The End of In Itinere Hours

The Brazilian government has enacted legislation to remove the principle of in itinere hours, which required employers to pay wages to employees who work in remote locations for the time they spend commuting to work via transportation provided by their employers. The principle also required employers to take responsibility for accidents and the health and safety of their employees while they were commuting on employer-provided transportation.

The reform was influenced by the fact that employers have been increasingly eliminating employer-provided transportation to avoid this liability, leaving employees having to find their own way to work.

The principle of in itinere hours was introduced in 2001 and used to be applied by labor courts to cases in which the workplace is in a location that is difficult to access or is not accessible by public transportation, and transportation to the workplace is provided by the employer.

Opponents of in itinere hours pointed out that in addition to discouraging employers from providing transportation, the principle was also inconsistent, as it did not provide the same protections to employees working in urban areas, who often spent just as long getting to work. There were also concerns that the law was inflexible and made it impossible for employees and employers to reach their own agreements on the issue of transportation to work.

Law No. 13.467 has now abolished the law on in itinere hours.

Comment

Supporters of the change believe that employers now have a greater incentive to provide transportation to employees, as well as greater flexibility to strike their own agreements with employees on pay and conditions relating to commute time through labor conventions.

However, despite the change in legislation, it remains to be seen how Brazilian labor courts will enforce labor conventions dealing with the matter. It is possible they will set their own safeguards, such as a cap on time spent in traffic.

Written by Eduardo Boccuzzi of Boccuzzi Advogados Associados and Roger James of Ogletree Deakins