CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF CURRENT BRAZILIAN LABOR LEGISLATION: UNASSISTANCE TO RETAIL SERVICE WORKERS AND FOOD/HUMAN TRANSPORTATION

Abstract

This article proposes a constitutional analysis of contemporary Brazilian labor legislation, investigating the (in)compatibility of the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) and the 2017 Labor Reform with the constitutional principles of worker protection. It starts from the hypothesis that such rules disregard the maximum protection of the worker and the social function of Labor Law, aggravating labor precarization. The research is qualitative in nature, with a deductive approach and bibliographical review method, using constitutional hermeneutics. As an empirical focus, the work regime in digital platforms for passenger transport and food delivery is analyzed, comparing it to the retail trade sector. The objectives are to verify whether there is a violation of protective principles and whether the reforms have contributed to increased labor unprotection. The comparison with the Portuguese Workers’ Code, as a protective ideal, and the Spanish labor reform, reversed in 2023, helps contextualize the impacts of flexibilization and the need to improve the protection offered by the CLT and Brazilian labor legislation. The results confirm the hypothesis of incompatibility between the current infraconstitutional legislation and the constitutional foundations of Brazilian Labor Law.