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More than 140,000 people have died from covid-19 since the start of the pandemic in Brazil. Along with the pain of the loss of the loved one comes the headache to guarantee the survival of the family, a situation that can be aggravated by the measures of the Pension Reform that reduced the amount paid for pensions.
And the group most affected by the changes is the same group that suffers from the pandemic. People over 60 years of age represent 72.9% of those killed by covid-19, according to data from the Ministry of Health at the end of August.
“The strongest impact is precisely on the elderly population. The youngest can measure income by working, but the labor market does not absorb people aged 60 or over”, says the Labor judge of the XII Region, Carlos Alberto Pereira of Castro.
“With the fall in income caused by a lower pension, the person may have to review their standard of living. With the expenses of food, medicine, among others, they may not have enough to pay the rent,” he evaluates.
And these rules are already in effect. “Whoever died after the Pension Reform is already under the new rule,” explains labor lawyer Ivandick Rodrigues, a doctor in labor law from USP and a law professor at Mackenzie Presbyterian University.
Considering that the vast majority of deaths from covid do not come from richer households, with private pensions and financial security, the benefit of the social security system is fundamental. The timing is remarkable: the changes in pensions came into effect in November 2019 and, in March of this year, the first Brazilian died of covid, in São Paulo.
The lowest amount of death pension paid to the family
The Pension Reform approved a change made in the government of Jair Bolsonaro that determines that the pension paid to dependents must be 50% of the amount of the benefit to which the deceased person would be entitled in the event of retirement, plus 10% per dependent.
In other words, is the beneficiary just the wife or the husband? You will receive 60% (50% + 10%). Spouse and child under 21 years of age? 70% (50% + 20%). Until reaching 100%.
The situation becomes a bit more complicated if the person who dies is not yet retired. At the end of August, 26.4% of deaths from covid-19 were between 20 and 59 years old.
According to the reform, the pension to be paid to the family of those who are not retired is proportional to the number of years worked: 60% of the average of all contributions plus 2% per year after 20 years of contributions (men) and 15 years (women).
That is, if a man has 25 years of contributions, then the pension is 70% (60% + 10%). And if a woman is 25 years old, the figure is 80% (60% + 20%).
If a woman loses her husband because of the covid, but he has “only” 20 years of contributions, he will receive 60% of the average contribution salary. However, there is also the reducing rule, depending on the number of dependents. If only her is at home, you will receive 60% of 60%. “That is, 36% of the insured’s average contribution salary,” says Judge Pereira de Castro.
The minimum amount that is paid is a minimum wage. The government tried to destroy this floor, but was defeated in the National Congress.
New calculation disadvantageous for the worker
And here is a third gear. Before retirement, the retirement calculation took into account the average of 80% of the highest salaries; the lowest 20% was discarded from the account.
With the change, the calculation base included 100% of the contributions on salaries received since July 1994, which reduces the amount paid.
Augusto Grieco Sant’Anna Meirinho, Labor Lawyer of the II Region, Master in Social Security Law and Doctor in Social Relations Rights, recalls that, before, the family had the right to the full pension received by the deceased insured or, in the case of active workers, integral to the disability retirement to which they would be entitled if they were alive.
It also points out that, before the reform, there was the so-called quota reversal. That is, if one of the dependents reached the age of majority or died, the amount related to him was not deducted from the amount paid to the family. Now the 10% related to the dependent is no longer paid when this happens.
Obstacles to treating covid-19 as an accident at work
If it is proven that the death by covid was the result of an accident at work, the family is entitled to receive 100% of the calculation base, regardless of the contribution time throughout life. Otherwise, enter that formula of 60% plus 2% per year of contribution beyond 20/15 years.
In March, the government published Provisional Measure 927/2020, stating that coronavirus contamination would not be considered an accident at work unless there was evidence that this occurred due to service, the causal link.
In April, however, the Federal Supreme Court suspended the measure, making life easier for workers and their families.
The Health Ministry published an ordinance on September 1, listing covid-19 as a work-related disease. But he revoked it the next day.
Justice may be required
According to Ivandick Rodrigues, this means that for a COVID-19 contamination to be considered an occupational accident, the person will probably have to sue in court.
This makes life difficult for the worker’s family, since she will have to know that she has this right, seek a lawyer, have the resources to do so or go to the Public Defender’s Office and be “lucky” that the magistrate considers her claim without having to appeal. to higher cuts.
Some sectors have become the focus of coronavirus transmission, such as slaughterhouses in the southern region of the country, according to the Public Ministry of Labor, with hundreds of contaminants per company. In this case, proving causation is easier. In others, it tends to be more complicated.
Pension for death for less time
There is no grace period to receive the death pension of those who contributed to the system. That is, contributed a few times, your family can receive. The question is how long.
This change is not from the Pension Reform, but from a 2015 legislation, which was upheld by Congress. It determines that the pension ceases in four months if the death occurs without a) the insured having made 18 monthly contributions or b) without documentation proving that the marriage with a stable union began at least two years before death. Before, recent documents were enough to attest to the relationship.
In other words, if the person worked in a formal contract market for one year and was formally married for one year and dies, their partner is entitled to a pension of only four months. Even if you have lived with the person longer, but there is no way to prove it.
And even if both conditions are guaranteed, the changes in 2015 limited the pension period to: three years, if the widower or widower is under 21 years of age; six years, between 21 and 26 years; ten years, between 27 and 29; 15 years, between 30 and 40; 20 years, between 41 and 43. It only becomes life if the person is over 44 years old.
If it is proven that the death occurred due to a work accident, then the four-month rule is not valid, it only takes into account the age of the couple.
Reduction of pension on death when accumulated with retirement
Another point that the Pension Reform brings is the reduction of the pension for the widower or widower who already receives a retirement.
The person can receive both, but the lower value will be greatly reduced. Today, for more than R $ 4,181, the reduction is 90%. And the lower value benefit will be paid in full if it is a minimum wage.
Before, the pension was received in full. And it is forbidden to accumulate two pensions due to death.
“You have an elderly couple, with two retirees. Before retirement the income was maintained. Now, practically the amount of the pension for death was zero. This ignores fixed costs, basic infrastructure of residence, which is not per capita”, He says. Judge Pereira de Castro, who is one of the authors of the book “Comments on the Social Security Reform.”
“Covid will have an impact in these cases. The homeless population tends to change their profile.”
Difficulty for those who receive intermittent hours
An innovation brought by the Labor Reform also brings a headache at this time of covid: intermittent work.
If an intermittent worker could not contribute the equivalent of 7.5% of the minimum wage (today, R $ 78.38) in a given month, this period will not be considered for calculating the pension.
What can lead your family to receive a lower value, for less time or not to receive, considering all the rules described above.
All of this applies, of course, to contract workers. The millions of informal people who depend on emergency aid to survive a pandemic are out, unless they collect on their own. Which, considering your financial situation, rarely happens.
The vulnerability of the situation of the families of informal workers killed by the covid is, in fact, one of the arguments used by deputies and senators to reinforce the creation of a more robust minimum income program than Bolsa Família.
Finally, there is also a difference between rural and urban.
The council of the National Confederation of Rural Workers and Family Farmers (Contag) indicated to the column that the changes do not impact so much the amount that elderly rural workers receive, since most of them were already beneficiaries of minimum wage pensions. But they hurt widowers and younger widows who have limited time to receive their pension.
