Ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) this Friday expanded the scope of the restrictions imposed by the Court on the so-called “hanging fruit” of the Judiciary and legal careers. In a set of decisions signed by ministers Alexandre de Moraes, Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin and Gilmar Mendes, the court determined that reviews, reclassifications and restructuring of positions, functions and districts that could generate an indirect increase in remuneration are also prohibited.
The orders were signed in different actions, but they repeat the same understanding and function as a complement to the decision taken by the STF plenary on March 25, when the Court established new rules for compensation funds and functional advantages. Now, the ministers make it clear that measures adopted after the trial may also be blocked if ways are considered to circumvent the court’s decision.
In the texts, the ministers state that measures such as new classifications of districts as being “difficult to fill”, changes in offices, creation of new duty rules and bonuses for accumulation of functions “have no effect”. The decisions cite these initiatives as possible “ways to circumvent loyal and respectful compliance with the STF decision”.
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“For example, since the date of the judgment by the Plenary of the STF (03/25/2026), the new classification of districts as ‘difficult to serve’, changes in offices, new rules on functional shifts, accumulation bonuses, among other ways of circumventing loyal and respectful compliance with the STF’s decision, do not take effect”, say the ministers in the set of orders.
The determinations affect bodies of the Judiciary, Public Ministries, Audit Courts, Public Lawyers and Public Defenders across the country. The ministers also prohibited payments recorded in more than one paycheck and determined that the amounts paid be disclosed transparently on public portals.
In their decisions, Moraes, Dino, Zanin and Gilmar reinforce that the STF established two “fundamental goals” in the March judgment. The first is that compensation funds must respect the principle of legality. And the second, that it will be up to the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and the National Council of the Public Ministry (CNMP) to jointly regulate which payments will be accepted and which limits must be observed.
The ministers also state that it will not be possible to delegate this regulation to other bodies, “including Superior Courts”, under penalty of “breaking the model” defined by the Supreme Court. According to the orders, the intention is to prevent the reproduction of salary equalization mechanisms between different public bodies, a practice considered incompatible with “administrative rationality” and “fiscal responsibility”.
The new orders were published two days after Moraes, Dino, Gilmar and Zanin had already acted in a coordinated manner in four different actions to reinforce the ban on new ‘hangings’. At the time, the ministers warned that presidents of courts and heads of public bodies could respond in the criminal, civil and administrative spheres for the creation of compensation funds outside the hypotheses authorized by the Supreme Court.
