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Supreme Labor Court Rules That Law 12.740/2012, Which Changed The Calculation Basis For Hazard Pay, Applies To Contracts Prior To Its Enforcement And Changes Interpretation Previously Applied By The Labor Court.
A power engineer hired in 2005 by the former Celg had confirmed by the Supreme Labor Court (TST) the right to calculate hazard pay based on the base salary, and not the total remuneration. The decision was issued on September 8, 2025, by the 5th Panel of the TST, which understood that the Law 12.740/2012 applies to all ongoing employment contracts at the time of its enactment.
The controversy began because the company, currently Equatorial Goiás Energy Distribution S/A, calculated hazard pay on the global remuneration until April 2013, based on the Law 7.369/1985. Starting in May of the same year, it began to apply the 30% on the basic salary, in accordance with the new law of 2012, which revoked the previous rule.
However, the Regional Labor Court of the 18th Region (GO) understood that the legislative change would only apply to subsequent contracts, according to the Summary 191, item III, of the TST. With this understanding, it condemned the distributor to pay the salary differences arising from the change.
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Decision Reversed TRT’s Condemnation
The company appealed the regional decision and brought the case to the TST. In the trial, the rapporteur, Minister Breno Medeiros, emphasized that the Plenary of the Court, when analyzing the Theme 23 in repetitive appeal, had already established a position that the Labor Reform (Law 13.467/2017) applies immediately to ongoing contracts.
According to the rapporteur, the same reasoning should apply to the Law 12.740/2012, since it changed the method of calculating a labor component and began to govern contracts in force from its enactment. Therefore, there would be no justification for maintaining the payment of differences to the engineer hired in 2005.
The panel fully supported the rapporteur’s vote and, unanimously, exempted Equatorial Goiás from paying the differences determined by the TRT.
Law of 2012 Has Immediate Effect on Ongoing Contracts
The established understanding reinforces that labor laws that modify calculation criteria or payments have immediate application, covering both new contracts and ongoing contracts, provided that rights already acquired are not overridden.
In the analyzed case, the calculation basis was changed from total remuneration to 30% of the base salary, applicable uniformly to all contracts after 2012. Thus, engineers and other professionals hired before the law’s enactment also fall under this rule.
The decision of the 5th Panel of the TST is considered important to standardize the interpretation in similar cases, reducing controversies in regional instances.
Official Information
The information was released by the specialized portal Conjur, which highlighted the impact of the hazard pay law of 2012, and confirmed by the Supreme Labor Court (TST), responsible for the judgment of the case. The case in question is Ag-RRAg-0011381-31.2023.5.18.0015.
And you, did you know that the 2012 law on hazard pay also applies to old contracts or did you think it only applied to new hires?
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