OBJECTIVES: To estimate employer productivity offset costs when using Tumor Necrosis Factor inhibitors (TNF-i) therapies for treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) using an economic model that encompasses a broad set of workplace costs from RA. METHODS: A customizable model of the workplace impacts of alternative RA treatments was calibrated with Brazilian specific parameters based on data from literature, clinical trials, and government sources. The workplace model included employment sector wages to allow for comparisons across industries. Costs of medical leave absenteeism/disability, reduced productivity, job turnover, and work-equipment adaptations were calculated for RA employees on the TNF-i versus other traditional DMARDs RA treatments. Employer costs of RA workers on TNF-i versus traditional DMARDs were compared. RESULTS: Across all industries in Brazil, the annual workplace cost of employees with RA was R$4,839 for employees on adalimumab (23% of wages) versus R$8,679 for employees on traditional DMARDs therapies (42% of wages). The R$3,839 offset reduction in employer costs for RA workers on adalimumab included reduced medical leave (R$764) and RA-related job turnover (R$1,076), and higher productivity (R$1,999). Savings per RA worker on adalimumab ranged from R$2,597 (19% of wages) in the waste treatment sector to R$26,312 (19% of wages) in the petroleum product manufacturing sector. CONCLUSIONS: RA imposes a large financial burden on employers in Brazil. This burden is substantially less for employees treated with adalimumab than for employees treated with traditional DMARDs as a result of the higher productivity, lower turnover, and lower absenteeism associated with adalimumab use. Employer savings from adalimumab use varies across industries in Brazil. High-wage sectors, such as the petroleum industry, have both larger absolute costs associated with RA and larger absolute savings from adalimumab use than do low-wage sectors, such as waste treatment.