INSS: 148,500 benefits may undergo review of Article 29 – 06/22/2023 – Market

The INSS (National Social Security Institute) left out of the revision of article 29 at least 148,185 benefits that did not enter the payment schedule between 2013 and 2022. the agency erred in paying disability benefits.

At the time, the INSS stopped discarding the lowest 20% contributions when calculating the workers’ average salary, reducing the final benefit.

The 148,000 were reported to the courts in the public civil action that forced the INSS to sign an agreement to recognize the error and pay the review administratively. The lawsuit was filed by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) and by Sindnapi (National Union of Retirees, Pensioners and Elderly People) in 2012.

According to Tonia Galetti, coordinator of Sindnapi’s legal department, since the agreement with the institute was made, ten years ago, there was no way to check whether the payment was being made to everyone who was entitled. That’s because the INSS is the one who holds the data of the insured and can scan it.

As a result, some policyholders who were not contemplated sought the Justice, but there were other cases in which the payment did not occur either judicially or administratively. At the time of the agreement, the institute agreed to pay the review in annual installments, taking into account the insured’s age at the time of the agreement and whether or not he was still receiving income.

The payment was made in ten years and ended in May 2022. In a note, the institute admitted that 148,185 benefits did not have the review processed “since they presented inconsistencies in the system’s attempt to process”, as they are benefits considered by the body as more complex.

The INSS says it will pay the amounts, but it is still creating tasks in its systems so that the agency’s servers can analyze the benefits and confirm the payment.

“For the benefits in which the review could not be processed via the system, review tasks are being created to be analyzed by the INSS servers”, informs a note from the institute.

“For the benefits that had the review processed, but the amounts were not generated, the insured person may request payment through My INSS, in ‘Request for credit not received’, says the INSS.

Tonia claims that Sindinapi went to court demanding that payment be made as soon as possible. “They [INSS] they said they needed a year to be able to pay. We have already made a petition saying that we do not agree with this deadline”, she says.

The lawyer believes that, as the institute itself has the formula for recognizing the error and making the payment, there is no reason for delay. “I think it was a glitch in the system that didn’t pull everyone in.”

Lawyer Adriane Bramante, president of the IBDP (Brazilian Institute of Social Security Law), says that policyholders who did not have the review payment, but were within the agreement can make the administrative request to have the amounts.

Those who believe they are entitled, but have not been accounted for by the institute, can try to file a lawsuit with the Federal Special Court in search of recognition of the value. There is, however, a difficulty in receiving it, because the ten-year period for requesting this revision from the INSS has already ended.

It is necessary to prove in some way that the institute should have paid the amounts, but was wrong for the second time, leaving out that insured person.

Who may be entitled to review Article 29?

Between April 17, 2002 and October 29, 2009, the INSS erred in paying disability benefits, such as sick pay and disability retirement, including pensions and retirement benefits derived from these benefits. In 2012, after legal action, the body agreed to close an agreement and pay the amounts due.

At the time, the institute stopped discarding the 20% lowest salaries when calculating the average salary, resulting in a lower social security income. It was correct to consider the 80% highest payments, but the INSS made the calculation including all salaries, which reduced the benefit.

Anyone who received a disability benefit during this period in which the error occurred or had a benefit derived from the aid or retirement calculated incorrectly may be entitled to receive it.

The 80% highest salary rule ended with the 2019 Social Security reform. Since then, 100% of contributions paid in reais, since July 1994, are included in the calculation of the average salary.

Who received arrears from the Article 29 revision?

According to the INSS, in all, 14.5 million benefits were revised in the revision of article 29, either automatically, administratively or judicially. Of this total, 10.1 million had no differences to be paid; 2.9 million had the amounts paid automatically by the system and 372 thousand were reviewed in court, with payment in court. Already 376.8 thousand benefits had the amounts paid administratively after activating the institute.

Who was left out of the review?

The INSS reports that 502,800 benefits were reviewed, but the values ​​were not generated by the system for the following reasons:

• Death of the benefit holder, awaiting application from the dependent/heir for receipt
• Differences calculated with an amount lower than R$ 67; in this case, the amount will be paid when a new benefit is granted to the insured
• Verification of irregularity in the benefit, either because the citizen received it irregularly or because he accumulated benefits improperly
• Inconsistency in the benefit network, preventing automatic review processing

Can I ask for the revision of article 29 in the INSS?

It is no longer possible to file a review request with either the INSS or the courts because the deadline for the request, which is ten years, has expired. The insured may, however, request payment of the amounts, if he has entered the institute’s list and has not received it.

In addition, there is the possibility of suing Justice for this payment to be made. In addition to the erroneous benefit payment statement, the insured must also have the letter sent by the INSS informing the right to review.

Why did the INSS leave policyholders out when paying this review?

Both the INSS and the specialists consider that there was some error in the system when scanning to find out which benefits should have the income reviewed and the payment made. In some cases, it is possible to prove this error. In others, there is no way for the citizen to identify the failure.

At the time of the agreement, there were still some profiles of policyholders that were left out, among them are the following benefits:

1. that had already been reviewed administratively or in court
2. granted during the period of provisional measure 242, with the benefit starting date on 03/28/2005 and the benefit dispatch date on 07/03/2005
3. granted until 04/17/2002, when the right expired, since the public civil action is from 2012, except when there was an administrative request for this revision before 04/17/2012
4. granted within the selection period, but which were the result of benefits achieved by the decay
5. granted in the period comprised in the agreement, but were preceded by benefits starting before 11/29/1999