Brazil: judges will have an ‘extra’ salary that will cost up to US$204 million

The National Council of Justice (CNJ) authorized the payment of a salary bonus to federal judges that will cost up to R$1 billion (US$204 billion) to the public coffers.

The so-called additional payment for service time (ATS) had been extinct for 17 years.

By the monocratic decision of Justice Luis Felipe Solomon, it will be paid retroactively.

According to the calculations made by technicians of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), the oldest magistrates will receive up to R$2 million (US$410,000) each related to the delayed payment.

The decision benefits all federal magistrates who entered the career up to 2006.

Their salaries were increased by 5% for every five years of work.

For example, a judge who joined the judiciary in the 1990s had their paycheck inflated by 30%.

That is, he became entitled to receive about R$10,000 (US$2,040) more every month because of the benefit.

Today, a federal judge has a base salary of R$33,600 (US$6,843) without considering bonuses.

The CNJ’s decision will cover the period between 2006 and 2022 in which the additional payment was suspended.

The benefit is the target of a lawsuit in the Court of Auditors, which investigates whether the release of the retroactive payment violates the principles of morality and legality by creating a mechanism that can lead to enrichment in the judiciary.

The bonus should benefit some of the 2,000 federal judges working there.

In São Paulo, at least 200 judges started their careers before 2006.

In the Federal District, another 200 are in the same condition.

With information from Revista Oeste

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