The (Court of Justice of São Paulo) increased by more than 50%, in 2024, spending on the payment of additional benefits, the so-called penduricalhos, to its approximately 380 active judges. Over the past year, the average remuneration of these magistrates was R$75,000 per month.
The base salary of the TJ-SP leadership is R$37.6 thousand and has not undergone adjustments in 2023. The value is within the ceiling in force in , of 90.25% of the salary of ministers of the (Supreme Federal Court). But, with the extra payments, the total received by São Paulo judges reached almost double that amount.
In 2024, these so-called penduricalhos increased the remuneration of São Paulo judges by 30% — in 2023, they had received, on average, R$58 thousand per month.
The data analyzed covers the period from January to November, as December figures have not yet been released.
The additional payments resulted in a total expense of R$251 million in TJ-SP in 2024, an increase of 54% compared to the R$163 million spent in the previous year. In the same period, the country’s official inflation, measured by the IPCA, was 5.99%.
Penduricalhos are not taken into account when calculating the salary cap for civil servants. They include bonuses, compensation and personal or occasional advantages, all permitted by the STF.
Among São Paulo judges, the two main items that exceed the ceiling are the permanence bonus, paid to those who can retire but remain active, and the irreducibility portion.
This portion of irreducibility is a benefit that has lasted almost two decades. It is paid to magistrates who received more than 90.25% of the salary of STF ministers. That year, a complementary law was approved that set this percentage as a ceiling in the state of São Paulo.
According to the TJ-SP, the factor that most contributed to the increase in spending in 2024 was the payment of late amounts, resulting from legal demands made by the magistrates themselves, who claim retroactive rights, including salary differences from the 1990s.
“The recognition of these amounts and their corresponding payment are supported by decisions from the STF and the Federal Supreme Court and even include unpaid vacations,” the court said in a note. “What happened was exactly the fulfillment of the recommendation to pay outstanding amounts, often years old, and which must be paid off.”
Also according to the TJ-SP, the discharge of these liabilities is encouraged by the National Council of Justice: “It is necessary to note that there is an express recommendation from the National Council of Justice for the court to reduce its liabilities, so that the budget is not burdened for debt service.”
The remuneration and other benefits for judges and judges was one of the central themes in the last election for the presidency of the TJ-SP, in 2023.
Both the current president, Fernando Antonio Torres Garcia, and his opponent, Guilherme Strenger, .
Torres Garcia received R$774 thousand in benefits, bonuses and compensation between January and November 2024. His net income in the period totaled R$890 thousand.
Among the judges, the highest amounts paid were to the former vice-president of the body, Luis Soares Mello Neto (R$ 988.5 thousand), to Alberto Anderson Filho (R$ 984.8 thousand) and Fabio Monteiro Gouvea (R $956.4 thousand). THE Sheet asked the court for interviews with the magistrates to hear them about these amounts, but the TJ reported that payments and their nomenclature were on the court’s website.
Amid pressure to reduce public expenses, at the end of last year, in the PEC (proposed Amendment to the Constitution) to cut spending, he proposed the creation of a complementary law to regulate frills and avoid super salaries in public service.
However, the PEC rapporteur, deputy Moses Rodrigues (União Brasil-CE), gave in to pressure from class entities in the judiciary and other categories,
Data from the Brazilian State Atlas, produced by Ipea (Institute for Applied Economic Research), shows that the Judiciary is the highest-paying branch in the country.
In 2022 (most recent data), the 10% best paid in the Judiciary, including magistrates and civil servants, had an average income of R$26,200, while the 10% best paid in the Executive received R$9,300.
“The Judiciary has developed an expertise, I would say advanced, in producing this type of fraud [penduricalhos]. Not only has it produced, but it is fighting in , magistrates and other legal careers, to prevent legislation that, ultimately, makes this more rigorous, from being approved”, says Felix Garcia Lopes, researcher at Ipea and professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
Lopes cites studies carried out by colleagues at the institute that show that, since the 1990s, the Judiciary has been gaining greater budgetary autonomy, which contributed to the increase in its remuneration and the institutionalization of additional benefits above remuneration limits.
