Brazil’s Public Labor Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) has registered 3,396 complaints of electoral harassment in the workplace since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s runoff victory, and the federal government has announced emergency measures to stop retaliation against workers for their political views.

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The complaints, which include threats, reprisals and dismissals allegedly motivated by employees’ political leanings, represent 21.4% of all labor complaints counted this year and far exceed the volume reported in the 2022 election.

The MPT designed the package together with the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), the Superior Labor Court (TST) and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), with the aim of stopping workplace persecution and protecting the secrecy of the vote.

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Labor Minister Luiz Marinho said the figures reflect “the discontent of a sector of businesspeople who do not accept the natural and democratic result of the ballot box.” He added that every worker has a constitutional right to choose a political affiliation and that the government will apply severe penalties.

Labor Prosecutor General Gláucio Araújo de Oliveira warned of legal consequences. “The employer owns the company, not the employee’s vote,” he said, adding that firing or intimidating workers for their political convictions is illegal and will bring criminal and civil action in labor courts.

The measures include a digital platform on the Ministry of Labor and Employment’s portal to receive testimony and evidence of discrimination or coercion at work, and labor inspectors who will issue infraction notices with cumulative fines. A public registry of companies convicted of discriminatory practices will also be created.

Authorities asked technology companies such as Google and Meta to take down content, groups and boycott lists organized on social media against workers or businesses.

Assédio eleitoral, listas de boicote e perseguição política no trabalho são crimes!
  
O Ministério Público do Trabalho já registou milhares de denúncias de assédio eleitoral, ultrapassando os números de eleições anteriores. pic.twitter.com/S3oRF0ymC7

— CUT Brasil (@CUT_Brasil) October 30, 2026

Text reads: “Electoral harassment, boycott lists and political persecution at work are crimes! The Labor Public Prosecutor’s Office has already recorded thousands of complaints of electoral harassment, exceeding previous election figures.”

Concern for Native Communities

The post-election climate has also affected rural areas and native people’s territories, particularly the Guaraní and Kaiowá communities in Mato Grosso do Sul. The National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) called reports of harassment and armed attacks “extremely worrying” and is coordinating protection with the Federal Police and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.

The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) and the organization Aty Guasu forwarded the complaints, with backing from Amnesty International, Greenpeace and federal lawmaker Célia Xakriabá before the Chamber of Deputies’ Human Rights Commission. “These are communities facing direct threats to their lives, access to water and ancestral territories,” Xakriabá said, calling for the immediate intervention of the National Force.

The ministries of Human Rights and Citizenship, Racial Equality and Indigenous Peoples formed a joint monitoring table to investigate attacks motivated by politics and racial hatred against native peoples, quilombola communities and Afro-Brazilian religious centers. Whether the labor penalties and the monitoring table produce concrete cases will show how far the measures go beyond announcements.