Brazilian holiday pay and the 1/3 bonus: how to calculate

Holiday pay = pay for the days off + 1/3 of that pay. The bonus of at least one third is in the Constitution (art. 7, XVII). The base is the pay owed on the date the holiday starts, including overtime, night, unhealthy-work and hazard premiums (CLT, art. 142, § 5).

Workers paid on commission use the average of the 12 months before the holiday (CLT, art. 142, § 3). Workers paid by the hour with variable schedules use the average of the vesting period, applied to the salary rate on the holiday date (art. 142, § 1).

• Federal Constitution, art. 7 (Planalto)
• CLT, arts. 129 to 145 (Planalto)

After 12 months of employment you get 30 calendar days if you missed work up to 5 times. With 6 to 14 absences it is 24 days; with 15 to 23, 18 days; with 24 to 32, 12 days (CLT, art. 130). An absence counts when the company deducts it from pay; one the company justifies does not (art. 131).

The holiday can be split into up to three periods, if you agree: one of at least 14 calendar days and the others of at least 5 days each. It cannot start within two days before a public holiday or weekly rest day (CLT, art. 134).

The employer must grant the holiday within the 12 months after the right arises. After that, it pays double (CLT, arts. 134 and 137). Payment is due at least 2 days before the start (art. 145).

You may convert 1/3 of the holiday into cash, the abono pecuniário, worth the pay for the days sold (CLT, art. 143). The request is due 15 days before the end of the vesting period. On a R$3,000 salary, selling 10 days gives R$1,000.00 (R$100.00 a day).

The labour court (TST) holds that the constitutional third is calculated on the 30 days of holiday and does not apply again to the abono (TST Precedent 328 and an SDI-1 ruling). The art. 143 abono is excluded from the INSS contribution base (Law 8.212/1991, art. 28, § 9).

• TST: constitutional third does not apply to the abono pecuniário
• Law No. 8.212/1991, art. 28 (Planalto)

On a R$3,000 salary and 30 days of holiday, gross holiday pay is R$4,000.00: R$3,000.00 of pay plus R$1,000.00 for the 1/3 bonus. Each holiday day is worth R$100.00 (3,000 ÷ 30), and the third on 30 days adds up to R$1,000.00.

With 7 deducted absences, the entitlement falls to 24 days: R$2,400.00 of pay and R$800.00 for the third, R$3,200.00 in total. These are gross figures. INSS applies to holiday taken, but not to the abono (Law 8.212/1991, art. 28).

CalculaBR has no holiday-pay calculator. To estimate how INSS and income tax affect your month, see the net salary calculator and check your holiday receipt.

Someone leaving without cause receives proportional holiday pay of 1/12 per month of service, or a fraction above 14 days, with the third (CLT, arts. 146 and 147; TST Precedent 328). See the guide to dismissal without cause.