What is work relationship

An  work relationship  is a communication made pursuant to a  written contract between an employer and an employee . In most countries, the verbal conclusion of employment contracts between a worker and an employer is not permitted.

The importance of a  written contract  is necessary because it represents a sufficiently high degree of protection for employees against possible dismissals. The content of these legal relations is reduced in most cases to the fact that an employee undertakes to perform work in his specialty. 

The performance of  work activity  presupposes the subordination of the specialist to the internal work standards established in the organization. A collective work agreement can be adopted in the organization, which testifies to the emergence of additional rights and obligations.

work relations frequently   consider: 

• Relationships between the employer and employees.
• Between managers and subordinates.
• Between workers and other employees. 
• Between management and staff. 

work relations are   formed under the influence of the social environment and depend on the actions of management structures, the task of which is to ensure compliance with the principles of constructive partnership, as well as the development and maintenance of work relations based on business cooperation mutual.

The parties to the  collective agreement  may provide for the specification and further development of social partnership and tripartite cooperation in matters of social and work relations.

The parties involved in this relationship

And since we talk about the parties involved in a work relationship, let’s just reinforce the understanding of who these agents are.

At one end, we have who provides the service , who is responsible for the workforce.

Thus, we can have a professional or a company that is providing services for the other.

At the other end, we have the employer or the contractor who can be an individual or a legal entity.

In any case, it is the person who hires a worker and pays him for his services.

Difference between work relationship and employment relationship

We start the post by urging you to review your knowledge if you believe there is no difference between a working relationship and an employment relationship. Now, let’s clarify this issue that leads us to work legislation.

Article 3 of the CLT defines the following: “any individual who provides services of a non-possible nature to an employer, under his/her dependence and for a salary, is considered an employee”.

Under these conditions, what we have is an employment relationship.

So, if you have an employee who works full time and depends on the salary paid by your company, what exists in this case is an employment relationship.

The employment relationship comes into being when one or more requirements of article 3 of the CLT are not fulfilled .

Thus, if your company hires the services of a self-employed professional for a specific task, there is no “non-eventual nature” that the legal text speaks of. With this, the relationship that is created is a working relationship.

To understand even better, consider that every person who has a formal contract is considered an employee, that is, they have an employment relationship and not an employment relationship.

That’s why it’s redundant to say “registered employee”.

1-Points of attention to avoid doubts

Shall we make this distinction between work relationship and employment relationship even clearer?

The requirements to which the Judge refers are the ones you already knew when we presented the text of article 3 of the CLT.

To make it even easier to understand, we have broken down these points of attention that must exist for a hiring to configure an employment relationship. Follow:

• Personality ― the employed person, that is, one who is part of an employment relationship, must be a natural person who is linked to the service provided. work relationship

This means that, once hired, the professional cannot send third parties to fulfill their function; what configures what we call personality;

• non-incidental service ― still, we speak of a continuous rather than sporadic service provision. So, it is not a job that is done only occasionally, but a reality that provides a routine job for the employee;
• Subordination ― when there is an employment relationship, the person hired must be subordinate to the employer, respecting a hierarchy .

This means that this worker receives direct orders from the employer or from professionals who are his superiors, understanding that it is his duty to comply with them;

• salary ― for an employment relationship to exist, it is necessary to have a salary payment .

In this regard, it is important to say that if the employer fails to pay the salary, failing to fulfill his obligation, the employment relationship does not cease to exist.

With all this, it is enough that one of these requirements is not present so that, instead of an employment relationship, we have an employment relationship.

Inverting the way of seeing things, we can say that the work relationship happens:

• whether the person providing the service can be replaced, in the sense of being able to send someone else in his place without this affecting the work;
• whether the provision of services is possible;
• if there is no relationship of subordination and dependence on the employer (as an example, consider that a self-employed doctor can be “hired” to provide a service, but does not obey his client hierarchically);
• if there is no salary.

Still, we can say that in the employment relationship, the parties involved have the same level of rights and duties .

Do you know the idea that the CLT was created mainly to protect workers in employment relationships?

As the work relationship is different, there is – or should not be – the inequality between the parties that demands that the relationship be governed by work legislation that guarantees rights to the “weakest link”.

The importance of understanding this difference

Making this differentiation is essential not only for you to know the meaning of each term, but for you to understand each relationship that your company establishes with the professionals it hires.

This understanding is necessary because every employment relationship is an employment relationship, but not every employment relationship is an employment relationship . Doubts must be escaped.

Those who confuse employment and work relationships can make wrong decisions that eventually lead to wear and tear and even a work lawsuit filed by former workers or former employees.

Thus, at some point, it may be that one or both parties need to seek their rights, having clarity of their duties based on the existing relationship.

Something that can only happen if they know the legal rules that apply to the situation.

Namely, only employment relationships are protected by work laws. In other words, an employment relationship does not necessarily entitle you to vacation, 13th salary , prior notice , FGTS and others.

In this regard, you need to know that work relations are regulated by the Civil Code and by the terms and clauses of the contracts signed.

Still, there may be some specific legislation for the type of relationship, such as the one that defines rules that protect domestic workers.

Thus, in addition to observing specific texts, it is necessary to pay attention to the contract to know which rights are expressly guaranteed.

Do you remember that we rescued the history of the movement that took place in Germany? Well, the negotiations that started there resulted in the possibility of defining the terms of the agreement signed between workers and employers until today.

Important! Despite all these differences, the edition of Constitutional Amendment nº 45 determines that the work Court has the competence to judge actions related to any type of employment relationship.

We make this clarification because, even before the aforementioned edition, problems such as breach of contract in work relations should be directed to the Common Justice, but this determination no longer applies.

Both workers and employers need to know this if legal intervention is necessary to guarantee their rights and duties.

The 7 main types of employment relationship

More than knowing what an employment relationship is, in order to properly conduct the contracts made, you need to know the main types of relationship that exist. Let’s go to them!

1. Professional internship

Hiring professionals in training can be very interesting for companies.

This is because the cost of this professional is lower, in addition to the possibility of having someone ready to learn how to work in the way the organization most needs.

Each and every company that decides to make a contract like this needs to know the Internship Law . Including to understand that the internship does not characterize an employment relationship. Let’s explain why.

According to the legal text, the internship is a “supervised educational act, developed in the work environment, which aims to prepare students for productive work”.

By its nature, we speak of an opportunity that is given to the student to apply, in “real life”, the knowledge acquired in the classroom and not an opportunity for employment.

As you may know, in order for a person to be hired for an internship position, he or she must be enrolled in an institution of High School, Higher Education or a vocational course.

Your working day must be compatible with the school routine and it is possible that the remuneration will be made through a scholarship or other consideration.

2. Occasional work

Occasional work is one that happens when a specific need arises, but without generating the need for an employment relationship .

This is the case, for example, of a waiter who is hired to act in an important meeting of his company with investors and shareholders.

It is configured in this way, first because it is an eventual demand and, later, because it does not generate dependence of the worker in relation to the company because of a salary paid.

Thus, all the points of article 3 of the CLT, which defines an employment relationship, are absent, making it clear that it is an employment relationship.

3. Temporary work

Temporary work is that performed by “workers who are hired to carry out activities for a period of time determined by the employer’s need”.

According to the law, this type of employment relationship is only allowed on two occasions:

• to replace professionals who are on vacation, leave or away;
• in the event of an extraordinary increase in tasks and demands (as usually happens at the end of the year in commerce, generating the need to hire more salespeople).

It is configured as a working relationship and not an employment relationship as it is of an occasional nature .

4. Self-employment

Self-employed work is performed by an individual, providing services to the contractor without any type of employment relationship.

If the company has a problem with one of its access doors, for example, and hires a locksmith to solve the situation, it creates a working relationship with that professional.

This is a clearly eventual demand and does not generate any type of dependence between the parties.

5. Daily worker

Another working relationship is the one with service providers hired to perform domestic tasks without complying with the criterion of habituality. This is the case of day workers, for example.

This Complementary Law defines the creation of an employment relationship when the service is provided more than twice a week; this is the criterion of habituality to which we referred.

This is the rule that we use as a basis for explaining that a day laborer who comes to the same house only once a week or at an even better frequency has a working relationship .

If you are interested, also check out the content on time attendance for domestic workers .

6. Single work

Temporary work is provided by people for a short period of time and sporadically , whether in urban or rural areas, in exchange for a payment.

In order to occur, it needs intermediation from a union of the category, from a Collective Bargaining Agreement or Convention . A rule that applies whether the professional category is unionized or not.

The role of the union is to act as a recruitment and placement agent for professionals to meet the demands of companies or institutions.

Although there is this process, temporary work does not constitute an employment relationship and, therefore, is another type of employment relationship.

7. Volunteer work

It’s easy to understand why volunteer work doesn’t constitute an employment relationship, isn’t it?

The clearest factor is that, if there is no remuneration, a dependency relationship is not created because of a salary.

Therefore, volunteering creates a working relationship in which, despite being a service provided willingly and without any contract, it assumes the existence of a commitment to the institution involved.