Early retirement: find out who is entitled

With the Social Security Reform – in force since 2019 –, some rules have been updated. However, it is still possible to retire early, that is, to request the benefit earlier than usual. However, there are criteria that must be observed by workers. The lawyer specializing in Social Security Law, master in Social and Labor Relations Law and CEO of WB Cursos, Washington Barbosa, explains.

“You have programmable retirements, the general rule of which is 62 years of age for women, 65 years of age for men, 20 years of contribution for men, 15 years for women. And you have special situations, such as people with disabilities, teachers, security forces and those who work in environments where they are exposed to agents that are harmful to their health,” he highlights.

New rules were approved in the Chamber of Deputies through the complementary bill (PLP 42/23), which reduces the minimum age provided for in the Pension Reform (EC103), allowing, for example, special retirement for workers who carry out activities with effective exposure to chemical, physical and biological agents that are harmful to health.

Lawyer specializing in Social Security Law André Luiz Moro Bittencourt highlights the contribution period as a factor to be observed.

“This new rule once again brings with it the possibility of retiring before the age set out in Constitutional Amendment 103, as long as you meet other requirements. And one of the important situations to check is the contribution period. So, this new rule now comes to benefit those people who have a very flexible contribution period, who are already at a more advanced age, but have not yet managed to reach the age limit, in the case of men, for example, 65 years old”, he highlights.

According to André Luiz, these people ended up not fitting into the job market.

“This created a vacuum. These people had more flexible contribution periods, but were unable to retire because they had not met the age rule. Now, once they have more flexible contribution periods, they will be able to retire at a slightly lower age than that determined by Constitutional Amendment 103,” he concludes.

Who is entitled to this benefit?

Early retirement is aimed at INSS policyholders who were registered before 12/16/1998. However, this criterion is not enough; they must meet certain requirements, such as minimum contribution time, age, and toll. Women who have contributed for more than 30 years and men who have contributed for more than 35 years, for example, can now apply for early retirement.

The complementary bill (PLP 42/23) was authored by Congressman Alberto Fraga (PL-DF). The text also provides for increasing the value of the initial benefit to 100% of the average contributions.

For lawyer Marly Marçal, who specializes in Social Security Law, it is important to ensure that workers exposed to unhealthy conditions or unable to carry out their work activities due to health issues can have flexibility when it comes to retiring.

“It makes no sense to keep this person exposed to harmful agents, and they are already 15, 20 or 25 years old and exposed to unhealthy agents. In other words, you are going to cause this person to have a disability that they do not have, or a disease that they do not have, because the time that they can be exposed is already foreseen. The bill is to remove the minimum age required in Constitutional Amendment 103,” he emphasizes.

O PLP 42/23 awaits the opinion of the rapporteur in the Committee on Social Security, Assistance, Childhood, Adolescence and Family (CPASF) of the Chamber of Deputies.