Investigators at Cade, Brazil's antitrust regulator, have gathered more than 2,000 pieces of evidence in a probe into exchanges of competitively sensitive data among human resources executives of large Brazilian and multinational companies, covering salaries, pay raises and benefits. According to Folha de S.Paulo, which reported the size of the evidence file on Thursday, the agency's technical staff is weighing a recommendation to its tribunal to find the companies liable in two administrative cases and is studying whether the conduct amounts to a cartel.
The exchanges reportedly ran from 1994 to 2021 and were frequent and detailed, according to people heard by Folha, including data on health plans and daycare allowances. More than 50 companies are under investigation, in one of the largest cases at the agency. The probe began in 2020 after a leniency agreement, a deal in which a company admits wrongdoing and cooperates in exchange for reduced penalties, signed by a firm whose name remains sealed. It became a formal administrative case in 2024, when it became known as the "HR cartel". The magazine VEJA counted 58 companies named as of May and dated the start of the scheme to 2004, while Folha points to 1994.
Eight listed companies are among those investigated: BRF, CSN, Dexco, Klabin, Natura, Suzano, Vale and Whirlpool. Bunge, Cargill, Claro, Louis Dreyfus Company and Volkswagen are also named. Because the data covered job functions common to different industries, the case spans mining, food, pulp and paper, telecoms, cars, agribusiness and chemicals. The exchanges began at semiannual in-person meetings with PowerPoint presentations and later moved to password-protected websites with spreadsheets, then email and WhatsApp, according to accounts obtained by Folha.
What Cade alleges
Agency officials say the exchanges went beyond public data or generic market comparisons, which the law allows. In Cade's assessment, knowing competitors' pay benchmarks in advance weakens the fight for workers and discourages better salary and benefits offers. In a passage of the case file quoted by VEJA, the agency states:
"The conduct has the effect of limiting and hindering free competition among employers in the dispute to hire and retain the workforce available in the Brazilian labor market, with potential impacts that fall especially on the workers subject to this group of companies, on a national scale."
According to VEJA, five companies have signed cooperation deals with Cade in recent months: Bayer and Monsanto, General Mills, Dow Brasil, 3M do Brasil and IBM Brasil. One of them admitted that dozens of firms secretly agreed to cancel executive bonuses during the covid-19 pandemic. The magazine estimates that the companies under scrutiny employ more than 3 million Brazilians combined.
The defense and what is at stake
In the case files, several companies argue the data sharing was "benchmarking", a common practice of comparing HR policies to seek better conditions for employees, and some question whether Cade has jurisdiction over the matter. Defense lawyers heard by Folha say the exchanges produce no market effects. Folha contacted every company named: 16 replied and generally said they comply with the law, 12 said they would not comment and 30 did not respond.
Priscila Broglio, a competition lawyer, said Cade has jurisdiction over the case. "Employees can do this, they have protection to bargain as a class, but companies cannot do the same thing," she said. If found liable, the companies face fines of up to 20% of gross revenue in the year before the infraction began, and the ruling could open the way for damages claims in court. For the companies, the risk is that routine HR pay comparisons are reclassified as restraints on competition; for workers, a conviction could support lawsuits over pay and benefits held down over decades. The technical staff expects to close the case between September and October, and the final word belongs to Cade's councilors.