05/18/2024 – 7:07
The Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp) this week approved a bill by Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) that, in practice, paves the way for the payment of yet another additional payment above the civil service ceiling for State prosecutors.
The text creates a “compensatory” leave for “overwork”. The new arrangement works like this: anyone who is overworked will be able to take one day off for every three worked, up to a limit of seven days off per month, or receive the amount in cash. The starting salary for prosecutors in the State of São Paulo is R$38,900.
The bill was sent to the Legislative Assembly at the end of last month and was processed urgently in the House. The final version was published this Thursday, 16th, when the text came into force. When forwarding the proposal to state deputies, the State Attorney General, Inês Maria dos Santos Coimbra, justified that “the need to demand” from prosecutors “extraordinary activities and in conditions of excessive service” has not been uncommon. The governor endorsed the initiative. According to Tarcísio, it “results from studies carried out by the State Attorney General’s Office”.
Questions
The report from the Estadão questioned the State Attorney General’s Office and the government of São Paulo about whether there is an estimate of how much the benefit could cost and what the expected productivity gains are with the new model. He also asked for data that proves the excessive work of prosecutors.
Another point questioned was how the request for compensatory leave will be made, that is, whether employees need to present any proof to request time off or cash compensation. The State Attorney General’s Office did not respond to any of the questions. He only informed that the license is “a management instrument already adopted by other legal careers at the three levels of government”.
Attorneys who work on weekends or holidays to take care of “extrajudicial or judicial measures”, those who are covering colleagues during vacation or leave and those who accumulate functions in work groups, committees, can request compensatory leave – or reimbursement. , joint efforts, collaboration programs or “any relevant public activities”.
According to the new rules, cash payments must occur when the attorney, “due to the necessity of the service”, is unable to take the required time off. As the project is based on the premise of overwork, the tendency is for compensation to overlap with rest days.
The compensation will be paid for with resources from the Administration Fund of the State Attorney General’s Office, as “attorney fees”.
‘Just retribution’
In a statement, the Association of Attorneys of the State of São Paulo stated that the new compensatory license is a “legitimate compensation mechanism for the performance of extraordinary activities”.
“The license serves as fair retribution for the additional work carried out. It is important to highlight that any monetary conversions of this compensation will be entirely covered by legal fees, amounts collected thanks to the competence and efficiency of the attorneys themselves and which do not constitute public revenue. Therefore, they do not entail any burden on the public coffers of the State of São Paulo”, said the entity.
Cascade effect
Magistrates and members of the Public Ministry are already entitled to the benefit that increases their subsidies. A resolution approved by the National Council of Justice (CNJ), in October 2023, authorized the implementation of the privilege in the courts, copying rules that were already valid for prosecutors and public prosecutors.
The result of the CNJ’s decision was a cascade effect: federal judges and judges, in addition to ministers from the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and the Federal Audit Court (TCU), can now request the license. With the TCU and the STJ having equal rights and duties under the Constitution, the Court of Auditors also joined, even though it is not part of the Judiciary (more information on this page).
At TCU, the resolution establishes that ministers who have excessive cabinet processes or who occupy administrative positions, such as presidency, vice-presidency, internal affairs department and sitting on councils, commissions or working groups, will be able to take up to ten days off per day. month or choose to receive the amount in cash.
At the time, the CNJ reported that each court should analyze the budgetary impact, but that there would be no extra expenses. “There will be no increase in the budget of any court, which, if any comparison needs to be made, will have to use the existing budget”, informed the council.
The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
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