TJDFT Rejects Extension of Compensatory Pension to Widow Due to the Strictly Personal Nature of the Benefit

The plaintiff argued that, even after her husband’s death—an ex-employee of the concessionaire—she continued to receive payments for a certain period, which allegedly created a legitimate expectation that the pension would continue. She requested the reinstatement of the pension and compensation for moral damages.

In reviewing the case, the judge emphasized that the pension had been established in a labor proceeding, as a lifetime benefit expressly conditioned on the beneficiary’s survival. According to the judgment, the obligation was automatically extinguished upon the beneficiary’s death, and there was no legal basis to extend it to the widow.

The court also rejected the claim for moral damages, holding that the suspension of payments constituted the regular exercise of a right, given the strictly personal nature of the benefit. The judge further noted that any temporary continuation of payments resulted from a clerical/material error, which is insufficient to create any vested right.

“The lifetime nature attributed to the pension is conditioned upon the beneficiary’s existence, and the obligation regarding future installments is extinguished upon death. It is not, therefore, a hereditary right or a credit left by the deceased,” the decision stated.