Volkswagen Faces $30M Compensation for Labor Abuses in Brazil

Brazil’s labor court has ordered Volkswagen to pay 165 million reais (about $30 million) for collective moral damages after workers were subjected to slave-like conditions at a company-owned Amazon farm in the 1970s and 1980s.

The court confirmed that between 1974 and 1986, hundreds of workers at a Para state farm owned through a subsidiary endured degrading conditions.  (Photo: Volkswagen)

Prosecutors said it was the largest such reparation in the country’s history, Gabriela Sa Pessoa reported for the Associated Press on August 30, 2025.

The Labor Prosecutor’s Office launched its investigation in 2019 after receiving documentation from a local priest who tracked the case for decades. Following additional inquiries and witness testimony, prosecutors formally charged Volkswagen in 2024.

The court confirmed that between 1974 and 1986, hundreds of workers at a Para state farm owned through a subsidiary endured degrading conditions.

Around 300 laborers were hired under irregular contracts to clear forest and prepare pastures, kept under guard, housed in precarious conditions, given insufficient food, and forced into debt bondage.

No medical care was provided, even to those suffering from malaria.

“These practices constituted one of the largest cases of slave labor exploitation in Brazil’s recent history,” the Labor Prosecutor’s Office said.