Teaching personnel cannot accumulate certain salary rights.

The High Court of Cassation and Justice has established through Decision 51/18.09.2023 (Official Gazette 1000/3.11.2023) that the monthly allowance for the PhD and the salary corresponding to teaching grade I obtained on the basis of the same PhD, regardless of the time when the teaching grade was awarded to the academic staff member, cannot be cumulated.

Excerpts from the decision:

• “If it were interpreted that the right of option, distinctly regulated by the second thesis, is limited only to the teaching staff who requested and obtained teaching grade I through equivalence, according to the provisions of Order No. 5,561/2011, as is considered in the minority jurisprudential opinion, then it would create differences in the legal regime applicable to the same situation”;

• “It must be emphasized that, by imposing on the teaching personnel the obligation to choose between the PhD and teching grade I allowances, the legislator no longer makes a distinction in relation to the normative act under which they would have obtained grade I through equivalence”;

• “It would not be objectively and reasonably justifiable to create different categories within the teaching personnel who requested and obtained teaching grade I through equivalence, based on the date they underwent the equivalence procedure. Moreover, maintaining the cumulation of benefits for the teaching staff who acquired the PhD before the entry into force of Law No. 1/2011, respectively the entry into force of Order No. 5,561/2011 would result in a situation of inequity for the teaching staff who acquire the scientific title of doctorate subsequently and who wish to obtain teaching grade I through equivalence”.