Matheus Freschi França, lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados.
The new version of eSocial (S-1.1) comes into force on January 16, 2023, bringing with it new obligations for employers, especially with regard to information on labor lawsuits and agreements.
Among the information that will have to be submitted are records of labor lawsuits, final convictions, even if jointly and severally or as a subsidiary, such as in the case of an economic group or outsourcing, and agreements reached both in the Labor Courts and in Pre-Trial Conciliation Commissions (CCP) and Inter-Union Centers (Ninter).
Employers will also have to provide basic data on claimants, such as the period the employee worked for the company, monthly remuneration, claims in the case, claims that were convicted, as well as the basis for calculating FGTS and social security contributions.
However, the information will only be mandatory for lawsuits and settlements concluded as of January 1, 2023, and companies will have until the 15th day of the month following the date of the final and unappealable decision or settlement to enter the data into the system.
The deadline for entering data into the system is fixed, which could cause problems for companies that are not yet well aligned with the new version, since processes that end at the end of a month, for example, will only have 15 days to be regularized in eSocial, while processes that end at the beginning of a month may have up to 45 days to do so.
Thus, the organization of labour information in companies, as well as agile and effective communication between legal and HR, are now essential, given that failure to declare information in eSocial can lead to administrative fines in itself, even if labour obligations (wages, FGTS, social security contributions, etc.) are duly settled.
The Ministry of Labor said that the new version will benefit employers by reducing the time spent declaring information in labor lawsuits. It also said that it will prevent, for example, employers from reopening and reprocessing payrolls for various periods just to include a worker’s salary differences.
It is clear that the implementation of version S-1.1 of eSocial will allow for greater inspection, both by the Labor Prosecutor’s Office and by other government agencies, such as the Federal Revenue Service, of any non-compliance by companies with their obligations regarding the payment of labor sums, FGTS payments and social security contributions, which could be used as criteria for assessments.
