Civil groups demand national law to cap public pay above ceiling

Seven civil society organizations released a manifesto on Monday calling on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the newly elected Congress to make fighting supersalaries an immediate priority.

The groups demand a national law setting strict limits on indemnity payments, known as penduricalhos, which allow public servants to earn above the constitutional ceiling of 46,366.19 reais, equal to the salary of Supreme Federal Court ministers.

“It is unacceptable to maintain payments above the ceiling in such a context of budgetary restriction.”

According to a survey cited in the document, at least 24.3 billion reais were paid above the ceiling in 2025 to 67,300 servants, especially judges, members of the Public Ministry, lawyers and public defenders.

The amount equals about 39 percent of the federal government's primary deficit last year, which was 61.7 billion reais, and represents payments to a minority of 1.34 percent of public servants.

In an international comparison covering eleven countries, Brazil leads spending on remunerations above the limit, with a volume 21 times higher than Argentina, the second-ranked country.

The manifesto also criticizes the transition rule set by the Supreme Court in March, which established two 35 percent blocks, one for indemnity payments and another for career time bonuses.

The organizations propose eleven measures to eliminate legal loopholes, including objective criteria to distinguish remuneratory from indemnity payments and income tax on all payments representing asset growth.