Court Pauses Lula’s Meal-Voucher Decree for Ticket and VR

Overview

• Preliminary injunctions from the 12th Federal Court in São Paulo bar inspections and penalties against Ticket and, in a similar ruling, VR, while the cases proceed.
• The challenged decree overhauls the Programa de Alimentação do Trabalhador with a 3.6% MDR cap, a 2% interchange cap, 15‑day settlement, and mandatory interoperability with phased deadlines.
• Judge Maurílio Freitas Maia de Queiroz found plausibility in claims that fee caps, shortened timelines, and interoperability rules go beyond administrative regulation into market structure.
• The government defends the overhaul as pro‑competition and expanding worker choice, and says it will appeal once officially notified, with the AGU expected to act.
• Pluxee is finalizing a lawsuit and Alelo is assessing options, underscoring the stakes for a program that serves roughly 21 million workers and hundreds of thousands of employers.