Changes to the Portuguese Labour Code

At a glance

• The Law introducing and approving several changes to the Portuguese Labour Code, within the scope of the Decent Work Agenda, initially presented through the Draft Law no. 15/XV, approved on 10 February 2023, was promulgated by the President.
• The Law has been published in the Official Gazette and will come into force on 1 May 2023.

Key changes under the reform

• Relevant changes to the status of self-employed workers in economic dependence of the beneficiary of the activity - including the application of collective labour regulation instruments, the possibility of appointing substitutes as a result of the exercise of parental rights, and membership of trade union associations;
• Relevant changes to the employer's information duties, which may have an impact on employment contracts and / or on the written information provided to employees;
• Modifications to the regime of the probation period, including changes to the period of notice for termination by the employer;
• Changes to the regime of term employment contracts;
• Significant changes to the temporary work regime, including to the requirements for exercising the activity;
• Extension of the right to telework to employees with children, regardless of age, with disabilities, chronic illness or oncological illness;
• Creation of the statute of caregiver employees, with specific leaves and entitlements;
• Changes to the regime of absences and leaves (namely, the extension of paternity leave and bereavement leave);
• Increase in the remuneration for overtime work beyond 100 hours per year;
• Non-waiver of labour credits of employees, except in case of judicial settlement;
• Prohibition of outsourcing services to satisfy needs that have been assured by an employee whose contract has terminated in the previous 12 months due to redundancy;
• Increase in the compensation for dismissal based on objective grounds;
• Criminalisation of the failure to communicate the admission of employees to social security within six months after the end of the legally established time limit; and
• Changes to the professional internship regime.

Updating of contract templates

As mentioned above, the recent amendments include relevant modifications to the legal framework that may create the need to review templates used by companies.

• Employment contracts / written information to be provided to employees:
  • The duties on employers to provide certain information have been substantially extended.
  • Unfixed-term employment contracts shall indicate their foreseeable duration.
• Employment contract termination agreements:
  • Employees may no longer waive labour claims, except by means of a court settlement, which impacts the waiver clauses in these templates.

DLA Piper ABBC is available to assist in adapting the current templates of employment contracts and termination agreements. For this purpose, please contact the team.