Simone Tebet says that the new legislation that will be presented by Lula foresees fines for companies that pay different wages to men and women.| Photo: Isaac Alves/EFE

A bill that will be presented this Wednesday (8), by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), provides that companies that pay different wages to men and women who perform the same functions can be fined. The information was advanced by Minister Simone Tebet, of Planning, to Rádio Eldorado and which had excerpts published by the newspaper Estadão.

According to the minister, the new bill advances in one of the rules of the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) that already guaranteed equal pay, but did not establish penalties in case of non-compliance. Tebet says that the 2017 labor reform included the possibility of a fine, but that “be amazed, it is up to 50% of the highest Social Security benefit, that is, up to five minimum wages, a little less than that”.

“So the bad employer, the one in bad faith, says: ‘Well, I’d better break the law because, if I get a fine, it’s very small considering the salary difference I’m going to pay for a year, for two years or for longer’”, explains the minister. Equal pay for men and women was one of Tebet’s main goals in the 2022 presidential campaign, and a condition for supporting Lula in the second round.

Tebet says that the project that will be presented by Lula at 11:00 am will “really impose this obligation of equal pay, making your pocket hurt, increasing the fine and establishing rules”.

The minister says she is aware of the resistance that the text may face in Congress, as happened in the labor reform of 2017, but that, as it is a priority project of the president, it may have a more feasible path.

“I am very optimistic because it is the first time that a President of the Republic has really emphatically stated that this is a priority project of his government”, he added, saying that there will be monitoring and information campaigns to ensure that the law is complied with.