Brazil’s Senate approved a constitutional amendment on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Congress promulgated it Friday, Oct. 16, setting a phased 40-hour workweek with two paid days off and no salary cuts for covered workers.
The Senate passed the measure 75-1 in each of two votes; Brazil’s lower house had approved it in May. The amendment replaces the common six-days-on, one-day-off schedule known as “6x1” with a guarantee of two paid rest days each week, one preferably on Sunday. The government estimates that more than 37 million formal-sector workers could benefit.
The changes will not take effect all at once: 60 days after publication, the weekly limit falls from 44 to 42 hours and workers gain the two-day rest guarantee; 12 months later, the limit drops to 40 hours. Because it is a constitutional amendment, it required congressional promulgation rather than a presidential signature, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended Friday’s ceremony. The Senate vote came 11 days before the Oct. 25 presidential runoff between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro, who backed the measure after previously opposing it.
Business groups had argued for a longer transition, while supporters hailed the reform as a major expansion of workers’ rights.