Public servants who receive the highest super salaries in Brazil earned up to R$3.1 million in one year — an average of R$263 thousand per month. The largest paycheck was paid by MP-RJ (do) to a prosecutor, who received this amount from August 2024 to July 2025.
The amount is net and includes salary, compensation payments and installments as a pensioner, as your spouse was also an employee of the agency. Of the total, half comes from earnings as an active member of the body, and the other half comes from pension. The report considered a set of remunerations well above the ceiling received by civil servants as a super salary.
Prosecutor Maria de Nazaré Magalhães leads the ranking of the ten civil servants who received the highest salaries in the public sector during this period, all above R$2.3 million. In Brazil, the constitutional ceiling is the remuneration of ministers of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) — currently R$46.36 thousand per month, or R$556.32 thousand per year.
Maria de Nazaré was contacted by the report via the MP-RJ press office and also by phone and message on the cell phone number registered in her name. She did not return contact attempts.
The list of CPFs of civil servants who received the largest funds was made by Sheet based on data from transparency portals, requests via LAI (Access to Information Law) and the (National Council of Justice) portal.
In a note, the MP-RJ states that the remuneration of its members and employees is limited to the constitutional ceiling, strictly observed by the institution. However, according to the agency, there are occasional payments of compensation funds, which are not subject to the ceiling.
The MP-RJ did not want to provide clarifications on behalf of its members nor did it detail the compensation amounts in question, but stated that the figure includes additional payments due to the accumulation of functions and to cover vacations for other members.
In addition to these funds, members of the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro are also entitled to additional payments for time served. In May last year, Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro) approved a package of benefits for members of the MP-RJ. Among them, there is compensatory leave in which they may be entitled to one day off for every three worked. If the license is not used, the server receives the amount in cash as compensation.
The law also included the right to compensation for retired or dismissed prosecutors, on the grounds that this public servant would not be able to practice law for at least three years after leaving office.
Of the 10 employees, 8 are members of the TJ-SC (Court of Justice of ), all of them. In the ranking, in second place is a retired judge from the Santa Catarina Judiciary Maria da Conceição Mendes, who received R$2.6 million between August 2024 and July 2025 — an average earnings of R$224 thousand per month.
According to information on the court’s website, her retirement application was approved in August 2022. Of the total received in the year, R$2.2 million was due to gains in eventual rights, which include retroactive and indemnity funds.
She and the other members of the list were contacted by phone, email and the press office of their agencies.
Judges and judges at the Santa Catarina Court are entitled to funds that allow earnings above the ceiling, such as food and health benefits, compensation for untaken vacations and bonus leave — paid leave for older civil servants, but which can be converted into payment.
In the ranking, the third highest salary was that of judge José Clésio Machado, who, according to information from the TJ-SC, had his retirement approved in 2022. However, he still receives compensation and occasional rights, including retroactively, which increase his paycheck.
In the period analyzed, Machado received R$2.59 million. The eventual rights totaled a gross value of R$2.39 million. Next comes retired judge Ademir Wolff, who earned R$2.58 million in 12 months and has been out of active duty since June 2023. Of the total, eventual rights were R$2.3 million.
When asked about the figure, Wolff was the only one of the ten servers on the list who responded directly to the Sheet: “Consult the Court of Justice and ask why they paid me. I have nothing to say.”
The TJ-SC states, in a note, that payments to retirees were made in compliance with the CNJ (National Council of Justice) rule that deals with compensation for unpaid funds. According to the court, the council recommended that the courts’ budget forecast allow these obligations to be discharged, including the payment of retroactive payments, and thus avoid judicialization.
“It should be noted that the remuneration policy within the scope of the Judiciary of Santa Catarina strictly follows not only the determinations of the National Council of Justice, but is also fully supported by current legislation and decisions of the STF.”
The list of highest salaries also includes prosecutor Nelma Glória Lima, who also received figures as an active servant and as a pensioner. In the 12-month period, she received R$2.4 million.
Members of the Rio de Janeiro organization are entitled to a series of benefits that increase their salaries above the ceiling. Among them, there is compensation for unused vacations, for accumulated duties, additional benefits for length of service, for qualifications, in addition to aid, such as for health expenses. As part of these benefits entitle you to retroactive earnings, monthly payments increase.
NEW HANGERS
At the opening of Congress’ work last week, the issue of super salaries once again gained prominence after the Chamber approved projects that guarantee a new bonus for Legislative employees and create a hurdle that allows these employees’ salaries to exceed the constitutional ceiling.
Penduricalhos are compensation and extra funds that allow salaries to exceed the civil service salary ceiling.
In an offensive after the approval of the new penduricalhos, the minister of the STF suspended the penduricalhos in the three Powers, establishing that only compensation funds expressly provided for by law can remain outside the ceiling of the respective career.
With high entry salaries, careers in the judiciary and the Public Ministry quickly reach the constitutional ceiling and, therefore, they seek strategies to continue to increase salaries. In the process, they concentrate the highest super salaries, according to Fernanda de Melo, an expert at República.org, a civil society organization focused on managing people in the public service.
Judiciary bodies also use administrative and budgetary autonomy that allows them to create and expand benefits, without any express provision in law.
