The National Federation of Teachers has announced that judicial bodies have rejected the appeals by Caixa Geral de Aposentações (CGA), the Ministry of Education, and the Institute of Social Security, following lower court decisions in favor of the educators.
This follows a prolonged effort by teachers to return to the Caixa Geral de Aposentações pension scheme. In 2023, thousands were reinstated under this scheme. However, many requests were denied, forcing some to remain in the less favorable Social Security system.
Teachers, backed by unions, have pursued legal action in response.
In one case favoring a teacher, despite an appeal, the Public Prosecutor’s Office upheld the initial verdict, dismissing the appeal as unfounded.
“The existence of temporal interruptions between contracts is irrelevant, whether the interruption is days, months, or years in the exercise of public teaching functions,” states the decision dated April 7, as cited by the National Federation of Teachers.
The teacher “should not have switched to making deductions to Social Security with the signing of the contract on April 17, 2008, and should have continued contributing to the Caixa Geral de Aposentações as was the practice previously. Therefore, we believe this appeal should be rejected,” adds the Public Prosecutor’s decision.
Two days later, the Braga Administrative and Fiscal Court also concluded that “the appeal should be denied, maintaining the initial ruling in its entirety.”
The National Federation of Teachers emphasizes that courts have consistently ruled in favor of the teachers’ demands. Given the number of rulings citing the unconstitutionality of the provisions in Law No. 45/2024, the Constitutional Court is expected to review the law.
The issue dates back to nearly the start of the century when in 2006, the government decided teachers who previously contributed to the CGA should move to the Social Security system.
With union support, lawsuits were filed asserting their right to revert to the CGA. In 2023, they were informed they could all return to the CGA, but the process was partially halted: some transitioned back to the CGA, while others remained with Social Security. Subsequently, unions returned to the courts to contest.
