1.4. DIVISION

Labor law is divided into two main groups: individual labor law and collective labor law. There are authors who further break down labor law into international labor law, labor administrative law, labor criminal law, and social security law.

A. Individual labor law

In general, law regulates interpersonal relationships. For the sake of division and systematization, each of its branches deals with a certain type of interpersonal relationship.

There is a specific relationship established between the service provider and another person who directs, employs, and benefits from the results of the worker's labor. 

This relationship is characterized by the state of legal subordination to which the worker is subjected due to the conclusion of an employment contract. 

The employee transfers the results of their physical and mental efforts to the employer. This relationship is regulated by individual labor law.

Therefore, individual labor law is the branch of private law consisting of the set of rules and principles that regulate the relationship between the employee and the individual employer, as well as containing sanctions for non-compliance with its determinations.

B. Collective labor law

In addition to the individual relationships that take place between workers and employers, there are collective labor relations, which are called so because the collective entity (usually the union) represents the interests of a particular group of people, namely, employees and employers, considered collectively rather than individually.

Collective labor law is, therefore, the branch of private law that establishes rules and principles aimed at regulating the activity of collective entities representing employees (professional category union) and employers (economic category union), with the aim of avoiding the emergence of conflicts and outlining guidelines for the establishment of professional standards by the parties concerned.

According to Cesarino Junior, collective labor law consists of "social laws that consider employees and employers collectively gathered, mainly in the form of union entities".