Brazil's Petrobras hit by court suspension of debt execution and Transpetro labor plan ruling

Minister Alexandre de Moraes suspended the execution of a court-ordered debt of R$492.8 million against Petrobras, ruling that the Rio de Janeiro state court incorrectly applied the IPCA index and a 1% monthly interest rate instead of the Selic rate mandated by Supreme Court precedent. Petrobras maintains that the debt should be calculated using Selic, which would reduce the amount to R$237.8 million, a sum it says has already been deposited in court.

In a separate labor case, Brazil's Regional Labor Court upheld a decision declaring Transpetro's 2018 Career and Remuneration Plan (PCR) unconstitutional. The court confirmed the earlier ruling that the plan violated the Constitution by replacing specialized positions with broad categories, and ordered Transpetro to revert affected employees to the 2007 classification system and pay the resulting salary differences. The decision, supported by the Ministry of Labor and the union Sindipetro‑RJ, remains subject to appeal.