Nursing salary floor: Barroso reestablishes minimum – 05/15/2023 – Market

Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), reestablished on Monday night (15) the salary floor for nursing. Barroso himself had suspended the minimum value for the category in September last year.

The decision was taken after the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) published a bill approved by Congress that releases R$ 7.3 billion to fund the measure.

In his decision, Barroso points out that the amounts must be paid by states, municipalities and municipalities only within the limits of the resources transferred by the Union.

He claims that the amount of R$ 7.3 billion reserved by the Federal Executive does not seem to be able to fully fund the necessary resources for the implementation of the salary floor.

According to the minister, the financial impact of implementing the national nursing minimum, in the first year, would be R$ 10.5 billion for the municipalities alone.

Even so, he points out that “the measures adopted by the Union constitute a new fact to justify the revision of the precautionary measure granted [a decisão que suspendeu o piso]”.

“This is because the main rationale adopted in that decision was the risk of disastrous financial and budgetary impact on states and municipalities and on private entities associated with or contracted to provide services within the scope of the SUS”, added Barroso.

“The circumstance that the legal provision for the floor was not accompanied by any type of federal funding determined a serious risk of disrespect for federal autonomy”.

For Barroso, the decision to suspend the minimum wage “fulfilled part of its purpose, as it mobilized the Executive and Legislative Powers to allocate the necessary resources to fund the minimum wage by subnational entities and philanthropic entities”.

Barroso maintained the suspension of part of the floor law. In the case of professionals in the private sector, the minister allowed the possibility of collective bargaining, which was vetoed by the norm.

This decision will be analyzed by the other ministers of the court in a virtual plenary session, the platform where ministers cast their votes, which begins on May 19.

In December of last year, Congress enacted the PEC (Proposal for Amendment to the Constitution) which established the minimum amount of BRL 4,750 for nurses, BRL 3,325 for nursing technicians and BRL 2,375 for nursing assistants and midwives.

The Lula government had been charged by the category to implement the measure, which was suspended by Barroso, after the proposal did not foresee a financial impact on the entities of the federation.

States and municipalities, in turn, pressured the government against the proposal. The text gained strength in the face of the commitment of the category during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the end of March, President Lula stated that the federal government intended to subsidize the salary of nursing professionals in Santas Casas so that the national floor for the category could be implemented.

The Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa (PT), even met with Barroso to have the injunction that suspended the application of the floor be revoked.

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Why was the nurses’ floor suspended?

The national nursing salary floor had been suspended by Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, of the STF, who responded to requests from entities linked to the sector. In the decision, the magistrate cited the risk of layoffs.

Barroso decided that the suspension would be maintained “until the financial impact of the measure is clarified for states and municipalities and for hospitals.

Who went to court against the nurses’ floor?

The decision was given in action filed by the National Confederation of Health, Hospitals and Establishments and Services. The minister stated that the entity presented “plausible allegations” of possible “mass layoffs” with the new law.

“Although there is still no official data on layoffs in the sector, given that the law has not even completed its first month in force, the representative entities of the sector are unanimous in stating that the dismissal of employees will be necessary to equate the costs”, stated.

According to the magistrate, “the forecast seems to be consistent with the impact estimated by the Chamber of Deputies for the private hospital sector, which is R$ 10.5 billion, considering both for-profit and non-profit entities”.

What is a salary floor?

The floor is the lowest salary that a given professional category can receive for their workday.

As it is a benefit, the wage floor will always be higher than the national minimum wage (or state minimum wage, if any). If the floor of the category is lower than the minimum in the State, the state minimum wage is valid because it is more beneficial to the worker.

What is required for a category to have a salary floor?

The salary floor always refers to a professional category. It can be agreed by unions (in collective agreements) with regional validity or fixed by law, with validity throughout the country.

The floor is not synonymous with salary because not all professional categories have a floor fixed by law or collective agreement. And, to establish the floor, free negotiation is worth it, always considering that the value must exceed the minimum wage.

What are the arguments of those who are against the wage floor?

The National Confederation of Municipalities claims that the national nursing floor was approved without the federal government or Congress presenting a source to fund the measure, which would have an estimated cost of R$ 9.4 billion for municipal coffers.

“The Confederation emphasizes that the measure is essential to correct the current situation, considering that, 31 days after the enactment of the measure that implemented the floor, the National Congress has not decided, until now, what will be the source of funding for the same, despite [os parlamentares terem] committed to it at the time of the vote,” the confederation said in a statement.

The entity also fears an overload in hospitals and damage to the maintenance of the supply of beds and other hospital services, including the SUS (Unified Health System).