Government “illegally” withdrew patrol supplement 13 years ago
The Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) has been ordered to pay PSP police chiefs the patrol supplement “illegally” withdrawn in 2010, according to a court decision.
The various heads of police stations will not only get back what they should have been receiving for the last 13 years; they will get it back with interest…
The decision follows a lawsuit filed by the National Police Union (Sinapol) in 2020 against MAI, and covers PSP chiefs who were left without receiving the monthly patrol supplement of €65.03, but who nonetheless perform duties outside police premises, as operational supervisor and head of the Rapid Intervention or traffic teams.
“The right of police officers in the career of police chief of the Public Security Police Force, who meet the conditions laid down in paragraph 2 of Article 104 of Decree-Law 299/2009, to receive the patrol supplement is recognised, under the terms laid down in the same precept, with all the legal consequences, namely the duty to pay it, including interest since each instalment was/i s due,” states the ruling by the Administrative Court of the Lisbon Circuit.
Number two of article 104 of the professional statute of the PSP states that chiefs with effective service provision outside the premises of the organic subunit of assignment are entitled to the patrol supplement, and a monthly patrol supplement of €59.13 is also attributed to agents.
This supplement does not apply to chiefs who perform duties in the Special Police Unit and criminal investigation.
In 2010, when the PSP’s professional statute came into force, the national board decided to withdraw the patrol supplement from chiefs who provided services abroad, maintaining the allowance solely for officers.
The Administrative Court of the Lisbon Circuit considers the supplement was illegally withdrawn from the PSP chiefs, and has ordered MAI to “pay interest, counted at the supplementary legal rate from the date of maturity of each of the outstanding remuneration instalments until full and effective payment”.
The court justifies the decision with the law that, “expressly and in a way that does not raise any reasonable doubt, provides a concrete amount of the patrol allowance to be attributed to chiefs and PSP agents”, emphasizing that “the legislator consecrated the most correct solution”.
According to the ruling, this decision applies to members of SINAPOL and to all those who become members of this union.
The court also stated that it is now necessary to determine the concrete and individual situations of each PSP chief who meets or has met the conditions to receive the patrol supplement and the months in which this effectively occurred, in order to proceed with its calculation, processing and payment.
President of Sinapol, Armando Ferreira, told Lusa that this ruling should cover about 1,000 chiefs and those who have maintained functions outside police stations since 2010 uninterruptedly, may receive interest of about €14,00.
Ferreira said that Sinapol has today requested a meeting with the secretary of State for Internal Administration, Isabel Oneto, to find out how the payment will be made, and to identify the police officers that are entitled to it.
Armando Ferreira also stressed that “once again it is has been proved that the Police and the national directorate do not defend the interests of police officers“.
This is not the first time that MAI has been condemned for withdrawing allowances from police agents.
In 2018, the Supreme Administrative Court in Lisbon, following a lawsuit brought by PSP unions, ruled that the cuts also made in 2010 were illegal – and ruled that police officers had to receive holiday supplements.
MAI then paid up, retroactively – both to PSP and GNR agents.
Lusa
