INSS will review benefits for 600 people.
By court order, sickness benefits, disability pensions, and survivor's pensions granted from November 29, 1999 onwards must be recalculated based on 80% of the contribution wages.
Legal Consultant - The INSS (Brazilian National Social Security Institute) will have to review approximately 600 sickness benefits, disability pensions, and survivor's pensions. Included in the review are those granted after November 29, 1999, which were calculated based on 100% of contribution wages when, in reality, they should have considered only 80% of the highest contribution wages, as reported by the Diário do Grande ABC newspaper.
The decision was made this Tuesday (April 3rd) by Federal Judge Kátia Herminia Martins Lazarano Roncada, of the 2nd Federal Social Security Court of São Paulo. The lawsuit was filed on March 22nd by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in São Paulo and the National Union of Retirees, Pensioners and Senior Citizens of Força Sindical.
The INSS (Brazilian National Social Security Institute) has 90 days to automatically review benefits. If the decision is not complied with within this period, a daily fine of R$ 10 will be imposed. An appeal is still possible.
The error has already been acknowledged by the INSS (Brazilian National Social Security Institute), which, in April 2010, issued a circular instructing its agencies to carry out the reviews. The problem is that the agency only accepted reviews if there was a formal request from the beneficiary. However, most insured individuals who fall into this situation are physically or mentally incapable of personally requesting the review. "Requiring these vulnerable people to appear at the agencies is an affront to good faith," assesses Jefferson Aparecido Dias, regional prosecutor for citizens' rights and one of the authors of the lawsuit.
According to João Inocentini, president of the National Union of Retirees, beneficiaries are receiving, on average, 20% less than they should. "It's not a huge difference, but it's their right. In other words, someone who receives R$ 1.000 today should receive around R$ 1.200."
Since November 19, 1999, when Law 9.876/1999 was published, the granting of sickness benefits, disability pensions, and survivor's pensions should have been calculated taking into account only 80% of the highest contribution salaries, which would guarantee a greater benefit to the insured. Inocentini explains that, at the time, there were no computer programs that gathered and applied the same rules to all benefits. "Most pensions were calculated according to the instructions of the head of each agency. Nobody followed the law."