Arbitration of individual labor disputes in Brazil and Japan

A comparative analysis

Resumo

The way labor rights disputes are solved in Japan and Brazil in the last two decades has changed. New laws and interpretation have been challenging the way labor arbitration functions. In 2004, Japan passed the judicial labor tribunal system; in 2017, Brazil enacted the use of private arbitration under individual contracts, in addition to the provision in the 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution allowing for the use of arbitration for collective contracts. There are common themes and comparative contrasts in the uses of arbitration in each country. They may use governmental and/or private structures to house dispute settlement processes of individual and/or collective labor disputes. However, there also are some differences, with Japan keeping the processes largely under governmental regulation and institutions, whereas Brazil provides legal authority to privatize much of the labor and employment law dispute resolution processes. The use of arbitration to settle labor rights disputes in Brazil and Japan, while having different approaches, have similar themes. Understanding their functionalities may present an opportunity for both countries to choose the best practices regarding these different dispute resolution structures. This Article compares the arbitration models in labor disputes in Japan and Brazil, providing guidance for possible improvements of the current systems.