The Ministry of Labor and Welfare has set a limit on the number of medical experts from the INSS (National Social Security Institute) who can request a reduction in working hours from 40 hours a week to 30 hours a week, with a proportional reduction in salary.
The ordinance published in this Tuesday’s edition (12) of the Official Gazette established that up to 10% of federal medical experts and forensic medical supervisors may have their working hours reduced, considering the total number of employees working in their respective careers. Before, up to 50% could opt for the shorter journey.
According to the ANMP (National Association of Social Security Expert Doctors), there are currently around 3,200 medical experts working in the country.
Francisco Cardoso, vice president of the association, estimates that 10% of this contingent is already working with reduced workload. He believes that the measure will have little adherence and that it will not affect care at INSS agencies. In May, the queue of medical expertise exceeded 1 million appointments.
Currently, the sick worker who needs to undergo an INSS expertise to obtain the disability benefit may have to wait until 2023 for care.
“There will be few experts who will benefit from the measure. Honestly, we do not see anyone in their careers encouraged to reduce their working hours, it would be a very punctual situation”, he says.
Cardoso emphasizes that the regulation of the Ministry of Labor is important, as it regulates the provisional measure of 2009 –which authorized the reduction of working hours– which had already expired. The text released the reduction of working hours for up to 50% of working professionals.
Cardoso expects an increase in the number of experts on a full-time basis. “The change will influence us to have more experts of 40 hours, and less than 30 hours. This should improve care and not the other way around,” he said.
Cardoso says that this was one of the current demands of the category, since many experts who had opted for a reduction in working hours were unable to return to normal working hours due to lack of regulation. But, according to the text of the decree, the re-establishment of the 40-hour workweek will be conditioned to the interest of the administration and the existence of budgetary and financial availability, which will need to be confirmed by the people management area of the ministry.
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