With 24 Court of Appeals (TRTs) and 1,587 Labor Courts spread across the country, combined with the annual growth of new labor claims – only in 2024, more than 2 million new labor claims were filed – conflicting decisions on similar cases have become increasingly frequent. The result is a scenario of legal uncertainty for the business environment, affecting both companies and workers.
In this context, the consolidation and standardization of jurisprudence by the Superior Labor Court (TST) become more and more essential.
The binding precedents defined by the TST must be followed by labor courts and judges in similar cases, thus bringing greater legal security to labor relations: clarity about the applicable rules is essential for creating a healthier business environment for all parties involved. Companies gain predictability and planning, employees gain clarity about their rights, investors gain by reducing the risk of their investments, and Brazil gains by generating more businesses.
In a session held on Monday, February 24, 2025, the TST reaffirmed its jurisprudence on 21 topics, defining binding precedents. Although the theses approved by the TST during the session must have their wording improved and are still to be officially published, the decisions on the topics have already been announced.
Despite being a landmark day for Labor Courts, the TST, for now, has only fixed theses on topics that were not controversial within the scope of the TST itself and the Specialized Subsection of Individual Disputes (SDI-1). That is, despite providing greater legal security, as it guarantees the application of the thesis at all levels, it is important to clarify that the decisions do not address new or controversial topics. In any case, the topics are now even clearer and easier to interpret. Companies, in this context, should analyze their internal practices and policies to ensure compliance with binding precedents.
More important than what has already been defined is what is yet to come: in the same session, the TST approved the initiation of several new Incidents of Repetitive Appeals (IRRs) on topics that are controversial between the judging Panels of the TST. The future binding precedents relating to these topics will be the ones that will bring greater legal security, as the new IRRs will address topics that are currently ruled in different ways by the lower instances of Labor Courts or even between the Panels of the TST itself.
For example, we have the hypotheses of disregarding the legal entity, the definition of the degree of unhealthiness of the work environment by collective bargaining agreements, the paid weekly rest in a 5X1 working schedule, the conversion of a resignation into indirect termination, among others.
Aiming at contributing to the Brazilian business environment, the Labor practice of Machado Meyer launches the series of articles "Binding Precedents of the TST in 2025 and their Impacts on Businesses".
Composed of articles that address the theses already defined, as well as those that are yet to be defined by the TST, the series will explore, in a simple and business-oriented manner, the impacts that can be felt by companies in their operations and business.
Check below the articles of the series that have already been published. The remaining articles will continue to be published over the next few days.
