The 1st Panel of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) denied an employment relationship between a driver and the ride-hailing app Cabify\u2014which has ceased operations in Brazil. This is the first panel decision. Until then, there had been only single-judge rulings (by a single justice) to the same effect. Now, attention turns to the STF Plenary. Yesterday, when announcing the outcome of the trial, the reporting judge, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, ordered that the other appeal on the docket be transferred for review by all justices. The case (Rcl 64018) concerns Rappi. The issue is important. Today, there are at least 1.5 million app drivers, delivery drivers, and motorcycle taxi drivers in the country, according to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea). And nearly 30,000 lawsuits on the matter are pending in the Labor Courts, with a value exceeding R$3.4 billion, according to the jurimetrics firm Data Lawyer Insights.<\/p>\n
At the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the justices analyzed a complaint against a decision by the Regional Labor Court of Minas Gerais (TRT-MG). In July, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, when analyzing a request for a preliminary injunction, had already denied the employment relationship, suspending the decision, which has now been confirmed by the 1st Panel (Rcl 60347). According to Moraes, this understanding applies not only to Cabify, but to all app-based companies\u2014such as Uber, iFood, and 99. "Although the judges disagree ideologically and academically, these decisions are unjustified," he said, adding that the number of complaints before the Supreme Federal Court has already reached the level of habeas corpus petitions, and that over 40% are from the Labor Court.<\/p>\n
O ministro afirmou no voto, que o STF j\u00e1 decidiu, em diversas ocasi\u00f5es, que a Constitui\u00e7\u00e3o Federal imp\u00f5e a livre iniciativa na produ\u00e7\u00e3o e n\u00e3o determina que toda presta\u00e7\u00e3o de servi\u00e7os seja considerada rela\u00e7\u00e3o de emprego \u2014 precedentes como o da terceiriza\u00e7\u00e3o (ADPF 324), dos contratos de natureza civil (ADC 48) ou de parceria entre sal\u00f5es de beleza e profissionais do setor (ADI 5625). Para ele, esses casos de aplicativos n\u00e3o englobam situa\u00e7\u00f5es de fraude somente para n\u00e3o se pagar direitos trabalhistas e tributos. \u201cTem que ser comprovada a fraude. No caso do Uber ou Ifood, ele [motorista ou entregador] tem a liberdade de aceitar uma corrida, de fazer seu hor\u00e1rio, ter outros v\u00ednculos. N\u00e3o existe exclusividade\u201d, disse. Em seguida, os ministros Cristiano Zanin, Luiz Fux e C\u00e1rmen L\u00facia acompanharam o relator. Fux destacou, ao votar, que houve uma primeira decis\u00e3o do Conselho Nacional dos Estados Unidos para motoristas de aplicativo no mesmo sentido do posicionamento adotado pelo STF. E que o Brasil tem adotado o sistema de precedentes e, por isso, essas decis\u00f5es devem ser obrigatoriamente seguidas pelas inst\u00e2ncias inferiores.<\/p>\n
"Failing to follow these precedents sets a terrible example," Fux stated. "We're having a crazy time with the Labor Court's resistance to accepting the Supreme Court's decision," the minister added, suggesting that the matter be brought to the National Council of Justice (CNJ). Despite agreeing with the rapporteur, C\u00e1rmen L\u00facia expressed concern about the retirement of these service providers. "Although it's a concern for society, it can't be resolved by simply applying a model that doesn't fit this relationship. I panic when I think about what we're creating in 20, 30, 40 years, when they need it most," she said, emphasizing the importance of a full bench position on the matter. Lawyer and retired Superior Labor Court (TST) minister, M\u00e1rcio Eurico Vitral Amaro, of Chiode Minicucci Advogados, delivered oral arguments in the trial on behalf of Cabifiy. He stated that the Supreme Court has demonstrated its commitment to the interests of society, such as recognizing that a couple isn't necessarily a man and a woman or recognizing the gender with which a person identifies. "These are difficult questions that aim to meet the needs of the moment," he said. Along the same lines, Amaro asserted, the issue of the employment relationship of app-based drivers should be addressed. "It's a difficult question, but the Court has already given a clear answer that there is no employment relationship in the classic form provided for in the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT)," he said. For attorney Mar\u00edlia Minicucci of Chiode Minicucci Advogados, who is also working on the case, the ruling made clear the need for the Labor Court to adapt to modernity and the new forms of work that accompany it, understanding and accepting that the provisions of articles 2 and 3 of the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) are no longer sufficient to govern all employment relationships. "Drivers and delivery drivers on digital platforms have autonomy, not only regarding their working hours but also regarding whether or not they accept rides, which certainly removes them from the rigid framework of an employment relationship," she said. Meanwhile, Eymard Loguercio, a lawyer who advises workers at LBS Advogadas e Advogados, believes that the Supreme Federal Court (STF) has undermined the jurisdiction of the Labor Courts on issues that are still under debate in the Judiciary and in society. "This undermines the consolidation of the issue, to the detriment of people who work in these regimes without social protection." Loguercio believes the STF uses precedents based on similarity, which do not address the same situation as app drivers. "I continue to believe the STF is encouraging the filing of constitutional complaints by broadening its scope of review to include outsourcing cases and cases involving the hiring of individuals to perform services, which may or may not constitute a formal contract," he says. "This matter truly needs further examination, and I hope the full court can do so."<\/p>\n
Article originally published on December 5, 2023 on the Valor Econ\u00f4mico website.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A 1\u00aa Turma do Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) negou v\u00ednculo de emprego entre um motorista e o aplicativo de transporte Cabify \u2014 que encerrou suas opera\u00e7\u00f5es no Brasil. Essa \u00e9 a primeira decis\u00e3o de turma. At\u00e9 ent\u00e3o, havia apenas monocr\u00e1ticas (de um s\u00f3 ministro), no mesmo sentido. Agora, as aten\u00e7\u00f5es se voltam ao Pleno do […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-na-midia"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/af956b25a9c7842ac6cf5ffd4c023f4c-600x445.jpg",600,445,true],"list":["https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/af956b25a9c7842ac6cf5ffd4c023f4c-463x348.jpg",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/af956b25a9c7842ac6cf5ffd4c023f4c-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"full":["https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/af956b25a9c7842ac6cf5ffd4c023f4c.jpg",600,600,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6227,"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions\/6227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiode.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}