Minister says Lula gave approval to send project on birthday loot to Congress

The Minister of Labor and Employment, Luiz Marinho, stated this Monday (2) that he received authorization from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to send to Congress a project to change the rules for the anniversary withdrawal of the Weather Guarantee Fund Service (FGTS).

The withdrawal modality was created by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in 2020. When the worker opts for this initiative, they redeem part of the money deposited in the Fund in the month of their birthday. However, by adhering to the birthday withdrawal, the worker gives up the termination withdrawal. When fired without just cause, he can only withdraw a fine of 40% of the FGTS balance. And if he wants to return to the withdrawal-termination modality, he needs to complete a two-year grace period.

“We presented it to the president and he authorized forwarding a project correcting this injustice created by the previous government’s law, the birthday withdrawal, which prohibits people from having the right to withdraw what is theirs,” Marinho told journalists, reported the g1 portal. The minister did not specify the criteria that will be used in the project. At the beginning of his administration, Marinho defended ending the FGTS anniversary withdrawal, but highlighted that the end of the modality “is not under discussion at the moment”.

“If the anniversary withdrawal weakens the Guarantee Fund, Congress would have to discuss the end of the anniversary withdrawal. It has to face the problem and not punish someone [porque] It has a fragility. You own your money and will not be able to withdraw your money due to a weakness in the system”, said the minister.