Why Brazilians ask to be fired?
In Brazil, it is not uncommon to hear an employee asking to be fired as a way to have access to the benefits granted by unemployment. Learn in this article what are the reasons for such practice and how it is inserted in the Brazilian business environment.
Unemployment benefits
Before understanding why Brazilians ask to be fired, it is important to know that Brazilian employees working under a CLT regime have access to the following unemployment benefits:
Notice
The employee must be informed of his dismissal with one month in advance, what in Brazil is called “aviso prévio”. As some employees start to misbehave and to cause damages, such as influencing other employees to quit or to sue the company, many employers choose to pay an indemnity correspondent to the one month the worker had the right to.
This way, when the employee is dismissed by the employer, he has the right to work one more month or to receive an indemnification that corresponds to one month salary.
FGTS – Fundo de Garantia por Tempo de Serviço
“Fundo de Garantia por Tempo de Serviço” is a set of resources collected from the private sector and managed by Caixa Econônica Federal. The purpose of this fund is to support employees when they are dismissed by the employer. For this reason, the employer cannot withdraw it in case of voluntary dismissal.
The amount collected by FGTS is of monthly 8% of the employee’s salary, what is nearly equivalent to one salary per year. This fund can be used to finance the purchase of a house or when the account holder is diagnosed with a terminal illness.
When an employer dismisses an employee, he must pay a 50% fee over the amount deposited in the employee’s FGTS account. Out of this fee, 40% belongs to the employee.
Unemployment insurance
Employees working under the CLT regime for more than six months and who were dismissed by their employers without justa causa are supported by the unemployment insurance, called “seguro desemprego” in Brazil.
The amount received is proportional to the employee’s salary and ranges from BRL 678,00 to BRL 1.235,91 in 2013. The number of installments depends on how long the employee has worked, as explained below:
- From six to 11 months: three installments;
- From 12 to 23 months: four installments;
- From 24 to 36 months: five installments.
The Agreement
As previously explained, the benefits granted to employees who are fired without justa causa are the reason why they ask to be fired. When this happens, an informal agreement is set between the two parties and the employee is expected to return the money of the 40% fee deposited in his FGTS account.
It is important to say that this practice constitutes fraud, so it is not possible to establish a legal agreement between employer and employee and the only guarantee the employer has that the money will actually be refund is the employee’s word. As the agreement is completely based on trust, it is always risky to the employer.
In some cases the employee asks to be fired and hired again a couple of months later with the dismissal being nothing but a measure for him to have access to his unemployment benefits.
Social Acceptance and “no dismissal policies”
Despite being illegal and causing losses to the social security, this practice is socially accepted without causing any embarrassment to the employee and with the employer being used to this type of request.
The employer may refuse the agreement, but will very rarely punish the employee for proposing an illegal practice. You may ask yourself why the employer would accept such agreement and the answers are basically two: collaboration and precaution.
If you have a good employee, someone you trust and who has always performed his job with excellence and responsibility, you may ask yourself “Why wouldn’t I help this person?” and in many cases the trust the employer gives his employee pays off.
On the other hand, if an unhappy employee has his dismissal request refused, he may become a serious problem to your company. He may influence other employees against the company, refuse to work properly, jeopardize the workflow and even look for a reason to sue the employer.
A bad employee knows that his employer will not “be nice” and fire him, so he starts to give reasons to be fired, such as being constantly late, absent for no reason, refusing to work and several other behaviors that try to lead the employer to dismiss him.
However, as such practice is very common in Brazil, Brazilian employers are already used to this type of behavior and once they realize that the employee is trying to be fired, they will keep him in the company for as long as possible or until the company finds a reason to dismiss him for justa causa, leaving him without any benefit and with a negative professional history.
This situation sometimes lasts for years as the employee is not willing to give up on his benefits and the employer will not give in, what leads to a hostile work environment to both parties.
The dismissal request has become so common that some companies have started to adopt “no dismissal policies”, meaning that they will never dismiss an employee. In this case, the employer will try to dismiss the employee through justa causa or will push the situation to the point that the employee will voluntarily request his dismissal, giving up on his FGTS, his notice and his unemployment insurance.