Pejotização no exercício da engenharia: autonomia contratual, limites jurídicos e controle judicial das relações de trabalho

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the contours of pejotização from the perspective of labor law, with an emphasis on the hiring of engineers through legal entities, outside the traditional employment relationship. Using the legal-dogmatic method, we investigate the compatibility of this form of hiring with the current legal system, in light of the constitutional principles of free enterprise, the value of work, and the primacy of reality. The research is based on the premise that the constitution of a legal entity, when voluntary and unrelated to the factual and legal elements of the employment relationship provided for in Article 3 of the CLT, does not in itself constitute labor fraud. In this sense, it is accepted that, in certain circumstances, especially in technical professions such as engineering—characterized by high qualifications, functional autonomy, and project-based work—the pejotização may represent a legitimate exercise of private autonomy, without undermining social labor rights. This paper argues for the need to reinterpret the phenomenon in light of the new paradigms of labor relations, overcoming the exclusively repressive view of pejotização.