Brazil’s Bill to End the Six-Day Week Has Been Stuck for 82 Days — and Still Has Not Reached Committee

By The Rio Times | Created at 2026-08-19 06:54:59 | Updated at 2026-08-19 07:17:25 27 minutes ago

Brazil · Work

Key Facts

What it would do Cut the maximum working week from 44 hours to 40, keep the eight-hour day, and require two paid rest days a week, one preferably Sunday.
No pay cut The text bars any reduction in wages — nominal, proportional or otherwise — including collectively bargained floors.
Where it passed The Chamber of Deputies, both rounds on 27 May 2026, by 472–22 and 461–19.
Where it actually is Still formally awaiting dispatch in the Senate plenary, where it has sat since 28 May. Senate president Davi Alcolumbre announced on 14 August, after meeting President Lula, that he would send it to the constitution and justice committee.
What has not happened The committee has not received it, no rapporteur has been named, and there has been no vote in committee or on the floor.
The transition, if it passes Two paid rest days and a 42-hour cap 60 days after promulgation; 40 hours after 14 months.
So nothing has changed The 6×1 schedule remains fully legal.

If you work in Brazil, this is the change that would touch your week most directly. Three months after it cleared the Chamber, it has not moved an inch in the Senate.

Brazil’s most-watched labour reform is the one that would end the escala 6×1 — six days worked, one day off. The Brazil 6×1 work schedule amendment passed the Chamber of Deputies on 27 May by an enormous margin. It then landed in the Senate and stopped. The Senate’s own record still lists it as awaiting dispatch, and as of today the committee that must examine it has not received it.

Demonstrators in Brazil carry a sign calling for an end to the escala 6x1, the six-day work schedule

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What the escala 6×1 actually is

If you have worked retail, security, food service or a call centre in Brazil, you have probably lived it. Six consecutive days on, one day off, week after week. It is legal under the constitution’s current cap of eight hours a day and 44 a week, and it is how a very large share of the country’s front-line workforce is scheduled.

The amendment takes the weekly cap to 40 hours and requires two paid rest days. For millions of people that converts a six-day week into a five-day one without touching the eight-hour day.

It is not a straightforward left-right fight. Both Chamber rounds were held on 27 May and passed 472–22 and 461–19. Almost nobody wanted to be recorded voting for the six-day week.

The approved text does carve out exceptions: workers earning more than two and a half times the INSS ceiling, outsourced public-sector staff, and sectors such as health, security and transport, which would be allowed alternative arrangements.

Why it has not moved

The amendment reached the Senate on 28 May. Under Senate rules, nothing happens to it until the president of the house issues a despacho sending it to committee, and Davi Alcolumbre did not issue one. In early June he ruled out any shortcut to the floor, saying the proposal would have to go through the committees.

On 14 August, after a meeting with President Lula, he announced he would release it along with the public security amendment and bills on critical minerals. Brazilian coverage counted 82 days from arrival to that announcement.

Even so, the announcement is not the act. Reporting on 18 August said the despacho had been signed but had not appeared in the Senate’s system, and that Alcolumbre had not yet spoken to Otto Alencar, who chairs the constitution and justice committee. Alencar has said he will choose the rapporteur himself. The Senate’s public record for the amendment still reads: awaiting dispatch.

There are competing texts too. Senator Rogério Marinho has a rival amendment backed by around 40 opposition senators that would create a more flexible hourly regime, and Senator Paulo Paim has a long-standing 36-hour proposal. Alencar has said he wants to prioritise the Chamber’s text and take it to the floor alongside Paim’s.

What it would mean if you work in Brazil

For employees, the effect would be a second guaranteed rest day and four fewer hours in the standard week at the same pay, phased in: the two rest days and a 42-hour cap 60 days after promulgation, then 40 hours 14 months later.

For employers — including foreign residents running small businesses here — it is a straightforward increase in cost per hour worked, concentrated in exactly the sectors that run six-day rosters. Retail and hospitality federations have pushed for a longer phase-in and sector-level flexibility.

On timing, the committee has signalled it wants to finish its work before late October, with floor consideration after the 25 October runoff. Treat that as an intention rather than a schedule. A constitutional amendment needs two separate Senate votes, each requiring 49 of the 81 senators, and this one has already spent nearly three months waiting for a single signature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Has the 6×1 schedule been abolished in Brazil?

No. The amendment passed the Chamber of Deputies on 27 May 2026 but has not been voted on in the Senate. The 6×1 schedule remains fully legal.

What would change?

The maximum week would fall from 44 hours to 40, the eight-hour day would stay, and workers would get two paid rest days a week, one preferably Sunday. Wages could not be cut.

Where is the bill right now?

Formally, still awaiting dispatch in the Senate plenary, where it has sat since 28 May. Senate president Davi Alcolumbre announced on 14 August that he would send it to the constitution and justice committee, but as of 19 August the committee had not received it.

What still has to happen?

The dispatch has to register, a rapporteur has to be appointed, the committee has to report, and the Senate floor has to approve it in two separate rounds with at least 49 of 81 senators in favour. Only then is it promulgated.