STF once again postpones judgment on INSS “lifelong review”

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) postponed once again this Wednesday (20) the resumption of the trial on the lifetime review of pensions from the National Social Security Institute (INSS). The action was on the agenda for this afternoon’s session, but was not called. The ministers judged cases that deal with combating fires in the Pantanal. The action was included in this Thursday’s session (21). However, it is not the first item on the agenda again.

The Court will decide whether there will be changes to the court’s own decision, which, in 2022, recognized the lifetime review and allowed retirees who went to court to request the recalculation of the benefit based on all contributions made throughout their lives. The decision affects those who started receiving retirement benefits between November 1999 and November 12, 2019 and have contributions prior to July 1994.

Despite the decision, the review is still not applied due to an appeal from the INSS, informed the Brazil Agency. The authority defends the modulation of the rule so that the recalculation cannot apply to extinguished benefits, final and unappealable decisions and installments already paid. The INSS defends the prohibition of paying differences before April 13, 2023, the date on which the STF judgment was published.

The Union estimates an impact of up to R$480 billion if the 2022 thesis is maintained, while entities representing policyholders calculate values ​​between R$1.5 billion and R$5.5 billion. The final value will depend precisely on the time limit established by the STF for reviewing pensions. The calculation must also consider inflation and the average life expectancy of beneficiaries.

The last step in the process occurred on December 1st of last year, when Minister Alexandre de Moraes interrupted the trial of the appeal in the Court’s virtual plenary session and asked for prominence. As a result, the analysis of the case must be resumed in the physical plenary and the ministers must vote again.

Before the interruption, the score was four votes to modulate the effects of the decision and three in favor of the INSS request to annul the STJ ruling. For Moraes, the Supreme Court’s decision that authorized the recalculation of payments should not be retroactive and does not cover extinct benefits and installments already paid. The time frame defended by the rapporteur is December 1, 2022, when the trial was held in the Court.