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Hiring quotas: workers with disabilities and apprentices

Last verified: 2026-10-27 · Status: Stable

Abroad, hiring quotas are rare or limited to incentives; in Brazil companies with 100 or more employees must fill 2 to 5 percent of positions with workers with disabilities or rehabilitated workers. Every establishment must also employ apprentices equal to 5 to 15 percent of workers whose functions require vocational training, with any fraction rounding up to one more apprentice. A quota worker with a disability can only be dismissed without cause once a replacement with a disability has been hired.

USD figures use the Banco Central do Brasil PTAX selling rate of R$5.3346 per US dollar for 27 October 2026. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Company size from which the disability quota applies	100 employeesLei nº 8.213 art. 93, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Disability quota, smallest band	2 %Lei nº 8.213 art. 93 item I, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Disability quota, over 1,000 employees	5 %Lei nº 8.213 art. 93 item IV, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Apprentice quota, minimum	5 %CLT art. 429, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Apprentice quota, maximum	15 %CLT art. 429, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Maximum apprenticeship contract	2 yearsCLT art. 428 § 3, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
National minimum wage 2026	1621 BRLDecreto nº 12.797/2025 art. 1, as of 2026-01-01 · in force
National minimum hourly wage 2026	7.37 BRLDecreto nº 12.797/2025 art. 1 sole paragraph, as of 2026-01-01 · in force

The rule

1. A company with 100 or more employees must fill 2 percent (up to 200 employees), 3 percent (201 to 500), 4 percent (501 to 1,000) or 5 percent (over 1,000) of its positions with rehabilitated social security beneficiaries or qualified persons with disabilities. Only direct hires count; apprentices with disabilities do not count toward this quota.
Cost to do it: Recruitment, accessibility and adaptation costs; salaries follow normal pay scales.
Example: A company with 300 employees must have 9 workers with disabilities or rehabilitated workers (3 percent). / No statutory US dollar amount; the quota is a headcount.Lei nº 8.213 of 24 July 1991, art. 93 § 3 added by Lei nº 13.146 of 6 July 2015, Art. 93 items I to IV and § 3, 1991-07-24 official text · verified 2026-10-27

2. Dismissing a worker with a disability or a rehabilitated worker at the end of a fixed term contract of more than 90 days, or without cause in an indefinite contract, is allowed only after hiring another worker with a disability or rehabilitated worker. The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE) sets the inspection system and publishes data on positions filled.
Cost to do it: A replacement hire before any dismissal without cause.
Example: The same company dismissing one of its 9 quota workers must hire a replacement first. / No statutory US dollar amount.Lei nº 8.213 of 24 July 1991, art. 93 §§ 1 and 2 as worded by Lei nº 13.146 of 6 July 2015, Art. 93 §§ 1 and 2, 2015-07-06 official text · verified 2026-10-27

3. Establishments of any kind must employ, and enroll in the national apprenticeship services' courses, apprentices equal to at least 5 percent and at most 15 percent of the workers in each establishment whose functions require vocational training. Fractions of a unit result in hiring one apprentice. Non profit vocational training entities are exempt from the cap.
Cost to do it: Apprentice pay of at least the hourly minimum wage, R$7.37 an hour in 2026.
Example: An establishment with 90 workers in functions requiring training must hire at least 5 apprentices (4.5 rounded up) and may hire up to 13. / Minimum hourly pay about US$1.38.Consolidação das Leis do Trabalho (CLT), art. 429 as worded by Lei nº 10.097 of 19 December 2000, Art. 429 caput and §§ 1 and 1-A, 2000-12-19 official text · verified 2026-10-27

4. An apprenticeship is a special written, fixed term employment contract with a person aged 14 to 24 enrolled in a vocational program; it lasts at most 2 years (no limit for apprentices with disabilities, and no age cap for them), and guarantees at least the hourly minimum wage. It ends at its term, at age 24, or early for insufficient performance, serious misconduct, school absence causing loss of the year, or at the apprentice's request; the early termination indemnities of arts. 479 and 480 do not apply.
Cost to do it: Minimum hourly wage plus the cost of the training program.
Example: A 19 year old apprentice on a 2 year contract is paid at least the hourly minimum wage and attends a program. / No statutory US dollar amount beyond the minimum wage.CLT, art. 428 as worded by Lei nº 11.180 of 23 September 2005, § 2 as worded by Lei nº 13.420 of 13 March 2017; art. 433, Art. 428 caput and §§ 1, 2, 3 and 5; art. 433, 2005-09-23 official text · verified 2026-10-27

5. The national minimum wage from 1 January 2026 is R$1,621 a month, R$54.04 a day and R$7.37 an hour.
Cost to do it: Floor for apprentice pay.
Example: R$1,621 a month. / About US$304 a month.Decreto nº 12.797 of 23 December 2025, Art. 1 and sole paragraph, 2025-12-23 official text · verified 2026-10-27

Employees	Quota	Example headcount	Quota workers
Under 100	None	80	0
100 to 200	2 percent	150	3
201 to 500	3 percent	300	9
501 to 1,000	4 percent	800	32
Over 1,000	5 percent	2,000	100

Disability and rehabilitation quota by company headcount (Lei nº 8.213 art. 93).

Worked example

A foreign group acquires a Brazilian manufacturer with 300 employees, 200 of them in functions requiring vocational training. It must have 9 workers with disabilities or rehabilitated workers (Lei nº 8.213 art. 93 item II) and 10 to 30 apprentices (CLT art. 429), each paid at least R$7.37 an hour (about US$1.38) under Decreto nº 12.797. Quota shortfalls are a standard item in labor due diligence.

Step by step

1. Count employees at company level for the disability quota and per establishment, by functions requiring training, for the apprentice quota.
2. Hire directly for the disability quota; apprentices with disabilities do not count toward it.
3. Sign written apprenticeship contracts linked to an approved vocational program, for up to 2 years.
4. Before dismissing a quota worker with a disability, hire the replacement.
5. Keep evidence of recruitment efforts and headcount calculations for MTE inspections.

Common traps

The disability quota is measured at company level, so a group that adds sites can cross the next band (Lei nº 8.213 art. 93).
Any fraction in the apprentice calculation means one more apprentice (CLT art. 429 § 1).
Apprentices with disabilities count toward the apprentice quota but not the disability quota (Lei nº 8.213 art. 93 § 3).
Dismissing a quota worker without first hiring a replacement breaches art. 93 § 1.

Sources

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