Ministry of Labor decides not to release special FGTS withdrawal in 2023

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Labor, announced that it will not allow extraordinary FGTS withdrawals in 2023. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the President of the Republic at the time, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, authorized 2 special withdrawals in order to help the economy that was stagnant and help those who had lost their jobs.

In all, 32.7 million people benefited from the authorization of withdrawals, which were limited to up to R$1000 reais per person. According to a note from the Ministry of Labor “The release of the FGTS, according to the Board of Trustees, depends only on the government declaring a state of calamity for Caixa to promote payment. It is automatic, it does not depend on release”.

The board of trustees is responsible for recommending or not recommending special and extraordinary withdrawals from the fund and has a meeting scheduled for the month of May, where it will hammer out and definitively decide whether the measure of no withdrawals in the year should be maintained.

In 2020, the first emergency withdrawal due to the pandemic reached a total withdrawal value of R$ 24 billion reais, according to data reported by Caixa Econômica Federal, which is responsible for the payment.

The extraordinary withdrawal authorized in 2022, about R$ 23.6 billion reais were withdrawn from Caixa’s coffers, which directly impacts the budget of the fund responsible for releasing the funds and making the payment of this workers’ right.

How the FGTS works:

The Severance Indemnity Fund, the FGTS, was created in 1967 and protects workers with a formal contract dismissed without just cause. They are paid by employers and are around 8% of the worker’s salary, in the employee’s name. In addition to this money being reserved for the worker, it is also used for housing financing and sanitation and infrastructure works.

Featured photo: Caixa Econômica Federal mobile application. Playback/Twitter.