Law No. 13,467/2017, enacted on July 13, 2017, has become a milestone in the legal system. The law, now known as “the Labor Reform”, brought about considerable changes to the CLT, one of them being the discussed Hours in Itinere.
Horas in itinere is the time spent by the worker in transportation provided by the employer, to and from the place where the services are rendered, which is difficult to access and not served by regular public transportation, and the period spent on the journey must be computed in the employee’s working hours, according to Precedent 90 of the CST.
The issue in question has always been the subject of discussion and controversy for companies, since for the employer the cost of providing transportation and the concomitant payment of overtime became unfeasible and discouraging.
However, with the entry into force of the new Labor Reform law, §2 was included in article 58 of the CLT, suspending the payment of hora in itinere:
(…)
§ Paragraph 2 The time spent by the employee from his residence to the effective occupation of the workstation and back, walking or by any means of transportation, including that provided by the employer, will not be computed in the working day, as it is not time at the employer’s disposal.
The understanding used to suspend the hours in itinere came from employees in large cities who travel to work by bus, subway and train and spend a short time getting to the workplace.
It is important to note that workers in large cities, in addition to spending a long time commuting to and from work, experience adversities such as traffic, strikes, subway and train maintenance and were not entitled to receive hours in itinere.
Furthermore, it can be seen that employees in big cities have easy access to public transportation, but in a precarious and absolutely uncomfortable situation, while workers in companies with difficult access have comfortable transportation provided by the company.
Comparing the situation described above, we don’t think it’s fair that the worker who has more comfortable transportation provided by the employer should have the commuting time included in their working day.
In this way, the main aim of the reform is to remove the obligation to pay hours in itinere, encouraging employers to provide transportation for their employees, without any financial increase.
Marcos Martins Advogados is always attentive to legislative changes and to the understandings and positions of case law in labor matters, maintaining its commitment to excellence in providing legal services to its clients by providing appropriate responses that are perfectly adjusted to the current interpretation of the law.
