STF definitively closes the INSS lifetime review process

Over the years, thousands of retirees went to court to ask for a lifetime review, which defended the right to include contributions paid by workers in other currencies in the calculation of benefits, before July 1994, when the Real Plan came into force.

With the publication of the final and unappealable ruling, the Supreme Court dismisses the process and the courts and courts of first instance receive a notification to comply with the Court's understanding. Processes that were suspended begin again. After complying with the STF decision, the actions will be archived.

"There is no further appeal, even if there is a petition, nothing changes the final decision", says lawyer Adriane Bramante, advisor to the pension law commission of the OAB-SP (Brazilian Bar Association in São Paulo).

"The INSS will review according to the progress of each specific case, according to the procedural stage in which they are."

Lawyer Rômulo Saraiva, columnist for Folha, says that the INSS may demand the return of amounts already paid, depending on the period, and that the concern now is how the INSS will be conducted. "There are cases of automated discounts, without guaranteeing the contradiction, without warning", he says.

"For those who received an increase in retirement due to judicial decisions, definitive or provisional, given after April 5, 2024, in principle the INSS may want to charge the amounts", he states.

João Badari, from the law firm Aith, Badari e Luchin, says that it is important for lawyers involved in these processes to check whether everything that the Supreme Court stipulated in this process was actually complied with. "In other words, you don't have to return costs, you don't have to succumb, you don't have to return guardianship values ??[advance payment], if the decision that implemented the guardianship is prior to April 2024."

STF DENIED APPEAL AND ORDERED REVIEW TO CLOSE

In June, in a virtual plenary trial, the Supreme Court denied, by 7 votes to 3, an appeal that could guarantee correction for retirees. In this final stage, the ministers analyzed requests made by the CNTM (National Confederation of Metalworkers) in favor of the insured, which attempted to reverse a decision contrary to the review or at least guarantee payment for part of the retirees.

At the time, rapporteur Kassio Nunes Marques stated that the case was exhaustively debated by the court. He cited the judgment on topic 1,102 on May 15 - which also denied an appeal - and ordered the process to be closed once and for all. Theme 1,102, which was the main process of this review, had already become final in May, with a decision against the retirees.

In the final stage, the debate focused on the rights of retirees who had filed a lawsuit and also on the return of amounts.

WHAT IS THE WHOLE LIFE REVIEW?

The right to a lifetime review is discussed because the 1999 Social Security reform, carried out during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government, changed the calculation of the average salary of INSS policyholders, guaranteeing new taxpayers better rules than for those who were already paying INSS.

By law, those who were INSS members affiliated until November 26, 1999 have their average salary calculated based on 80% of the highest contributions made from July 1994 onwards. But those who started contributing to the INSS from November 27, 1999 and reached the conditions to retire by November 12, 2019 have the average calculated on the 80% highest salaries throughout their working life.

The 2019 pension reform changed that. Anyone who reaches the conditions to retire from November 13, 2019 has the average salary calculated with all contributions made from July 1994 onwards. The correction, however, would be limited. In general, compensating for those who had high salaries before the start of the Real Plan.

MAIN MOMENTS AND TWISTS

The review reached the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) in 2015 as an appeal to a process that began at the TRF-4 (Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region)

In 2019, it was approved by the STJ and, in 2020, the process reached the STF

In 2021, the case began to be judged in the STF's virtual plenary session, but a request from Minister Alexandre de Moraes interrupted the trial

In 2022, a new trial began in the plenary, but a maneuver by Minister Kassio Nunes Marques took the case to the physical plenary, even after it had already been approved

In December 2022, the STF judged the issue and approved the lifelong review

In 2023, the INSS requested the suspension of review processes while the appeal was judged by the Supreme Court

In July 2023, minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur, suspended the processes

On August 11, the STF began judging the appeal in the virtual plenary, but minister Cristiano Zanin suspended the process

In November, the plenary returned to the trial, and, with differences between the votes, minister Alexandre de Moraes asked for prominence, taking the case to the physical plenary

On March 21, 2024, the STF overturned the whole life review thesis by 7 votes against 4

On August 23, the STF began analyzing the embargoes for clarification. The trial was interrupted three days later

On September 20, the trial was resumed in the STF's virtual plenary session through ADIs 2,110 and 2,111 and the ministers confirmed that retirees do not have the right to review

On September 27, 2024, the Supreme Court rejected appeals that sought to guarantee the review

On February 6, 2025, the STF scheduled the period from February 14 to 21 to judge, in a virtual plenary, the embargoes for declaration of ADI 2,111 to judge the outcome of ongoing processes and the CNTM's appeal against the judgment that overturned the whole life review thesis

The trial began on February 14th and, on the 20th of the same month, Minister Dias Toffoli called for prominence, taking the discussion to the physical plenary of the court

On April 10, 2025, the court confirmed, in a physical plenary trial, that the whole life review is unconstitutional, but decided that retirees do not need to return what they have already received

Resources were presented in theme 1.102 and in ADI 2.111. The last trial of the last of them came to an end on Friday (19), with an unfavorable result for retirees

The publication of the final and unappealable ruling took place on July 9

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