General Provision

Section 3: Social Security

Article 201. The social security system shall be organized as a general scheme, of a contributory basis and mandatory participation, with due regard for criteria that preserve financial and actuarial balance, and shall provide for, in accordance with the law:

1. coverage for the events of illness, disability, death, and old age;
2. protection to maternity, especially to pregnant women;
3. protection to workers in a situation of involuntary unemployment;
4. family allowance and confinement allowance for the dependents of the low-income insured;
5. pension for death of the insured, man or woman, to the spouse or companion, and dependents, complying with the provision of paragraph 2.

The adoption of differentiated requirements and criteria for the granting of retirement to the beneficiaries of the general social security scheme is forbidden, with the exception of the cases, as defined by a supplementary law, of activities carried out under special conditions which are harmful to health or to physical wholeness, and of cases in which the insured are persons with disabilities.

² No benefit which replaces the contribution salary or labour earnings of the insured shall have a monthly amount lower than the minimum monthly wage.

³ All contribution salaries included in the calculation of the benefit shall be duly updated, under the terms of the law.

⁴ Readjustment of the benefits is ensured, to the end that their real value is permanently maintained, in accordance with criteria defined by law.

⁵ Participation in the general social security scheme, in the quality of an optional insured, is forbidden for a person who participates in a special social security scheme.

Paragraph 6. The Christmas bonus for retirees and pensioners shall be based on the amount of the earnings in the month of December of each year. Paragraph 7. Retirement is ensured under the general social security scheme, in accordance with the law, upon compliance with the following conditions:

1. thirty-five years of contribution, if a man, and thirty years of contribution, if a woman;
2. sixty-five years of age, if a man, and sixty years, if a woman, this age limit being reduced by five years for rural workers of both sexes and for those who exercise their activities within a household system, therein included rural producers, placer miners, and self-employed fishermen. Paragraph 8. The requirements referred to in item I of the preceding paragraph will be reduced by five years, for teachers who document exclusively a period of effective exercise of teaching functions in children education and in elementary and secondary education. Paragraph 9. For purposes of retirement, the reciprocal computation of the period of contribution in government bodies and in private activity, either rural or urban, shall be ensured, in which case the various social security schemes shall offset each other financially, in accordance with criteria established by law. Paragraph 10. The law shall regulate the coverage of employment-injury risks, and such coverage shall be provided both by the general social security scheme and the private sector. Paragraph 11. The amounts habitually earned by an employee, on any account, shall be incorporated into his monthly salary for purposes of social security contribution and the resulting effects on benefits, in the cases and in the manner provided by law. Paragraph 12. The law shall provide for a special system to include low-income workers in the social security system, as well as to include no-income persons who are engaged exclusively in household chores within their own homes, provided that they belong to low-income families, so that they have guaranteed access to benefits at an amount equal to one monthly minimum salary. Paragraph 13. The rates and grace periods of the special system of inclusion in the social security system referred to in paragraph 12 of this article shall be lower than those in effect for other insured participants of the general social security scheme. Article 202. The private social security scheme, of a complementary nature and organized on an autonomous basis as regards the general social security scheme, shall be optional, based on the formation of reserves which guarantee the contracted benefit, and regulated by a supplementary law. (CA No. 20, de 1998) Paragraph 1. The supplementary law referred to in this article shall ensure that the participant in benefit plans of private pension plan companies is provided with full access to information regarding the management of their respective plans.

Paragraph 2. The contributions of employers, the benefits, and the terms of contracts set forth in the bylaws, regulations, and benefit plans of the private pension plan companies are neither an integral part of the employment contract of participants, nor, with the exception of the benefits granted, an integral part of the remuneration of participants, under the terms of the law. Paragraph 3. The Union, the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities, their associate government agencies, foundations, public enterprises, joint stock companies, and other public entities are forbidden to contribute funds to private pension plan companies, save in the quality of sponsors, in which case their standard contribution may not, under any circumstances, exceed that of the insured. Paragraph 4. A supplementary law shall regulate the relationship between the Union, the States, the Federal District, or the Municipalities, including their associate government agencies, foundations, joint stock companies, and enterprises controlled either directly or indirectly, in the quality of sponsors of closed private pension plan companies, and their respective closed private pension plan companies. Paragraph 5. The supplementary law referred to in the preceding paragraph shall apply, insofar as pertinent, to private companies holding a permission or concession to render public services, when such companies sponsor closed private pension plan companies. Paragraph 6. The supplementary law referred to in paragraph 4 of this article shall establish the requirements for the appointment of board members of the closed private pension plan companies, and shall regulate the inclusion of participants in the collegiate bodies and decision-making bodies in which their interests are subject to discussion and decision.

Section 4: Social Assistance

Article 203. Social assistance shall be rendered to whomever may need it, regardless of contribution to social welfare and shall have as objectives:

1. the protection of the family, maternity, childhood, adolescence and old age
2. the assistance to needy children and adolescents;
3. the promotion of the integration into the labour market;
4. the habilitation and rehabilitation of the handicapped and their integration into community life;
5. the guarantee of a monthly benefit of one minimum wage to the handicapped and to the elderly who prove their incapability of providing for their own support or having it provided for by their families, as set forth by law.

Article 204.

Government actions in the area of social assistance shall be implemented with funds from the social welfare budget, as provided for in article 195, in addition to other sources, and organized on the basis of the following directives:

1. political and administrative decentralization, the coordination and the general rules being incumbent upon the federal sphere, and the coordination and implementation of the respective programmes, upon the state and municipal spheres, as well as upon benevolent and social assistance entities;
2. participation of the population, by means of organizations representing them in the formulation of policies and in the control of actions taken at all levels.

The States and the Federal District may assign up to five tenths per cent of their net tax revenues to programs to support social inclusion and promotion, the utilization of such funds for the payment of the following items being forbidden:

1. personnel expenses and social charges;
2. debt servicing;
3. any other current expense not directly related to the investments or actions supported by said programs.