STF validates end of mandatory single legal regime for civil servants

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) validated, this Wednesday (6), the section of the 1998 administrative reform, by former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), which ended the obligation of the single legal regime and career plans for public servants.

This point of the reform had been suspended since 2007 by a provisional decision by the STF.

The Supreme Court’s new decision will not have retroactive effects, that is, it will come into force as of the publication of the ruling. The STF also defined that the regime for current servers cannot be changed. The objective, according to the ministers, is to “avoid administrative and social security turmoil”.

Ministers Cármen Lúcia, Edson Fachin and Luiz Fux were defeated. “It is flexibility, with all its effects, that reaches the public service”, criticized Fachin.

With the decision, civil servants can be hired both through the statute, that is, through a public competition, and through alternative systems, such as the CLT system – that is, through the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT).

The rule applies to all direct public administration bodies, local authorities and public foundations.

“The extinction of the single legal regime is in line with the current demands of public administration and favors the promotion of efficiency. By reducing excessive formalism in administrative management, the change offers greater flexibility for public personnel hiring”, defended Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, president of the STF.

The ministers analyzed an action filed jointly by PT, PDT PCdoB and PSB. The parties claimed that the constitutional amendment was promulgated without the approval of both legislative Houses in two rounds of voting and that the changes tend to abolish individual rights and guarantees.