Justice forces tenders to change public notice with nursing salary floor

The Justice ordered the alteration or suspension of at least three public tenders in the country for nursing vacancies with salaries below the salary floor of the category, informed the Federal Nursing Council, in one of the first legal precedents of the new law, which was contested. by companies in the STF (Supreme Federal Court).

The law, enacted in August, defined a national floor of R$ 4,750 for nurses in the public, private or philanthropic institutions. With reference to the level of nurses, the law sets 70% of this amount for nursing technicians and 50% for nursing assistants and midwives.

Cofen (Federal Nursing Council) told Reuters that its regional units have already obtained at least three favorable decisions in injunctions on public tenders, one in Rondônia and two in Paraná.

The entity’s orientation to the regional councils is that they enter injunctions asking for the readjustment of the value of the tenders to the new floor. At least ten other actions are in progress, a number that could grow, as this is an informal survey carried out by Cofen with part of the local units. The council said it had not identified, so far, unfavorable decisions.

In Rondônia, the city of Pimenta Bueno last week suspended registration for 17 vacancies for nurses or nursing technicians in a public tender, after a court decision. The salaries of the posts in the public notice did not exceed R$ 2 thousand – not including bonuses.

In Paraná, also last week, the municipality of Mamborê changed the salaries provided for in a competition to five vacancies for nursing assistants and one for nurses (more registration of the reserve in both). The FAS (Fundação de Ação Social), a unit of social assistance and work in Curitiba, also had an unfavorable decision on the salaries stipulated for two vacancies for nursing technicians.

Despite similar decisions, the workload differs between the public notices. Judge Giovanna Mayer, of the 5th Federal Court of Curitiba, in the case of FAS – vacancies for 30 hours per week-, observed that “the law does not define the working day to be paid by the floor” and that “there is no way for the interpreter to of the norm create the constraint where it [lei] Do not do”.

Only the public notice for Pimenta Bueno was launched after the presidential sanction of the floor and all of them were in the initial phase, with the registration period open or closed a few days ago.

The City of Curitiba said that an appeal will be presented and hopes to guarantee the holding of the FAS competition as defined in the notices, stressing that the registrations are maintained. Mamborê Health Secretary Sara Beltrame said she had no additional comments, as the city complied with the court decision and understands the importance of the positions. The city hall of Pimenta Bueno reiterated the content of last week’s official note that informed about the suspension of registration for nursing vacancies.

LAW IS CHALLENGED IN THE STF

Manoel Neri, president of the Regional Nursing Council of Rondônia, and who led Cofen in the administration ended in early 2021, said he understood that, although public bodies have until the end of this year to adapt to the new law, the contests have consequences that extend to 2023.

The transition period mentioned by him appears in an amendment to the constitution promulgated by the National Congress in July, before the sanction of the floor, in order to give legal certainty to the new salary base.

The National Confederation of Health, Hospitals and Establishments and Services questions the constitutionality of the law in the STF. The action has already received a request for adhesion from more than a dozen other entities in the sector.

The confederation claims that the initiative to raise the remuneration of public servants can only come from the President of the Republic. In addition, he questions the way in which the agenda was processed in Congress and that the law does not consider regional inequalities that “make the floor unenforceable” in some states.

Calculations prepared by a working group in the Chamber of Deputies pointed to an increase of 16.3 billion reais in costs to public, philanthropic and private entities with the floor.

In Rondônia, Neri said that state positions generally have a value compatible with the floor, but that almost all city halls pay “much lower” salaries. He disputes the argument of regional inequality, saying that low salaries reflect on workers’ mental health and on the quality of care provided.

“We cannot deny that [o piso] impact both in the public and private sectors, but what health entrepreneurs and mayors should do is press for Congress to approve projects that deal with sources of funding for the minimum wage,” he said, citing a text that would relieve the private sector sheet as an example.