Senate approves PEC that allows employees from former Territories to be reintegrated into the Union

The Senate unanimously approved, this Tuesday (12), the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) 7/2018, which allows the reinstatement of employees from the former Territories of Amapá, Roraima and Rondônia to the federal public administration. The project also expands the possibility of equality for more categories, including people who worked without a permanent connection to the administration. After agreement, the text was approved in the plenary in two rounds of voting and goes to the Chamber of Deputies.

The text was presented by senator Randolfe Rodrigues (no AP party) in 2018. The proposal was voted on by the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), but was archived at the end of the legislature, in 2022. The text was unarchived in March this year after the approval of requests made by the author and senator Lucas Barreto (PSD-AP).

For Randolfe, the objective of the proposal is to end the unequal treatment of employees from different former Territories. According to the senator, the 1988 Constitution determined that the states of Amapá and Roraima would be created under the same criteria used for Rondônia in 1981 — at the time, the payroll of employees in the new state was the responsibility of the Union for ten years, until 1991. Constitutional Amendments 79 and 98, however, granted a transition period of only five years for civil servants in Amapá and Roraima, informed the Senate Agency.

The text’s rapporteur, senator Marcos Rogério (PL-RO), accepted new changes suggested by the senators. PEC 7/2018 provides that all people who maintained a work relationship with the administration of the former Territories and their municipalities, or who became civil servants during the first ten years of the creation of the respective states, will be able to opt for the rights and advantages of the framework. function of the Union. To this end, the proposal amends article 31 of Constitutional Amendment 19.

The changes make it possible for these agents to join the disappearing federal public administration and, in the end, have their remunerations and benefits paid, permanently, by the Union — and not by the states of Amapá, Roraima and Rondônia. With this, the Union permanently assumes the expenses not only with the civil servants who worked in the former territory until the date of its creation, but also with the personnel hired in the 10 years following the transformation of the territory into a state.

If PEC 7/2018 is transformed into a constitutional amendment, the new rules must be regulated by the Union within a maximum period of 180 days. The PEC rules must also be applied to retirees and pensioners linked to their respective pension schemes — the payment, in any capacity, of amounts relating to periods prior to its publication is prohibited.

According to the text, the salaries of police officers and military firefighters cannot be lower than the amounts received by the categories in the Federal District. The rapporteur presented an amendment extending the minimum salary also to active, retired and paid reserve military personnel, as well as pensioners.