Tarso Genro and former mayors are convicted in court.
Reason: irregular temporary hiring for the positions of nursing assistant, nurse, and doctor, as well as other health-related positions, during his time as mayor of Porto Alegre; former mayors Raul Pont and João Verle were also convicted of administrative misconduct, as were former secretaries Henrique Fontana, Lucio Barcelos, and Joaquim Kliemann; in a statement, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul says the process refers to the hiring of "a doctor" by the City Hall, which did not have qualified civil servants to hire; "In a democracy, we are obliged to live with absurdities of this nature," he said.
Court of Justice of RS - Due to irregular temporary hiring practices for the positions of nursing assistant, nurse, and doctor, as well as other health-related roles, former mayors of the capital city, Tarso Genro, Raul Pont, and João Verle, along with former secretaries Henrique Fontana, Lucio Barcelos, and Joaquim Kliemann, were each ordered to pay a fine of R$ 10. The defendants also had their political rights suspended for five years (starting from the date the decision becomes final and unappealable).
The decision was made by Judge Vera Regina Cornelius da Rocha Moraes, of the 1st Public Treasury Court of the Central Forum.
Case
The Public Prosecutor's Office filed a public civil action for acts of administrative misconduct against the Municipality of Porto Alegre, Tarso Genro, João Verle, Henrique Fontana, Lucio Barcelos, and Joaquim Kliemann.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants, between 1993 and 2002, made irregular temporary hires for the positions of nursing assistant, nurse, and doctor, as well as other positions related to the health field. This violated constitutional principles that public hiring must be done through competitive examination.
Verdict
Judge Vera Moraes, in her ruling, stated that the population's demand was not temporary, but permanent, which negates the justification for emergency hiring. She further stated that, in 1996, the public administration signed a human resources transfer agreement that stipulated a competitive examination, but continued to hire professionals on a temporary basis. The competitive examination for doctors, nurses, and nursing assistants only took place in 1998. Furthermore, positions for dental surgeons and assistants were not filled.
The judge reasoned that a competitive examination had already been held for the Social Security department, with candidates awaiting appointment, which does not explain the continuation of emergency hiring.
The judge states that some temporary contracts were favored, to the detriment of other candidates who had already passed public examinations for the same positions, as some employees remained in their jobs for about two years through temporary contracts.
According to the judge, the hirings did not occur for the purpose of temporary need or exceptional public interest, nor were they isolated or occasional occurrences, but rather routine throughout all mandates.
He cited that even Municipal Law (No. 7.770/96) authorizing temporary hiring for exceptional public interest was not observed, as it established a maximum period of 120 days, extendable for an equal period (eight months). However, in many situations, the permitted period was exceeded.
Finally, the judge stated that hiring numerous people without a public competitive examination violates the principles governing good administration, namely morality and legality, as well as the constitutional provision that establishes public competitive examinations as the means of entry into public service, with the exceptions expressly and exhaustively provided for in the Federal Constitution. She concluded that there is no doubt that the defendants committed an act of administrative misconduct by carrying out numerous hirings without a public competitive examination.
Conviction
The judge sentenced the defendants to pay a fine of R$ 10 each. Their political rights were suspended for five years, and they were also prohibited from contracting with the Public Authorities or receiving benefits or tax incentives, directly or indirectly.
The municipality of Porto Alegre has been prohibited from making new temporary hires of employees in the health sector, based on Municipal Law No. 7.770/96. In addition, any temporary contracts still in effect that were signed under this same law have been declared null and void, and the employees must be dismissed after the emergency period ends.
The decision can be appealed.
Governor's Note
Regarding the conviction in the first instance, Governor Tarso Genro issued the following statement:
"In forty years of public life, this is the fourth lawsuit I have faced. I was acquitted in all of them. In this case, the specific act cited as sufficient to characterize "impropriety" was the hiring of ONE radiologist to provide services to the City Hall, based on Municipal Law No. 7.770/96, which the Judge, at first glance, deemed "unconstitutional." Another detail: the city hall did not have any doctors hired through competitive examination to hire. In a democracy, we are obliged to live with absurdities of this nature, and to review them, fortunately, we have the double degree of jurisdiction. Currently, a part of the Public Prosecutor's Office, with the support also of a part of the Judiciary – thankfully a minority – are acting as true overseers of political acts of the Executive Branch, judging outside and above the Laws, as in the present case. They thus become true co-managers of the Executive Branch, without any popular delegation and without having to account to society, for example, on whether or not to have [the necessary resources/services]. "A doctor is available to attend to a citizen seeking public health services. These are minor deformities of the democratic process, which must be understood within the context of the political struggle that Brazilian society is waging to affirm the values of the Republic and the Social State of Law."