With vacation compensation, Rio judge received more than R$1 million in one month

The payment of vacation compensation led retired judge Maria Izabel Pena Pieranti, from the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ), to receive more than R$1 million last November. The judge's pay slip was boosted with R$791,367.33 given as “reparation for untaken vacation”. Another R$ 286,474.97 is linked to the sale of unused paid rest days to which the magistrate is entitled for shifts carried out.

O Estadão asked judge Maria Izabel Pena Pieranti for a statement, through the press office of the Court of Justice of Rio and also via the Association of Magistrates of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Amaerj), but there was no response until the publication of this text.

Maria Izabel's subsidy is R$35,710.45, plus R$5,900 in “personal rights”. With the payment of R$ 1,077,872.30 in occasional rights, the judge's gross pay slip was R$ 1,119,493.22. With discounts of R$ 17,835.47 – not related to the cut by the constitutional ceiling -, the judge's net income was R$ 1,101,657.75.

The occasional rights are payments made as a constitutional bonus of 1/3 of vacation, compensation for untaken vacations, Christmas bonuses, bonuses for cumulative exercise, retroactive payments and jetons.

The payments to Maria Izabel were made in the month in which the magistrate's retirement was published, at her request. On November 1st last year, the judge left the 4th Criminal Court of Rio, where she worked in high-profile cases, such as that of the German consul Uwe Herbert Hahn, the militiaman Adriano da Nóbrega and the influencer Bruno Moreira Krupp.

60 days

The case of Maria Izabel is an example of how compensation for untaken vacations ends up increasing the paychecks of judges, exceeding the public service ceiling and generating billion-dollar expenses for the treasury. Toga payslips are supplemented by other benefits, such as jetons and bonuses received for cumulative exercise.

Judges are entitled to 60 days of vacation per year, as provided for in the Organic Law of the Judiciary (Loman), in force since 1979 (João Figueiredo government, the last general president of the military regime). In practice, they take 30 days off – in addition to the year-end recess and holidays – and “sell” the other 30 days to the Court to which they are bound under the argument of accumulation of actions. They then receive this “stock”, under the heading “compensation for holidays not taken in due time”.

The advantage was publicly criticized by Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), in May last year. “Accept a month’s vacation. End the two-month vacation”, suggested the Dean of the Court, during a court session, directly to the Association of Brazilian Magistrates (AMB).

There is also the possibility of selling part of the rest period, which ends up increasing the magistrates' allowances, since the amount does not enter the ceiling deduction account – when amounts that exceed the civil service ceiling are deducted. of R$41,600, a subsidy from a Supreme Court minister.

The advantages that make judges' salaries among the highest in the public sector are expressly provided for in the Organic Law, in the internal regulations of the State Courts of Justice and also in legislation.

In June last year, the Estadão showed that the courts spent at least R$3.5 billion in the last six years buying vacations for judges, judges and ministers. The survey took into account data available from the National Council of Justice (CNJ), from September 2017 to May 2023.

In the first five months of 2023, 8,360 payments were made, totaling a disbursement of R$307 million. In the entire year 2022, expenditure was R$772 million. In 2021, the Judiciary paid R$677 million in compensation for untaken vacations.

Other states

As shown by the Estadão in December, the Pará Court of Justice (TJ-PA) paid more than R$200,000 net to 77 members of the Court in November. In gross values, the court's payroll recorded an expenditure of R$16.9 million on magistrates' allowances. The disbursement for vacations, bonuses, retroactive payments and compensation to state judges and judges was three times greater. It reached R$61 million.

The biggest pay slip from the State Court that month was that of judge Maria de Nazaré Saavedra Guimarães. She received R$621 thousand net (R$643,089.56 gross). Of this total, R$595 thousand were transferred under the justification of “retroactive payments”. When contacted, the TJ of Pará and the judge did not respond.

In Maranhão, all 34 judges of the State Court of Justice (TJ-MA) received subsidies above the ceiling in December. The highest paycheck, from judge Cleones Carvalho Cunha, was R$172 thousand. With the discounts, Cunha received R$116,000 when the lights went out last year. Another 16 judges had pay slips above R$100,000 in gross values.

The TJ-MA told the report that the amounts mentioned correspond, in large part, to allowances, vacation compensation and bonus leaves. “The higher values ​​do not constitute ordinary practice, but rather something extraordinary due to the granting of these allowances,” said the court.

The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.