New rules give more flexibility to divide rest and allow compensation for unused days without tax
New vacation installment rules for magistrates and members of the MP (Public Prosecutor’s Office) allow greater flexibility in dividing rest periods. With the combination of vacations, breaks, licenses and other compensatory mechanisms, the total time away can approach 6 months per year. The period may be extended by additional licenses provided for in specific standards. Those are from the journalist Raphael di Conto, da Folha de S.Paulo.
In practice, a federal judge or prosecutor can potentially accumulate around 178 days without activity when considering vacations, weekends and other leaves of absence, which represents almost 1 day of rest for each day worked. The number is greater than that of a worker on a 5 x 2 shift, who has around 124 days of rest per year, and that of workers in , who only have 78 days off per year. The comparison does not consider holidays, which vary each year, nor possible furloughs.
The changes result from administrative acts and internal rules published by bodies in the legal sector:
- A e of the CJF (Federal Justice Council) authorized the splitting of 60 days of vacation for federal prosecutors and magistrates in up to 12 periods of 5 calendar days each. The measure eliminates the old rules (which required longer periods) and opens a loophole for rest to be scheduled consecutively from Monday to Friday, without including weekends to avoid losing balance;
- It is possible that, by scheduling 5 days of vacation per week, the career member can, in practice, enjoy 9 consecutive days off (adding up the 2 weekends). This also makes it possible to sell up to 20 vacation days to increase earnings and still take more days off than the average worker;
- The extension of the period of absence is also driven by compensatory leaves. In the Federal Court, working in accumulation of collections or functions guarantees 1 day off for every 3 days worked. There are also call mechanisms for remote projects that generate 2 days of leave per week of activity.
Furthermore, the STF authorized that up to 30 days of vacation accumulated due to service needs be converted into cash compensation. As it is compensatory in nature, the payment is not subject to Income Tax.
Entities that supervise the sector point out the risk that the use of these days off and licenses will be intensified as a corporate response and financial compensation after the STF limited the payment of other career hardships.
O Poder360 He tried to contact the CJF and the MPF, but had no response until the publication of this report. This digital newspaper will continue trying to make contact and this text will be updated if a response is sent.
