Reform will bring about widespread layoffs and intermittent contracts, says head of the Labor Prosecutor's Office.

247 - The Attorney General for Labor, Ronaldo Fleury, stated that the Labor Prosecutor's Office will monitor, after the labor reform comes into effect, whether the legislation will be used to harm workers.

"If the law is being used as a way to circumvent social rights, we will apply those social rights, which are enshrined in the Constitution and international norms," ​​Fleury said in an interview with Folha de S. Paulo.

A staunch critic of the reform, he said he was certain the new law would result in widespread layoffs and "alternative forms" of work, such as intermittent contracts.

"There will be a very high demand for intermittent work contracts. I have no doubt that there will be a large number of layoffs and hiring through alternative methods – micro-enterprises, intermittent contracts," he stated.

Fleury said that it pays for companies to violate labor laws in Brazil and, therefore, argues that the reform will not reduce the number of lawsuits.

"They said the reform would reduce the number of lawsuits and create legal certainty. The fact that we've been discussing such disparate positions for almost a year shows that this isn't the case. On the contrary. Very serious measures have been adopted and will require a lot of time for their interpretation to mature. Regarding the very large number of lawsuits, it won't decrease at all. The number of labor lawsuits in Brazil only exists because it pays for companies to violate labor laws here. It's a rather serious thing to say, isn't it? It pays," he stated.

Read the full interview.