Supreme Court rules that union involvement is required for collective dismissals implemented after June 14, 2022

Following the ruling issued on June 8, 2022, which determined that collective terminations require union involvement, Brazil’s Supreme Court has today (April 25, 2023) published a new decision clarifying that such requirement applies to collective terminations implemented after June 14, 2022.
 
The Supreme Court’s precedent states that “prior union intervention is an essential procedural requirement for the collective termination of workers, which is not to be confused with prior authorization by the union or the signing of a collective agreement”.
 
According to the first merit decision issued last June 2022, there is no requirement for the union to approve the employees’ dismissal – accordingly, it is not mandatory to execute a collective bargaining agreement to regulate the terminations. However, according to Brazil’s constitutional court, companies are required to establish an open dialogue with the union in order for the collective terminations (implemented after June 14, 2022) to be valid.