Brazil’s gender pay equality law upheld by supreme court

At a glance

• On 14 May, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) unanimously upheld the constitutionality of Law No. 14.611/2023 on gender pay equality.
• The law requires companies with 100 or more employees to publish semi-annual salary transparency reports.
• Previous challenges based on free enterprise and data protection concerns led to injunctions that had delayed enforcement of the reporting obligation.
• Following the STF’s decision, all injunctions are lifted, allowing immediate enforcement and the imposition of administrative sanctions for non-compliance.
• Employers in scope must now ensure compliance with reporting obligations, while observing local data protection requirements.

On May 14, the Plenary of the STF unanimously upheld the constitutionality of Law No. 14.611/2023, commonly referred to as the Gender Pay Equality Law.

Among other provisions, the law requires companies with 100 or more employees to publish semi-annual salary transparency reports. This requirement had been subject to legal challenge through Direct Actions of Unconstitutionality 7612 and 7631, on the basis of alleged infringements of free enterprise principles and data protection rules.

While those proceedings were ongoing, enforcement of the reporting obligations had been partially suspended due to injunctions granted by regional courts. However, following the STF’s decision, all such injunctions have been lifted with immediate effect.

As a result, the Ministry of Labor and Employment is now able to fully enforce the law and impose administrative sanctions for non-compliance.