As of this Monday (2), the federal government will release R$3.9 billion to pay the second installment to workers who opted for the anniversary withdrawal from the Service Time Guarantee Fund (FGTS).
The amount corresponds to resources retained from workers who were laid off between January 2020 and December 20, 2025. According to the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the payment of these remaining balances in this second stage will benefit 822.6 thousand people.
Payments for remaining balances will be made by February 12th.
In the first stage, R$3.8 billion were also released, which benefited more than 14 million people, as provided for in a provisional measure published on December 23rd.
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Unfair penalty
In a note, the MTE recalls that the modality imposes an “unfair penalty” on workers who opt for this format, by preventing access to FGTS resources in the event of dismissal.
“The birthday withdrawal has this cruelty towards the worker, who adheres to the modality and is prevented from accessing the balance when he loses his job”, warns minister Luiz Marinho when remembering that the FGTS is an “individual savings created to support workers in times of unemployment, but, in practice, they are unable to access it precisely when they need it most”.
According to the MTE, most workers will have the amounts automatically credited to their bank accounts previously registered in the FGTS application.
Anyone who has not provided an account number for the deposit can make the withdrawal through Caixa’s self-service terminals; in lottery outlets; or at CAIXA Aqui units.
Bank loans
Of the 14.1 million people with a balance available for withdrawal, 9.9 million have part of the resources partially committed to bank loans, “which prevents them from receiving the full amount”, warns the ministry.
“Another 2.1 million people have their balances completely compromised, and therefore there are no amounts available for withdrawal,” he added.
The MTE reports that, since 2020, around R$197 billion has already been released through the birthday withdrawal modality.
Of this total, 40% was allocated directly to workers, while 60% was transferred to banks that advanced the amounts through credit operations, details the ministry.
According to the ministry, currently 40.3 million people have joined the birthday withdrawal modality, out of a total of 130 million CLT workers. Of this total, 28.5 million have active value advance operations.
