Casas Bahia workers challenge bankruptcy filing over deposits
Former staff allege BRL 493.1 million in judicial deposits were omitted from restructuring filings.
A group of former employees of 
Grupo Casas Bahia asked the court on October 6, 2026, to delay any decision on accepting the retailer's judicial recovery until pending issues highlighted in an expert inspection are resolved. In their petition, the former workers allege that 493.1 million Brazilian reais in judicial deposits were omitted from the proceedings.
The filing responds to a court-ordered inspection examining the retailer's operational status across 744 physical stores and 29 distribution centers. Between August 3 and August 28, 2026, the preliminary inspection documented a net reduction of 4,647 employees from the company's workforce.
The court experts also pointed to operational deterioration in key segments. Merchandise inventory value declined 40.5% between April 2026 and August 2026. Online operations contracted over the same period, with digital sales value dropping 35.3% month over month from July to August 2026. Digital orders fell 33.9% from 1,068,648 orders in July to 706,335 orders in August.
Casas Bahia filed its initial judicial recovery petition in August 2026, declaring total liabilities of BRL 17,322,397,047. That total included 754 million Brazilian reais in labor debt, 16.4 billion Brazilian reais in unsecured debt, and 154 million Brazilian reais owed to micro and small enterprises.
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