Waiter Cristiano Silveira, 35, left his home in Cidade Tiradentes (east side of São Paulo) on Monday morning (31) to an INSS agency with an injured foot and one goal: to return to work. Away after being injured at work and without income for a month and a half, he discovered when he arrived at the unit that his expertise had been canceled and rescheduled for February 17, due to the stoppage of the body’s medical experts.
The 17 extra days without receiving is a long period for those who had zero income after the first two weeks of absence, says Cristiano. By law, this is the period in which the employer must pay the injured employee’s leave.
The insured person who is still unable to work after this period must be submitted to the INSS for expertise so that the doctor can assess whether he is entitled to government sick pay or whether he should return to work. Neither is an option for Cristiano until expertise actually happens.
“Why didn’t they tell me over the phone so I wouldn’t spend the money I borrowed on the car? They don’t think about us. I still feel pain, but I really need to go back to work”, says the waiter, who is the father of two girls aged four and 12 years old and receives around R$ 2,000 for work registered in the portfolio, in the region of Brás, where he was injured carrying tables and chairs. “My credit card is maxed out. The only way to do it is to delay the rent again this month.”
Waiting for the benefit is also the reality of seamstress Darlene Monteiro, 45, who has been seeking disability retirement for two years thanks to a serious knee injury, which took her to the operating table and left her with mobility problems.
After working with a formal contract for 20 years, she is now MEI (Individual Microentrepreneur) and saw her expertise, scheduled for this Monday (31), be rescheduled for February 14th. “They didn’t even send a warning. I went in the rain, limping and risking falling on the street. It gets discouraged because it becomes a humiliation for us”, says the seamstress.
Sought to comment on the cases of policyholders heard by the report, the INSS did not respond until the publication of this text.
Medical experts paralyzed across the country on Monday, affecting about 25,000 forensics scheduled for this Monday, according to estimates by the ANMP (National Association of Expert Doctors).
They demand a salary recomposition of around 20%, an end to tele-expertise, equal distribution of appointments between the experts in the morning and afternoon shifts and a competition to fill around 3,000 vacancies where there is a shortage of professionals. The entity claims that the stoppage occurs after failed attempts to negotiate with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
Last week, the federal government announced the cut of BRL 998 million in INSS expenses provided for in the Budget. The amount represents 41% of the budget of R$ 1.4 billion initially planned for the agency. The measure threatens the service of the insured, according to experts, and is seen as inferior to the minimum necessary to ensure the activities of the agency. The waiting list for benefits accumulated 1.8 million requests in November.
Source: Folha
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