The Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided to reaffirm that the accounts of the Service Time Guarantee Fund (FGTS) must be corrected by the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), the main indicator of inflation in the country.
The decision was taken in a virtual plenary session of the Court and published last Monday (16).
The plenary confirmed the understanding of 2024, when ministers vetoed the correction of FGTS accounts by the Reference Rate (TR), which has always been used to correct deposits and has a value close to zero.
Furthermore, the part of the decision that validated the correction by the IPCA only for new deposits and prohibited the correction for retroactive amounts that were deposited in the accounts in June 2024, when the Court recognized the right of account holders to correction based on the inflation index, was also maintained.
The Court judged an appeal by an account holder against a decision by the Federal Court of Paraíba that did not recognize the retroactive correction of the balance by the IPCA.
Correction
By deliberation of the ministers, the current calculation that determines the correction with interest of 3% per year, the increase in the distribution of profits from the fund, in addition to the correction by the TR, is maintained. The sum must guarantee correction by the IPCA.
However, if the current calculation does not reach the IPCA, it will be up to the FGTS Board of Trustees to establish the form of compensation.
During the process, the calculation proposal was suggested to the STF by the Attorney General’s Office (AGU), the body that represents the federal government, after conciliation with trade unions during the process.
The case began to be judged by the Supreme Court following an action filed in 2014 by the Solidariedade party. The party maintained that the TR correction, with a return close to zero per year, does not adequately remunerate account holders, losing out to real inflation.
FGTS
Created in 1966 to replace the guarantee of job stability, the fund functions as compulsory savings and financial protection against unemployment. In the case of dismissal without just cause, the employee receives the FGTS balance, plus a fine of 40% of the amount.
After the action was filed with the STF, laws began to come into force, and the accounts began to be corrected with interest of 3% per year, the increase in the distribution of profits from the fund, in addition to the correction by the TR. However, the correction continued below inflation.
