4o% of the balance is paid as a termination fine. When the termination falls under mutual consent, 20% of the balance is paid out.
Probation Period
The probation period is 45 days but can be extended to 90 days.
Working Hours
A full-time workweek is 44 hours or 8 hours per day.
A one hours rest period is required for employees who work more than 6 hours per day.
Overtime
Overtime is limited to up to 2 hours per day. Any hours worked in excess of 8 per day is considered overtime and is paid at the rate of 150% of the regular pay.
Employees can be exempt from overtime pay if:
- They perform activities that are not compatible with defined working hours and are completed within a company’s facilities
- They are an employee in a trust position
- The employee works from home
Work on a holiday is paid at the rate of 200% of the regular pay.
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