Working From Home: Rights and Duties of Employees and Employers

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

Remote work is no longer an informal exception. Brazilian labor law now gives it its own framework, with specific rules on tracking working hours, paying for the home setup, and dividing responsibilities. Knowing what belongs in the employment contract and in the company’s internal policy is what separates a safe arrangement from a liability that surfaces years later in a labor lawsuit.

What Counts as Remote Work Under Brazilian Law

The Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho (CLT, Brazil’s Consolidated Labor Laws) now addresses the subject expressly in Articles 75-A through 75-E, as amended by later legislation. The core definition is straightforward: remote work (teletrabalho) means performing services outside the employer’s premises, either predominantly or not, using information and communication technologies, as long as the work does not amount to ordinary external work.

The phrase that tends to cause confusion is “predominantly or not.” It makes clear that the rules do not require the employee to be at home 100% of the time. A hybrid model, with some days on-site and others remote, is still remote work for legal purposes, which is why it also needs proper contractual language.

Another important point: an occasional visit to the workplace for meetings, training sessions, or specific activities does not take the arrangement outside the remote work rules. The law addresses these situations expressly, precisely so that employers would not lose the classification by occasionally requiring the employee’s presence.

The Contract and the Internal Policy: What Must Be Included

The first practical rule is simple and non-negotiable: remote work must be expressly stated in the individual employment contract. A verbal agreement or a message saying the employee will now work from home is not enough. Without a written clause, the company has no proof of the agreed arrangement, which weakens any future defense.

Moving from on-site to remote work requires an agreement between the parties, put in writing as a contract amendment. The reverse, going from remote back to on-site, can be ordered by the employer, as long as a minimum transition period is observed and the change is recorded in an amendment. This asymmetry protects employees from unilateral changes that would force them, overnight, to start commuting again.

The internal policy is the layer that spells out what the contract merely authorizes. This is where the company sets availability hours, communication channels, information security rules, how often employees must come in person, and the procedure for requesting technical support. A lean contract paired with a well-drafted policy tends to work better than trying to anticipate every detail in the contract itself.

Tracking Working Hours and the Applicable Regime

This is the most sensitive aspect of remote work. The law allows two types of arrangements: remote work by hours worked, or remote work by output or task. The choice between them completely changes how working time is treated and how much liability the company faces.

In remote work by output or task, the employee is not subject to working-hours control and falls outside the chapter of the CLT that governs the length of the workday. In this arrangement, as a rule, overtime does not apply, because what the company is buying is a result, not time at its disposal. It is a suitable model for roles with measurable deliverables and real autonomy for the worker.

In remote work by hours, the logic is reversed. The employee has a schedule to follow, and working time must be tracked with time records, even if kept electronically. In that case, overtime, breaks, and night-shift premiums follow the general rules, and the lack of tracking does not eliminate the right; it only makes it harder to prove.

A recurring mistake among companies is to promote “home office with no time tracking” while, in practice, demanding constant availability, immediate replies, and meetings at fixed times. When working hours are in fact being monitored, even in disguise, the labor courts tend to recognize the hours-based regime and award overtime, regardless of the label in the contract.

A remote work arrangement is not defined by the name the contract gives it, but by how the work is actually supervised day to day.

That is why consistency between what is written and what happens in daily practice is decisive. If a company wants to avoid tracking working hours, it must genuinely give the employee autonomy and avoid demands that bring back, in practice, the supervision the contract claimed to have eliminated.

Setup Costs: Who Pays for What

The law requires that matters involving equipment, necessary infrastructure, and expenses for performing the work be set out in a written contract. The law did not set a specific amount or require the company to pay for everything, but it does require that the split be clear and documented, avoiding the gap that fuels disputes.

The most common items are a laptop or computer, a suitable chair and furniture, an internet connection, and a proportional share of electricity. The contract must define whether the employer provides the equipment, reimburses expenses, or pays a fixed allowance to cover the use of the home setup.

One point carries significant tax and labor consequences: amounts paid for equipment, infrastructure, and expense reimbursement are not part of the employee’s pay. This means they are not included in the calculation base for vacation pay, the thirteenth-month salary, FGTS (Brazil’s Severance Indemnity Fund), or social security contributions, provided they remain compensatory in nature and correspond to real costs of working remotely.

The risk arises when a company turns this reimbursement into a generic payment with no connection to actual expenses, or uses it to disguise part of the salary. In that case, the payment may be recognized as wages, with retroactive effects. The recommendation is to apply clear criteria, document the purpose of each payment, and keep what is paid consistent with the cost it is meant to cover.

Responsibilities, Health, and Safety in Remote Work

The fact that the work takes place in the employee’s home does not shift the employer’s health and safety duties onto the employee. The law requires the company to instruct workers, expressly and conspicuously, on the precautions to take to avoid work-related illnesses and accidents.

This instruction is usually formalized in a statement of responsibility, in which the employee agrees to follow the guidance received. The document matters to the company, but it is not an absolute shield. If the guidance was inadequate, or if the company demanded conditions incompatible with the worker’s health, the company may still be held liable.

Ergonomics deserves special attention. Back problems, repetitive strain injuries, and eye strain can result from a poorly set up home workstation. Companies that give guidance on posture, provide or pay for suitable furniture, and maintain occupational health channels reduce both the risk to workers’ wellbeing and their exposure to future lawsuits.

Data protection is also part of the picture. By taking sensitive information outside the company’s controlled environment, remote work calls for clear rules on using secure networks and on storing and disposing of documents. The internal policy is the natural tool for setting these obligations and holding accountable those who fail to meet them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a remote employee entitled to overtime?

It depends on the arrangement. In remote work by output or task, as a rule there is no working-hours control and no overtime pay, because the company is contracting for a result. In remote work by hours, where the employee has a schedule to follow, overtime is owed just as in any other employment contract. Keep in mind that if the company monitors working hours in practice, the courts may recognize the hours-based regime even if the contract says otherwise.

Does the company have to pay for internet and electricity?

The law does not set an amount or require the company to cover everything, but it does require that the division of expenses for infrastructure and for performing the work be stated in the written contract. The parties can agree on the provision of equipment, expense reimbursement, or an allowance. What matters is that the rule is clear and documented, and that the amounts paid correspond to real costs, preserving their compensatory nature and preventing them from being treated as salary.

Can an employee go back from remote work to on-site work?

Yes. Moving from on-site to remote work requires an agreement between the parties, put in writing as a contract amendment. A return to on-site work, on the other hand, can be ordered by the employer, as long as a minimum transition period is respected and the change is recorded in an amendment. For that reason, it is advisable for the contract and the internal policy to set out the conditions for this reversal in advance, reducing the room for conflict when the company decides to change the work model.

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.