STF decides to end retirement as maximum punishment for judges

The First Panel of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) decided this Tuesday (26) to end compulsory paid retirement as the maximum penalty applied to judges. The ministers denied the appeal presented by the PGR (Attorney General's Office) against the individual decision of minister Flávio Dino.

As a result, Dino's understanding was maintained that the 2019 Pension Reform removed from the Constitution the legal basis for compulsory retirement as a disciplinary punishment for magistrates.

In the vote, Dino stated that EC (Constitutional Amendment) 103 started to treat retirement only as a social security benefit, without providing for the punitive modality applied to magistrates.

In March of this year, Dino determined that loss of office, and no longer compulsory paid retirement, should be the maximum punishment applied to magistrates in cases of serious infractions.

In practice, the understanding removes compulsory retirement from the list of disciplinary sanctions applicable to judges after the 2019 Social Security reform. The measure was criticized for removing judges from their duties, but maintaining the payment of remuneration proportional to the length of service.

During Tuesday's trial, Dino stated that compulsory retirement "is a punishment that does not punish" and said that the sanction transfers the cost of the penalty applied to the judge to the taxpayer.

"Who is the punishment for, after all? For the taxpayer", he declared.

Minister Alexandre de Moraes followed the understanding and stated that compulsory retirement "is not a sanction", even when applied proportionally.

PGR was against
In an appeal sent to the STF, the PGR contested the thesis established by Dino about the end of compulsory retirement.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the decision created an "unprecedented interpretation" by concluding that EC (Constitutional Amendment) 103 automatically extinguished the penalty.

The body claimed that the reform merely removed the topic from the constitutional text, without revoking the provisions of LOMAN (Organic Law of the National Judiciary), which continues to authorize compulsory retirement as a disciplinary sanction.

The Federal Public Ministry requested that proportional compulsory retirement be maintained as the maximum administrative penalty for the judiciary.

Source: CNN