Amid warnings from the Federal Supreme Court (STF) about the creation of new obstacles in the Judiciary, the National Justice Inspectorate issued decisions that closed the siege on payments made in three state courts – Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná.
Minister Mauro Campbell Marques annulled a new ban created by magistrates, limited net payments from one of the Courts and opened an administrative procedure to monitor judges’ payrolls. The measures are contained in orders signed by the inspector between Thursday night and Friday morning.
On the same days, the rapporteurs of the actions regarding pennuricalhos in the STF alerted courts across the country about liability for possible payments outside the parameters set by the highest court. Furthermore, they stressed that reviews, reclassifications and restructuring of positions, functions and districts that could generate an indirect increase in remuneration are also prohibited.
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The orders from the Internal Affairs Department, which is an arm of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), were signed among the alerts made by the STF. The first occurred after the Paraná TJ published a rule establishing the “function of Tutor Magistrate within the scope of the Legal Residency Program, Trainer, Postgraduate and Undergraduate Internship Supervisor”. Campbell considered the measure “hugely inappropriate” and stressed that it “collides with the essence” of the STF’s decision.
“Any amount that does not fall within the headings effectively authorized by the STF suffers from illegality. Therefore, the existence of a normative act that provides for such payments, even if temporarily suspended, creates legal uncertainty”, stressed the minister.
At the Goiás Court of Justice, Campbell immediately restricted the net payment of all magistrates to R$46,366.19. According to the minister, the limitation must be fulfilled this month and any excess payment is prohibited. The measure will be valid until a “thorough and independent audit” is carried out on the Court’s payrolls for March and April of this year.
Campbell also ordered the immediate blocking of the ordering of any personnel expenses by the Court and the payment of any outstanding expenses, by the Court, must be authorized by the Internal Affairs Department until the accounting expenses are determined. The minister warned that administrative acts carried out by the court manager will be analyzed “from the perspective of administrative improbity”.
The Court of Justice of Mato Grosso do Sul was ordered to present all the payrolls of active, inactive and retired magistrates for the month of April. The documents will inform an administrative procedure opened by the Inspector General to monitor the Court’s payments.
The orders come amid the operationalization of the STF decision that limited the restrictions in the Judiciary. The ruling of the trial, held last month, was published yesterday and the deadline for submitting appeals opened. Magistrates had already signaled that they would question the STF’s decision. They even asked the rapporteurs to postpone the implementation of the new rules on bonuses for 60 days after the appeal was judged.
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Associations maintain that the Courts are facing “difficulties” in “understanding and operationalizing” the Supreme Court’s decision, which established which compensation amounts can be paid to magistrates, as well as a ceiling of 35% for the disbursement. Meanwhile, some courts have expanded benefits. Last week, Minister Flávio Dino stated “there are already new asymmetries” in the Judiciary after the limitation of penduricalhos, which form a “kind of arrival account”.
