What rescisão and verbas rescisórias mean
Rescisão is the end of the work contract. Verbas rescisórias are the amounts the employer pays at that moment, such as the salary for days worked, the 13º and the férias not yet paid.
What you get depends on who ended the contract and why. With a salary of R$ 3.000,00 and 2 years and 6 months at the company, dismissal without justa causa pays R$ 10.301,54. Justa causa pays R$ 2.751,40.
What the law says
Na extinção do contrato de trabalho, o empregador deverá proceder à anotação na Carteira de Trabalho e Previdência Social, comunicar a dispensa aos órgãos competentes e realizar o pagamento das verbas rescisórias no prazo e na forma estabelecidos neste artigo.
In English
When the contract ends, the employer has three tasks. Record the exit in the carteira de trabalho (work card), tell the government and pay all it owes, within the legal deadline.
These are the items that can show up in the rescisão document, the termo de rescisão.
- Saldo de salário, the days worked in the month you leave.
- Aviso prévio indenizado, the notice the employer pays without you working it.
- Prorated 13º, 1/12 of the salary for each month worked in the year.
- Férias vencidas, those of a full year you have not taken yet, with 1/3.
- Férias proporcionais (prorated paid leave), 1/12 per month of the férias year in progress, with 1/3.
- FGTS fine of 40%, which the employer deposits into your FGTS account.
For the 13º and férias, a part of a month with 15 days or more of work counts as a full month.
Dismissal without justa causa, when the employer lets you go
This is the most common exit. The employer decides to end the contract without any serious fault on your part. In this case you get everything the law provides.
- Saldo de salário.
- Aviso prévio of 30 days plus 3 per full year, up to 90, paid without working or worked.
- Prorated 13º and férias vencidas and proporcionais, with the 1/3.
- Withdrawal of the whole FGTS, with the fine of 40%.
- Seguro-desemprego (unemployment insurance), if you have the months with a carteira the law requires.
Pedido de demissão, when you decide to leave
If you resign, you get the saldo de salário, the prorated 13º and the férias vencidas and proporcionais, with the 1/3. You get no paid notice and no FGTS fine, you cannot withdraw the balance and you get no seguro-desemprego.
Férias proporcionais are owed even if you leave before 1 year. That is Súmula 261 of the Tribunal Superior do Trabalho, Brazil's top labor court.
What the law says
A falta de aviso prévio por parte do empregado, dá ao empregador direito de descontar os salários correspondentes ao prazo respectivo.
In English
If you resign, you must give 30 days of notice and work during that time. If you do not, the employer can take that month of salary off the rescisão. If the employer waives the notice, it deducts nothing.
In the example, if you resign you get R$ 6.138,90, with the notice waived by the employer. The FGTS stays in the account and comes out later in the cases the law allows.
Justa causa, when the employer points to a serious fault
Justa causa is dismissal for a serious fault of the employee. The CLT (Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho, Brazil's labor code) lists the faults, and the employer must prove the one it claims.
What the law says
Constituem justa causa para rescisão do contrato de trabalho pelo empregador: a) ato de improbidade; [...] e) desídia no desempenho das respectivas funções; f) embriaguez habitual ou em serviço; [...] h) ato de indisciplina ou de insubordinação; i) abandono de emprego;
In English
Improbidade is dishonesty, such as theft or fraud. Desídia is repeated carelessness at work. Indisciplina is breaking a general company rule, and insubordinação is disobeying a direct order from the boss. Abandono is no longer showing up without notice.
With justa causa you get only the saldo de salário and any férias vencidas, with the 1/3. You lose the prorated 13º, the férias proporcionais, the aviso prévio, the fine, the FGTS withdrawal and the seguro-desemprego.
In the example, the employer pays R$ 2.751,40. If you disagree with the fault claimed, you can ask the Justiça do Trabalho (labor courts) to cancel the justa causa. Without proof of the fault, the exit becomes a dismissal without justa causa, with all rights.
Agreement with the employer, the exit of art. 484-A
Since the 2017 labor reform, employer and employee can end the contract by mutual agreement. Each side gives up a part.
What the law says
O contrato de trabalho poderá ser extinto por acordo entre empregado e empregador, caso em que serão devidas as seguintes verbas trabalhistas: I - por metade: a) o aviso prévio, se indenizado; e b) a indenização sobre o saldo do Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço, prevista no § 1º do art. 18 da Lei nº 8.036, de 11 de maio de 1990; II - na integralidade, as demais verbas trabalhistas. § 1º A extinção do contrato prevista no caput deste artigo permite a movimentação da conta vinculada do trabalhador no Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço na forma do inciso I‑A do art. 20 da Lei nº 8.036, de 11 de maio de 1990, limitada até 80% (oitenta por cento) do valor dos depósitos. § 2º A extinção do contrato por acordo prevista no caput deste artigo não autoriza o ingresso no Programa de Seguro-Desemprego.
In English
In an agreement, the paid aviso prévio and the FGTS fine are cut in half, and the rest comes in full. You can withdraw up to 80% of the FGTS and you get no seguro-desemprego.
In practice, the fine drops from 40% to 20%. Caixa (federal savings bank) releases 80% of the balance with that fine added, and the rest stays in the FGTS account.
In the example, the paid notice drops to 18 days, or R$ 1.800,00. The employer pays R$ 8.501,54 and you withdraw R$ 7.799,04 from the FGTS.
The agreement must be what both sides want. The employer cannot call it an agreement when the dismissal was its decision alone, just to pay less.
Rescisão indireta, when the serious fault is the employer's
Rescisão indireta (constructive dismissal) is justa causa the other way around. The employer commits the serious fault, and you end the contract with the rights of someone who was dismissed.
What the law says
O empregado poderá considerar rescindido o contrato e pleitear a devida indenização quando: [...] b) for tratado pelo empregador ou por seus superiores hierárquicos com rigor excessivo; [...] d) não cumprir o empregador as obrigações do contrato;
In English
If the employer treats you with excessive harshness or stops meeting the contract, you can leave and claim all you would get in a dismissal without justa causa. Paying the salary and depositing the FGTS are duties under the contract.
In most cases, rescisão indireta is asked for in a claim at the Justiça do Trabalho, which recognizes the employer's fault.
How the rescisão is worked out, step by step
- Divide the salary by 30 to get the value of a day, R$ 100,00 in the example.
- Multiply by the days worked in the month you leave. That is the saldo de salário.
- Count the days of notice, 30 plus 3 per full year, and multiply by the value of a day.
- Add the months of paid notice to your time at the company. Those days count as time of service.
- Work out the prorated 13º and férias, 1/12 of the salary per month, and add 1/3 to the férias.
- Take INSS (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social, Brazil's social security) and income tax off the saldo de salário and the 13º, each with its own calculation.
What the law says
A falta do aviso prévio por parte do empregador dá ao empregado o direito aos salários correspondentes ao prazo do aviso, garantida, sempre, a integração desse período no seu tempo de serviço.
In English
If the employer dismisses you without giving notice, it still pays those days. And they count as work time, which raises the 13º and férias in the rescisão.
Rescisão on R$ 3.000,00 after 2 years and 6 months at the company, without justa causa
- Saldo de salário, 30 days
- R$ 3.000,00
- Aviso prévio indenizado, 36 days
- R$ 3.600,00
- Prorated 13º, 7/12
- R$ 1.750,00
- Férias, 7/12 prorated
- R$ 1.750,00
- 1/3 on the férias
- R$ 583,33
- INSS
- − R$ 381,79
- Income tax
- − R$ 0,00
- From the employer, in your account
- R$ 10.301,54
The paid notice and the férias paid on leaving have no INSS and no income tax. Separately, you withdraw R$ 11.575,20 from the FGTS, with the fine of 40%.
Deadline to pay and the fine for paying late
What the law says
A entrega ao empregado de documentos que comprovem a comunicação da extinção contratual aos órgãos competentes bem como o pagamento dos valores constantes do instrumento de rescisão ou recibo de quitação deverão ser efetuados até dez dias contados a partir do término do contrato.
In English
The employer has 10 days, counted from the end of the contract, to pay the rescisão. In the same time, it hands over the papers that show it told the government you left.
What the law says
A inobservância do disposto no § 6º deste artigo sujeitará o infrator à multa de 160 BTN, por trabalhador, bem assim ao pagamento da multa a favor do empregado, em valor equivalente ao seu salário, devidamente corrigido pelo índice de variação do BTN, salvo quando, comprovadamente, o trabalhador der causa à mora.
In English
If the employer pays late, it owes you a fine of one salary, R$ 3.000,00 in the example, plus a fine to the government. It is only free of this if it proves the delay was your fault.
The exit record in the digital carteira de trabalho is what lets you ask for seguro-desemprego and withdraw the FGTS. For that, the employer must have reported your exit to the government.
Common rescisão mistakes and what to do
- A 30-day notice for someone with more than 1 year at the company, without the 3 days per year.
- 13º and férias without the months of paid notice.
- FGTS fine on today's balance, leaving out withdrawals made during the contract.
- Férias vencidas paid only once when the deadline to grant them had passed and they were owed twice over.
What the law says
O instrumento de rescisão ou recibo de quitação, qualquer que seja a causa ou forma de dissolução do contrato, deve ter especificada a natureza de cada parcela paga ao empregado e discriminado o seu valor, sendo válida a quitação, apenas, relativamente às mesmas parcelas.
In English
The rescisão document must show each item and its amount. Signing it settles only what is written in it, and anything missing can still be claimed.
Compare the document with this calculator. If something is missing, ask human resources in writing to fix it and keep the answer.
What the law says
A pretensão quanto a créditos resultantes das relações de trabalho prescreve em cinco anos para os trabalhadores urbanos e rurais, até o limite de dois anos após a extinção do contrato de trabalho.
In English
You have up to 2 years after leaving to go to court. In the claim, you collect what you were owed in the 5 years before it.
What if I have férias vencidas?
Then R$ 4.000,00 more comes in, and the total from the employer reaches R$ 14.301,54. Férias vencidas are the férias of a full work year you have not taken yet, and they come with the 1/3.
They are paid in any kind of exit. If the employer already missed the deadline to give you those férias, the CLT orders them paid twice over. This calculation shows the single amount.
The estimated FGTS withdrawal drops a little, to R$ 11.463,20, because the calculation only puts FGTS on the 1/3 of férias you already took.
Does working the aviso prévio change the rescisão?
Yes. If you are dismissed without justa causa and work the notice, the employer pays about R$ 6.138,90 in the rescisão. The estimated FGTS withdrawal drops from R$ 11.575,20 to R$ 11.144,00.
The paid notice of R$ 3.600,00 leaves the calculation. In its place, the calculator pays only the salary for the 30 days worked in the notice, as salary for days worked.
The paid notice is worth more for two reasons. It counts as time of service and raises the 13º and the férias. And it enters the FGTS, with the deposit of 8% and the fine of 40%.
Law 12.506 of 2011, which created the 3 extra days per year, does not say if the employer can make you work the 6 days beyond 30. Labor courts decide this in different ways, so the calculator does not pay those days.
During that month, the CLT cuts your workday by 2 hours, with no pay cut. If you prefer, you work normal hours and take the last 7 days of the notice off.
Can the employer deduct debts from the rescisão?
It can deduct an advance, the INSS and what the law or the collective agreement allows. But the CLT limits set-off, which means taking a debt of yours from the rescisão.
That set-off cannot go above one month of remuneração (total pay), R$ 3.000,00 in the example. Damage you caused by accident can only be deducted if the contract says so.
Do I have to sign the rescisão at the union?
Not anymore. Since the 2017 labor reform, the CLT no longer requires signing at the union or at the Ministry of Labor, however long you worked there.
The collective agreement of your trade can still require it. And you can take the document to the union to check the numbers, before or after signing.
How much do you get from the employer for each kind of exit?
| Salary | Dismissed | Resigned | Agreement | Justa causa |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R$ 1.621,00 | R$ 5.580,05 | R$ 3.329,80 | R$ 4.607,45 | R$ 1.499,42 |
| R$ 2.500,00 | R$ 8.592,71 | R$ 5.122,23 | R$ 7.092,71 | R$ 2.299,31 |
| R$ 3.000,00 | R$ 10.301,54 | R$ 6.138,90 | R$ 8.501,54 | R$ 2.751,40 |
| R$ 5.000,00 | R$ 17.065,45 | R$ 10.131,13 | R$ 14.065,45 | R$ 4.498,49 |
| R$ 8.000,00 | R$ 26.074,69 | R$ 15.005,37 | R$ 21.274,69 | R$ 6.040,64 |
How this calculation works
Salary for days worked covers the days in the month you leave. The 13º and férias proporcionais count 1/12 per month, and 15 days or more count as a month.
The aviso prévio is 30 days plus 3 per full year, up to 90. In an agreement, the paid notice is cut in half.
INSS and income tax come out of the salary for days worked and the 13º, each with its own calculation. The paid notice and the férias paid on leaving have none of those deductions.
Without an FGTS balance typed in, the calculation estimates 8% of the salary per month, with the 13º and the 1/3 de férias (one-third vacation bonus), with no interest.
Overtime, commissions and anything added by the collective agreement of your trade are left out.
The full method and the data behind this calculation (in Portuguese)