The reduction of working hours to 40 hours a week and the end of the 6×1 scale, which grants one day of rest for every six worked, seem to have entered the legislative radar once and for all at the beginning of the year.
In the message sent to the National Congress, last Monday (2), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva placed the topic among government priorities for the semester. On the same day, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), promised that the debate would advance in the House.
Senator Paulo Paim (PT-RS), author of one of the oldest proposals in progress and which is ready to be voted on in the Senate plenary, is betting that the popularity of the subject in an election year and the apparent commitment of the authorities are the best opportunity to approve these labor achievements.
“I think the moment is very propitious. We have President Lula’s position, which is fundamental; He took a position on May 1 [do ano passado] and in other speeches he made, that the time has come to put an end to the 6×1 scale. The business community itself is already sort of assimilating, the hotel sector and commerce are already adapting. There’s no turning back, it’s just a matter of time,” he said in an interview with Brazil Agency.
Various proposals
In December last year, in the Chamber, the special subcommittee that analyzes a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) approved the gradual reduction of the maximum working day from 44 to 40 hours per week, but rejected the end of the 6×1 scale.
In the Senate, the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) went further and approved, also at the beginning of December 2025, the end of the scale of six working days for one day of rest (6×1) and the gradual reduction of the working day from the current 44 hours to 36 hours per week. It is PEC 148/2015, authored by Paim, ready to be discussed in plenary at any time.
In total, there are seven proposals being processed in Congress, four in the Chamber and three in the Senate. Among the authors of similar projects are exponents from different ideological spectrums, such as senators Cleitinho (Republicanos-MG), Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA) and federal deputy Érika Hilton (PSOL-SP).
“The maximum working hours of 40 hours per week will benefit around 22 million workers. If we reduced it to 36 hours, 38 million would benefit. There is data that shows that women accumulate up to 11 hours of overtime per day. This reduction would have a direct impact in favor of women”, argues Paim.
The senator cites the number of 472 thousand absences in 2024 due to mental disorders, according to data from the National Social Security Institute (INSS).
“Reducing working hours improves mental and physical health, job satisfaction, and reduces burnout syndrome.”
At the end of last year, the Minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Gleisi Hoffmann, brought together some of the authors of these proposals to try to unify a common approval strategy. And, this Tuesday (3), the leader of the PT in the Chamber, Lindbergh Farias (RJ), confirmed that the government should send to Congress, right after Carnival, a bill with constitutional urgency to end the 6×1 scale
“It’s not because my PEC is the oldest that it has to be mine. If the government wants to make a concertation, taking all the projects, the oldest and the newest, make a new wording and present it, we want to approve it”, says Paulo Paim.
Resistance
The resistance from the business sectors, he says, will certainly be strongly opposed to the issue, but the public debate is more in favor of reducing working hours.
“Here, the natural resistance comes from the economic sector, with that old, shabby and worn-out discourse. When they talk about increasing the minimum wage, they say it will break the country, when they talk about reducing working hours, they say it will increase unemployment, the cost of labor. But the more people working, the more the market will strengthen. There is no longer any reason to maintain this 6×1 scale with a 44-hour working week”, he points out.
Another aspect that can count in favor has to do with the approval, both in the Senate and in the Chamber, of bills that restructure the careers of federal legislative employees, which included, in addition to salary increases, the institution of compensatory leave for positions considered to be more complex, which can include one day of rest for every three worked.
“Why can’t we grant an end to the 6×1 scale for the mass of workers?”, he asks.
International scenario
Official data indicate that 67% of formal workers work more than 40 hours in Brazil. The average number of hours worked is lower, but higher than the vast majority of countries. According to information from the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese), Brazilians work, on average, 39 hours a week, more than North Americans, Koreans, Portuguese, Spanish, Argentines, Italians and French. And much more than the Germans, who are among the most productive workers in the world, with an average of 33 hours a week.
In 2023, Chile and Ecuador approved legislation to reduce the working week from 45 to 40 hours. Mexico, which until recently had one of the longest working hours in Latin America, at 48 hours a week, also approved a gradual reduction to 40 hours. “In the European Union, the average is 36 hours per week, varying from 32 hours in the Netherlands to 43 hours in Türkiye”, explains Paim.
Another point mentioned by the senator is that workers with less education are those who work, on average, 42 hours a week, while those with higher education the average drops to 37 hours a week. “In other words, the reduction in working hours benefits precisely the most precarious workers.”
