Equal pay law

At a glance

• The new Equal Pay Law 14.611/23 was published in the Official Gazette on 4 July 2023 and came into immediate effect.

Although the Brazilian Federal Constitution and the Consolidation of Labour Laws (CLT) already provided some protection for women in terms of equal pay, the new law adopts specific measures aimed at monitoring compliance with equal pay between genders that perform the same job function. Where there is a failure to comply, more severe sanctions have been introduced.

All companies with more than 100 employees must publish a Salary Transparency Report every six months. The report must cover the criteria set out in The General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and provide, in anonymised form, information necessary to enable a comparison and impartial evaluation of the remuneration criteria and of the proportion of men and women in leadership positions. The data provided must be accompanied by statistical data on other possible inequalities arising in relation to race, ethnicity, nationality and age.

In cases where there is a difference in remuneration due to discrimination on grounds of gender, race, ethnicity, origin or age, the employer will face a fine of ten times the amount of the new salary owed to the employee who has been discriminated against. The fine will be doubled if the discrimination reoccurs, without prejudice to other legal measures. The payment of the fine and / or wage differences due to the employee who suffered discrimination does not exclude the employee’s right to claim compensation for moral damages.

In the event that an employer does not adopt equal pay practices, an administrative fine of up to 3% of the employer's payroll, limited to 100 times the monthly minimum wage, will be applicable without prejudice to other sanctions.

Where there is a failure to comply with the provisions of the law, the private legal entity in question must create an action plan, which includes goals and deadlines, to mitigate this inequality and which is created in conjunction with representatives from the union and employees from the workplace.

The law also provides for:

• The establishment of salary transparency mechanisms;
• An increase in inspections;
• The creation of specific channels for reporting cases of wage discrimination;
• The promotion of workplace inclusion programmes;
• The promotion of training and education of women to enter, remain, and progress in the labour market, on equal terms with men.