Even Without a Formal Contract, If You Prove the 5 Employment Requirements, You Can Claim Vacation Pay, 13th Salary, Severance Pay, and Unemployment Insurance, With a Deadline of Up to 2 Years

Written by Maria Heloisa Barbosa Borges

Published on 10/09/2025 at 10:48

Sem carteira assinada: trabalhador que comprova 5 requisitos pode cobrar férias, 13º, FGTS e seguro-desemprego

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Court Recognizes Employment Relationship When There Is Personal Element, Continuity, Salary, Subordination, and Risk Assumed by the Employer; Deadline for Action Is Up to 2 Years

Working without a formal contract is a common reality in Brazil, but this does not mean the absence of rights. According to lawyer Cíntia Brunelli, even without formal registration, it is possible to obtain paid vacation, thirteenth salary, FGTS, and unemployment insurance as long as the worker can prove that the relationship constituted employment.

The deadline is up to two years after the end of employment to file a lawsuit in the Labor Court.

During this period, the judge can analyze the evidence presented, and if the legal requirements are identified, determine that the employer pays everything that would be due if the contract had been signed.

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What Are the 5 Requirements That Define the Employment Relationship

To differentiate formal employment from other forms of work, the legislation requires the simultaneous presence of five conditions.

They are:

Personal Element: the service must be performed by the hired individual, without the possibility of substitution.
No Occasional Nature (Continuity): the work needs to be regular and frequent.
Remuneration: there must be payment of salary for the services rendered.
Subordination: the worker follows orders and is under the employer’s direction.
Risk Bearing: the business risks belong to the employer, not to the employee.

If these requirements are present, the court recognizes the existence of employment, even without registration.

In this case, the worker gains the right to all benefits guaranteed by the CLT.

How to Prove the Relationship Without a Formal Contract

According to Cíntia Brunelli, the applied rule is the primacy of reality meaning that what matters are the facts of daily life, not just documents.

For this, evidence such as payment receipts, bank statements with regular deposits, conversations in apps, emails, photos in uniforms, point records, badges, and witnesses can be decisive in the judgment.

The worker who gathers evidence of these elements can request in court the recognition of the relationship and retroactive payment of all labor rights.

This includes vacation, thirteenth salary, FGTS deposits, and, in case of dismissal without just cause, unemployment insurance.

Rights That Can Be Claimed

By proving the employment relationship, the worker guarantees the same rights as those who had a formal contract for the entire period.

Some of the main ones include:

Paid Vacation with an additional one third.
Thirteenth Salary proportional to the time worked.
FGTS deposited by the employer during the contract.
Unemployment Insurance, in case of dismissal without just cause.

In addition to these, additional rights may arise depending on the situation, such as overtime, night shifts, and wage equality.

Even without a formal contract, the worker is not completely unprotected.

The court can recognize the relationship if the five employment requirements are proven through consistent evidence.

The deadline of up to two years after the end of the activity is crucial to ensure the chance of recovering the amounts.

Have you ever worked without a formal contract or know someone in this situation? Do you think it’s fair that the court recognizes these rights even without formal registration?

Leave your opinion in the comments.

Even Without a Formal Contract, If You Prove the 5 Employment Requirements, You Can Claim Vacation Pay, 13th Salary, Severance Pay, and Unemployment Insurance, With a Deadline of Up to 2 Years

Court Recognizes Employment Relationship When There Is Personal Element, Continuity, Salary, Subordination, and Risk Assumed by the Employer; Deadline for Action Is Up to 2 Years

What Are the 5 Requirements That Define the Employment Relationship

How to Prove the Relationship Without a Formal Contract

Rights That Can Be Claimed

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Even Without a Formal Contract, If You Prove the 5 Employment Requirements, You Can Claim Vacation Pay, 13th Salary, Severance Pay, and Unemployment Insurance, With a Deadline of Up to 2 Years

Court Recognizes Employment Relationship When There Is Personal Element, Continuity, Salary, Subordination, and Risk Assumed by the Employer; Deadline for Action Is Up to 2 Years

What Are the 5 Requirements That Define the Employment Relationship

How to Prove the Relationship Without a Formal Contract

Rights That Can Be Claimed

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Norway is drilling 27 kilometers of rock 392 meters below the bottom of a fjord to build the world’s largest and deepest underwater road tunnel — when completed, a 21-hour journey will be reduced to 10.

The island that has 35 inhabitants and celebrates Christmas on January 6: the remote island of Foula lives in isolation, without internet and following Julius Caesar’s calendar for centuries.

A German architect built a cylindrical house in 1994 that rotates to follow the sun throughout the day, generates 5 times more energy than it consumes, and was the world’s first energy-positive house.

An astronaut spent 340 days in space while his twin brother stayed on Earth, and NASA found a “rejuvenating” effect, genes, microbiome, cognition, and immune system that revealed the biological cost of living outside the planet.

China has just successfully tested the world’s first ground effect maritime vehicle, a craft that flies up to 6 meters above the water at 200 km/h, uses quantum technology and 6G communication, and can rescue patients in the middle of the ocean.

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