Brazil caps public salaries at the pay of a Supreme Court justice, about R$46,366 a month in 2026, but a web of add-on payments called penduricalhos has let many public servants, including judges, sail past it. An audit cited by Valor and O Globo found tens of thousands of public servants collectively paid R$24.3 billion, roughly $4.8 billion, above the ceiling in 2025 alone.
On August 12, Supreme Court justices Alexandre de Moraes and Flávio Dino ordered seven state courts, including those of the Federal District, Goiás, Maranhão, Paraná and Rio de Janeiro, to immediately suspend the top-up payments and recover money already disbursed. The extras carry names like daily allowances, housing help, and unused-leave payouts, and are classified as compensation rather than salary to dodge the cap.
The National Council of Justice, tasked with oversight, reportedly validated long-service bonuses in only 4 of 63 courts, releasing R$1.1 billion, underscoring how unevenly the rules have been policed. The Supreme Court had already tried capping certain compensation at 35%, but enforcement lagged, and legal challenges to the new clawback order are considered likely.
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