The national inspector of justice, minister Mauro Campbell Marques, demanded explanations from the Courts of Justice (TJs) of the states and the Federal District regarding the super salaries paid to magistrates in 2023.
Report from the dadosJusBr project, from Transparência Brasil, reveals that the courts paid their judges and judges at least R$4.47 billion in excess of the constitutional ceiling – these are the so-called “hangings” of remuneration.
In theory, according to the Federal Constitution, no Brazilian public servant can receive a salary higher than that of a minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), currently set at R$44,000.
In practice, however, a series of bonuses, bonuses and various aids are paid out of pocket – as if they were compensatory in nature – and end up not being subject to the “ceiling reduction” discount.
According to a Transparência Brasil survey, last year, almost 70% of the 13,200 judges and judges surveyed received between R$100,000 and R$499,000 above the ceiling.
From January to March 2023, the ceiling was R$39.2 thousand. Then, due to a staggered adjustment approved by the National Congress in 2022, it rose to R$41.6 thousand. As of July this year, it rose to R$44 thousand.
Campbell sent letters to the presidents of the TJs requesting, within 30 days, information on “all payments made above the constitutional ceiling to magistrates in the year 2023”.
The data must be broken down month by month, with the name of the judge or judge who benefited, the amount that actually exceeded the ceiling and the legal nature of the item paid.
Actions that question the constitutionality of “hangings” have been examined by the Supreme Court. The trend observed in the Court is for these extra payments to be overturned.
In 2019, for example, the STF suspended an unusual additional payment: in Acre, magistrates were entitled to a 40% bonus in their salaries simply because they had a higher education degree.
