Brazil's Superior Labor Court mandates hazard pay for motorcycle workers

The Second Chamber of the Superior Labor Court (TST) has unanimously ruled that a 30% hazard pay premium (adicional de periculosidade) for workers using motorcycles is self-applicable and does not require supplementary regulation from the Ministry of Labor.

The decision ordered CRBS S. A., a company within the Ambev S. A. group, to pay the premium to a salesperson who used a motorcycle for professional activities. The ruling follows Law 12.997/2014, which amended the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) to classify motorcycle-based work as hazardous.

While a regional court (TRT-1) had previously overturned a lower court's decision—arguing that a Ministry of Labor ordinance regulating the activity had its effects suspended for certain industry associations—the TST ruled that a ministerial ordinance cannot restrict a right established directly by federal law. Justice Delaíde Miranda Arantes noted that the rule in the CLT is sufficiently clear to produce legal effects on its own.