Nursing floor can be decided in the STF this Friday (16)

The implementation of the national floor of nursing can be decided in the STF (Federal Supreme Court) this Friday (16). The trial is scheduled to end at 11:59 pm, but maneuvers and voting changes could change the outcome.

Since last week, ministers have been analyzing, in the virtual plenary of the court, whether the minimum amount of R$ 4,750 for the category should be suspended, according to the understanding of Minister Luis Roberto Barroso.

The current score is 5-3 by suspension. Judging the issue in the virtual plenary takes a week. By the rules, ministers must publish their votes until the end of the last day. They can, however, change their position or ask to stop the trial.

So far, eight ministers have voted. Ricardo Lewandowski, Alexandre de Moraes, Dias Toffoli and Cármen Lúcia followed the position of the rapporteur, Minister Roberto Barroso, and are against the implementation of the floor for nurses until the impact of the law on the accounts of states, municipalities and private hospitals is clarified.

The divergence against Barroso’s vote was opened by André Mendonça, followed by Nunes Marques and Edson Fachin. Ministers Rosa Weber, Gilmar Mendes and Luiz Fux have yet to vote.

If there is one more vote in favor of Barroso’s thesis, the floor will be suspended. But ministers can ask for a view or prominence so that the trial is made in the physical plenary, which paralyzes the final decision.

The view request is a request to further analyze the case. He interrupts the decision until the minister who requested this analysis informs his vote in the virtual plenary itself. The highlight, on the other hand, makes the trial start from scratch, this time in the physical plenary. As a result, the vote may change.

The highlight was the maneuver used by Minister Nunes Marques in the STF’s decision on the lifetime review, one of the most important cases of social security law to be decided by the Supreme in recent years.

With a favorable score for the insured and against the INSS, Nunes Marques’ request for a visa was made 30 minutes before the deadline. With that, the case is stopped.

Understand the salary floor of nurses

The minimum floor of R$ 4,750 for nurses was established by a law of the National Congress. Nursing technicians should receive 70% of this amount, and nursing assistants and midwives, 50%.

The law was sanctioned by Bolsonaro in a ceremony at Palácio do Planalto, as he tries to capitalize votes for reelection. The president, however, vetoed the passage that determined the correction of the floor based on inflation each year.

After the sanction, states, municipalities and private hospitals reported that the amounts could lead to a hole in the accounts. With that, the National Confederation of Health, Hospitals and Establishments and Services went to the Supreme Court.

When barring the implementation, Minister Roberto Barroso stated that the entity presented “plausible allegations” of possible “mass layoffs” with the new law.

He gave 60 days for federation entities, sector entities and the Ministries of Labor and Health to express their views on the capacity for the new salary to be paid.

Since deciding on the suspension, Barroso has reiterated that his decision is aimed at creating, by consensus, a source of funding that will enable him to comply with the law.