According to Lupi, conversations with the AGU (Attorney General of the Union) have already started so that the body, which represents the INSS in court
Cristiane Gercina
The Minister of Social Security, Carlos Lupi, wants an agreement with the STF (Federal Supreme Court) for the INSS (National Social Security Institute) to pay for the review of the whole life in the agencies, as was done with the review of article 29 .
According to Lupi, talks with the AGU (Attorney General of the Union) have already started so that the body, which represents the INSS in court, can take the matter to the Supreme Court. The forecast is that within ten days there will already be some outline of what can be done.
For those who are already registered, I want to find a way —I’ll discuss it with you— that, depending on the value, we make a schedule to put it in the account.
Minister of Social Security
Approved by STF ministers in December last year, the lifetime review includes contributions made before 1994 in the calculation of retirement benefits and pensions, benefiting those who had higher payments before the start of the Real Plan.
The idea is to pay amounts progressively, in batches, on a pre-programmed schedule. “Judicial decision is to be fulfilled.” In Lupi’s opinion, continuing to appeal against the issue, already defined in the Supreme Court, is something “endless” and can cause policyholders entitled to correction to end up dying without being able to receive it. “It’s smarter to make an agreement to pay little by little than to postpone payment and wait for a tragedy of not having the right anymore, because you lost your life before receiving that right”, he says.
The statements were given after a meeting with union members and retirees in the capital of São Paulo this Friday morning (17). The minister was at the headquarters of UGT (General Union of Workers) and at Sindnapi (National Union of Retirees). At UGT, he spoke with union members from all over the country linked to the central and, at the union, he received a document with the demands of retirees.
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Revision of Article 20 took ten years to be paid
The review of article 29 was judged by the STF in 2012. At the time, the INSS closed an agreement with the Supreme Court and began to pay the correction at the posts, in a calendar that took into account the age of the insured person, whether he was still receiving the benefit and retroactive amount to be paid. The arrears were released over ten years.
João Inocentini, president of Sindnapi, defends the payment in stages, even if it is done over a few years. “I have no doubt that, when there is a negotiation and an agreement, it is a better solution than waiting for the Justice to decide”, he says.
Inocentini recalls that, in the case of the revision of Article 29, achieved after action by the union, most of those who were entitled received it. “We have to give up some rights, but conquer others”, he says.
INSS wants processes to be suspended
On Monday (13), the AGU, which represents the INSS in court, asked the Supreme Court to suspend all lifelong review actions, until the decision becomes final, that is, until the final stage of the process, which occurs only after the publication of the decision and the presentation and analysis of any motion for clarification.
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The union president criticized the request, and said that the body will go to court to try to speed up the end of the process.
In the document presented, the AGU says that the requests for suspension have not been accepted in the courts, “including the imposition of a fine on the INSS”.
Another argument is that there may still be modulation of the effects of the decision, a stage in which it is possible to limit the scope of the review, such as the period of arrears, for example.
Understand how the lifetime review works
The whole life review is an action for the inclusion of old wages in retirement. She was asked in court to try to correct a distortion created by the 1999 pension reform.
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At the time, the transition rule applied to INSS insured persons created two formulas for calculating the average salary used in calculating Social Security benefits.
According to the norms, those who were already insured with the INSS until November 26, 1999 would have their average salary calculated on the 80% highest contributions made from July 1994 onwards.
As for workers who started their contributions after November 27, 1999, the permanent rule established that the average salary would be calculated with the highest salaries of the entire contribution period.
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Pension reform limited correction
The Bolsonaro government’s pension reform, which came into effect on November 13, 2019, changed the calculation of average wages, limiting the possibility of revision.
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The new rule says that, for everyone who reaches the conditions to retire from November 13, 2019, the average salary is calculated with all contributions from July 1994, that is, it brought clarity regarding the period of contributions included in the calculation of social security benefits paid by the INSS.
Therefore, the lifetime review could only be applied to those who had completed the requirements to retire by November 13, 2019.
In addition, it is necessary to have received the first retirement payment less than ten years ago, respecting the decay period for the request for correction of social security benefits. The review pays arrears for the last five years.
Minister debated demands of INSS representatives at UGT
At UGT headquarters, in the morning, Lupi participated in a hybrid meeting with representatives of retirees from all over the country. Part of the unionists were at the institution’s headquarters and the others, in their locations, were able to ask questions via video.
Among the subjects discussed were, in addition to the review of a lifetime, the INSS queue, social security protection for workers by application and the protection of policyholders against payroll loan scams, among others.
For Ricardo Patah, president of UGT, the possibility of creating a benefit card for INSS retirees was one of the main points of the meeting. Lupi’s idea is a card that unifies the services to which retirees are entitled, valid throughout the national territory.
Patah also highlighted the debates around social security protection for app drivers. “This issue cannot be resolved with a pen. It is one of the most complex issues, and everyone is looking for alternatives. How do you solve? It’s dialogue,” he says.