Teachers Union Challenges Pension Calculation Errors With Ombudsman
The Independent Union of Teachers and Educators (Sindicato Independente de Professores e Educadores or SIPE) filed a formal complaint with the Ombudsman (Provedora de Justiça) over pension calculation errors by the state. The issue stems from corrections by the Civil Servants' Pension Fund (Caixa Geral de Aposentações or CGA) that affected nearly 3,000 pensions and resulted in demands for retirees to return overpaid sums. The union argued that asking teachers to repay money caused by administrative miscalculations is unfair.
The Caixa Geral de Aposentações (CGA) is Portugal's public sector retirement fund, managing pensions for civil servants hired before 2006. State employees hired after that date are enrolled in the standard Social Security (Segurança Social) system instead. The institution oversees retirement and disability benefits for hundreds of thousands of former public-sector workers, including teachers and administrative staff.
