With a net salary of up to R$ 115,700, 113 prosecutors received benefits not subject to the limit this year; PGE says remuneration funds comply with constitutional limits
According to a survey, the government of São Paulo paid R$4.5 million in bonus leave and permanence allowances to 113 prosecutors from January to May of this year State. Called penduricalhos, these benefits represent additional amounts in the salaries of public lawyers since they are not subject to the constitutional ceiling of R$ 44,000, equivalent to the remuneration of the ministers of the Supreme Federal Court (STF).
Contacted, the State Attorney General’s Office (PGE) clarified, in a note, that State Attorneys do not receive any compensation above the maximum. “The amounts received above this limit are mainly due to the increase in vacation and 13th tax”, the text reads (read more below). However, penduricalhos are paid as compensation, which exempts them from both the constitutional limit and income tax.
During the period analyzed, 59 prosecutors received a permanent allowance and compensation of up to R$62,700 each. In addition, 44 received bonus licenses worth up to R$44,000 and two received both pendants. These amounts are added to the server’s remuneration after deducting the maximum. The highest net salary was R$115,700, paid to a level V prosecutor – the highest rank in the career – in March.
Bonus leave is the right of a public employee to receive 90 days of vacation for every five years of service. In the case of public prosecutors, these days off can be sold, resulting in additional income. Retention bonus is a benefit paid to employees who are now eligible to retire, but choose to continue working. Compensation is paid in the form of subsistence allowance, transportation allowance, and food allowance.
In the first five months of this year, 43% of the 781 active prosecutors received at least one net income above the maximum. Although vacations and the thirteenth salary were the main culprits, even without these benefits, 69 lawyers recorded net earnings between R$ 44,600 and R$ 105,600 per month. In total, from all active prosecutors in the State, they received R$ 119 million net until May. The starting salary of the career is R$ 38,914.81 per month.
The survey carried out by State used the salary history of active PGE employees, available on the Transparency Portal of the Government of São Paulo. The net salaries of lawyers in the first five months of 2024 were considered (data available to date).
Tarcisio creates a new pendant
The Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republican) has created a new allowance that could significantly increase the salaries of public prosecutors. Approved by the Legislative Assembly in May, the bill includes the payment of an “overwork permit.” The benefit allows lawyers to take one day off for every three days worked, up to a limit of seven days off per month, or to receive the corresponding amount in cash.
An estimate prepared by the Novo party shows that if all active prosecutors requested seven days of leave in cash each month, the annual cost of these payments could reach R$ 101 million. Considering this projection, if the overwork leave had been in effect since January, the São Paulo government would have paid R$ 46.6 million in trinkets, a sum more than ten times higher than the R$ 4.5 million already paid up to May of this year.
Under the bill, state attorneys can claim vacation or reimbursement if they work weekends or holidays to take extrajudicial or judicial measures, cover for colleagues on vacation or leave, or participate in working groups, committees, joint efforts, collaborations, or other relevant public activities.
After its approval, Novo challenged the project before the Supreme Court. The party claims that the text is unconstitutional because it does not provide an estimate of the impact on the budget. The party also considers that the license violates the principles of morality and efficiency of public administration. At the end of June, Tarcísio sent a statement to the STF in defense of the new penduricalho. He justified that the license was created to “encourage the exercise of tasks that go beyond what is normally required” of public prosecutors. Minister Cármen Lúcia reported.
The Summit of Public Service in Sao Paulo
Transparência Brasil Executive Director Juliana Sakai says that practices aimed at increasing earnings are common in the judicial system. On the one hand, there are legislative initiatives, such as the Quinquênio PEC, to increase salaries. On the other hand, there are actions in judicial or administrative bodies to expand benefits and advantages. “The Court decides on the salaries of its members,” she evaluates.
“There is also a system of parity between public prosecutors and magistrates. This means that any increase in remuneration granted to one group must be extended to the other. In this way, different measures arise that increase the benefits for both the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor. These decisions are almost internal, since the judiciary, by granting them, benefits from them”, explains Juliana.
Due to their high salaries, prosecutors are often appointed as the highest-ranking civil servants in São Paulo. While other state employees have a salary capped at the governor’s salary – currently R$34,500 –, public lawyers have an income equivalent to the salary of a Supreme Court minister. They also receive other benefits and perks, which occasionally cause their salaries to exceed the constitutional ceiling.
Although they are part of the Executive Power, the members of the PGE are considered public lawyers, who perform essential functions of Justice. With this they obtained the right to have their income equal to their career in the Judiciary and Public Prosecutor’s Office. Until 2022, public prosecutors had their salaries limited to the attic, that is, the remuneration of a judge of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJSP), equal to 90.25% of the ceiling.
However, this rule changed in 2022, when the State Attorney General, Inês dos Santos Coimbra, approved an opinion of the PGE that equated the salaries of public prosecutors to those of STF ministers. At the time, the Attorney General’s Office justified the measure by arguing that other states, such as Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, had already adopted this practice and that there was Supreme Court case law to support the decision.
Responsible for judicial representation and legal advice for the state government, the PGE is similar to the Attorney General’s Office (AGU). Despite similar functions, state and federal prosecutors have different salaries. The salary of a level V state prosecutor is R$44,088.05, while that of a class S federal prosecutor is R$29,761.03. “The apparent difference arises from the fact that the amount referred to the State Prosecutors already includes the fee amount and that referred to the AGU does not,” the PGE specifies in a statement.
PGE note in full
The State Attorneys of São Paulo do not receive any compensation above the maximum, including honorary funds; Any amounts received above this limit are mainly due to the increase in vacation and 13th tax.
The values reported on the transparency portal already include the honorary quota, paid within the salary ceiling.
The apparent difference arises from the fact that the amount referred to the State Attorneys already includes the fee amount and the one referred to the AGU does not.
Source: Terra
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