DDSA examines Brazil’s Supreme Court debate on the “Uberization” of work

Our senior associate Ana Carolina Silva was interviewed for the news website O Brasilianista, about a recent judgment by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) addressing the nature of the relationship between workers and digital platforms, and the differences between the so-called "uberization" and the admission of workers through legal entities. 

Although the two debates involve a common issue - the limits of validly hiring self-employed workers and the possibility to hire workforce not covered by the employment statutes - they deal with different legal structures.

In the admission of independent workers through legal entities – the so-called “pejotização”* - the discussion involves contracts of a civil or commercial nature and, especially, whether these contracts are legitimate or if they mask what should be a true employment relationship. In app-based labor relations, a digital platform intermediates e relationship and has its own characteristics, such as the use of algorithms in the work organization, price setting, distribution of rides or deliveries, evaluations, and blockages. Therefore, despite the similarities, the discussions are very different from a legal standpoint. 

Both discussions are reflected in different cases before the Supreme Court. The “pejotização” is the center of the Topic 1,389, while labor relations intermediated by digital platforms are specifically discussed in Topic 1,291.