Magistrates and the Labor Justice summit are fighting a battle over a bonus. Judges want to receive late benefits. The CSJT (Superior Council of Labor Justice), however, denies the payment.
The case is at the CNJ (National Council of Justice). Anamatra (National Association of Magistrates of Labor Justice) and Amatra-15 (Association of Magistrates of the TRT-15 of Campinas) questioned the decision.
Minister Maria Cristina Peduzzi, president of the CSJT and the TST (Superior Labor Court) refused to grant discharge. She said she will not pay “a penny of real public resources” if there are doubts about debt.
According to the CSJT, Anamatra asks for the payment of R$ 10.5 million this year of delayed benefits, from previous years. The agency said that it has already paid R$ 111.5 million in administrative liabilities.
The impasse is in the so-called GECJs (gratuities for cumulative exercise of jurisdiction). The benefit was instituted by federal law in 2015.
According to the rules, magistrates who work in two courts or receive an excessive volume of new cases, for example, are entitled to an extra one-third of their salary.
Payment is limited to the constitutional ceiling of R$ 39.3 thousand — the salary of a minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court). A judge earns R$33,700 per month and a judge earns R$35,500.
The law for the payment of the GECJ, however, is regulated by the Justice Councils themselves. The CSJT provided for stricter rules.
By resolution, labor judges with overdue sentences did not receive the benefit, nor did the so-called precatory letters enter the sum of new cases — when a magistrate of a particular court takes a witness testimony at the request of a colleague from another region.
These restrictions were overturned by the CNJ on February 4, 2020. With the decision, at the administrative level, judges with delayed sentences and those responsible for precatory letters gained the right to the bonus.
On December 2 of this year, Peduzzi, in an order, rejected the discharge of any liability prior to the decision of the CNJ. It is against this decision that the two entities turn.
It will be up to the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court Luiz Fux, who presides over the CNJ, to comment on the discharge of the claim filed by Anamatra. The questioning of Amatra-15 was made in the process judged in 2020, under the report of Richard Pae Kim.
Questioned, Anamatra said it awaits the decision. Sérgio Polastro Ribeiro, president of Amatra-15, stated in a note that the entity asks for the full execution of the budget of each agency.
In the document from the beginning of this month, Peduzzi stated that the Labor Court has R$210.9 million available. There is a total of R$ 120.1 million that will be used to pay liabilities. For entities, there is money.
Anamatra appealed to the CNJ on the 6th, with a complaint signed by lawyer Emiliano Alves Aguiar. He asked for an injunction (provisional decision) to force payment.
According to Aguiar, “it is not up to the CSJT, in an exorbitant way, to modulate the effects of the CNJ’s plenary decision, when it has not done so”.
Fux gave Peduzzi 15 days to respond. On the 14th, the minister then told the president of the CNJ that she follows constitutional rules.
“The restriction established regarding the payment of the ‘GECJ’ was based on respect for the principle of administrative legality (art. 37 of the Federal Constitution [Constituição Federal]), according to which the public administrator is only entitled to practice what the law authorizes”, wrote Peduzzi.
​According to her, the decision of the CNJ did not determine the retroactive payment. In addition, he said, there is no provision for payment of this expense in the budget.
The presidency of the Superior Council of Labor Justice […] will not promote the payment of any cent of the real of public resources that are unquestionably owed
“Thus, it would not be possible to pay through the administrative route, but only and only, if necessary, through the court system,” he stated. Thus, if the entity wants to receive retroactive payments, it must file a lawsuit, wait for the progress of the process and receive, in case of victory, through court orders.
On the 17th, Amatra-15 questioned Peduzzi’s decision. Lawyers Fernando Fabiani Capano and Cristiano Sofia Molica stated to counselor Kim that, “in demonstrating the custom of using and shifting”, Peduzzi “removed —without motivated and substantiated justification— the regular payment of such amounts”.
Kim set a deadline for manifestation until 18:00 on Tuesday (21). He replied to counselor Peduzzi that the process “should have already been dismissed due to loss of object”. The minister said that she is guided by “the highest care and rigor in the treatment of public resources and respect for fiscal management norms”.
“The presidency of the Superior Council of Labor Justice […] it will not promote the payment of any cent of the real of public resources that are not unquestionably owed,” wrote Peduzzi.
It is not up to the CSJT, in an exorbitant way, to modulate the effects of the CNJ’s plenary decision, when it has not done so
In a statement, the CSJT stated to the leaf that all the liabilities that could be paid administratively are being paid off this year.
According to the agency, the CNJ decision, from 2020, “did not establish, however, a command regarding the retroactivity of its effects”. “Thus, considering the logic of strict legality, it is not up to the public administrator to promote an extensive interpretation that would lead to the execution of public expenditures.”
Also in a note, Ribeiro, from Amatra-15, stated that the debts are “definitive and consolidated”. According to him, if not paid, they will generate charges to the Treasury.
“This associative entity does not intend to create new benefits or grant new funds”, said Ribeiro. “It is important to emphasize that postponing the payment of overdue and recognized installments, whether by law, resolution or plenary decisions of the CNJ, in view of the increasing charges, does not contribute to the fiscal health of the country.”
Demonstrating the customary use and use, the presidency of the Superior Council of Labor Courts, with no reasoned and substantiated justification, withdrew the regular payment of such sums
Since 2018, the GECJs have been targeted by the TCU (Court of Accounts of the Union). According to the court’s audit, the benefit has been paid even though they haven’t made any extra effort to earn it.
The report calculated potential losses to the Union’s coffers at R$ 82.9 million per year, or R$ 331.5 million by 2021. The MPTCU (Prosecutor’s Office together with the TCU) agreed with the report.
Judiciary bodies linked to the Union said, at the time, that they would only pay for excess work. The case would be judged on April 28, but was removed from the agenda and remains open. At the CNJ, Kim and Fux have not yet decided on the entities’ requests.
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