Working life country profile for Portugal
This profile describes the key characteristics of working life in Portugal. It aims to provide the relevant background information on the structures, institutions, actors and relevant regulations regarding working life.
This includes indicators, data and regulatory systems on the following aspects: actors and institutions, collective and individual employment relations, health and well-being, pay, working time, skills and training, and equality and non-discrimination at work. The profiles are systematically updated every two years.
‘Individual employment relations’ refers to the relationship between the individual worker and their employer. This relationship is shaped by legal regulation and by the outcomes of social partner negotiations over terms and conditions. This section looks at the start and termination of the employment relationship and entitlements and obligations in Portugal.
Requirements regarding an employment contract
According to the Labour Code (Article 68(2)), the minimum working age is 16 years. A person younger than 16 who has completed compulsory education may be hired for ‘soft jobs’ (jobs that include light tasks and do not require much physical and mental effort) (Article 68(3)), or, in a family company, a person younger than 16 may work under the direct supervision of an adult family member (Article 68(4)). In any case, the employer must inform the inspecting authority about the hiring of a person younger than 16 within eight days (Article 68(5)).
The Labour Code (Article 141) requires that employment contracts in a written form should include the following information:
identification of the employer and the employee
the workplace
daily and weekly working hours
the date of the contract and the date of its entry into force
the functions to be performed by the employee
the amount of the basic wage and other remuneration
a definition of the notice period in the case of termination of the contract
‘Contracts of very short duration’ that are not in a written form must still be communicated by the employer to the social security service, namely using an electronic form including the above-mentioned information (Labour Code, Article 142). In general, there is no time frame for signing the contract. The Labour Code protects workers who do not have clear contractual situations. A worker who does not have a written and signed contract may be considered a permanent worker.
Dismissal and termination procedures
According to the Labour Code (Article 340), an employment contract may be terminated due to expiration, revocation, denunciation or termination. The dismissal modalities include:
dismissal with fault attributable to the employee
collective dismissal
dismissal due to the extinction of the job position
dismissal due to unsuitability
Dismissal of the employee without just cause or for political or ideological reasons is forbidden.
The employer must inform the employee of the notice period for termination of the employment contract.
Parental, maternity and paternity leave
Parental leave is regulated under the regime of initial parental leave (subsidio parental inicial), which includes provisions for both parents and exclusively for the mother and for the father (Decree Law 91/2009 of 9 April, Articles 11–15).
Statutory leave arrangements
| Regime of initial parental leave (Decree Law 91/2009) | |
Overall maximum duration | 150 days (Article 12(1)) 150 + 30 = 180 days, in the case of shared leave (Article 12(2)) 150 + 30 + 90 = 270 days, in the case of extended leave (Article 16) |
Reimbursement | From 80% to 100% of the average daily wage remuneration declared to social security in the previous six months – does not apply to extended leave To be eligible for the initial parental allowance, the mother and/or the father must have six months’ affiliation in a social security system with registered remuneration. |
Who pays? | The public social security system is responsible for the payment. |
Legal basis | Decree Law 91/2009 of 9 April, Articles 11–16 (amended by Decree Law 70/2010 of 16 June, Decree Law 133/2012 of 27 June, Law 120/2015 of 1 September, Decree Law 53/2018 of 2 July and Law 90/2019 of 4 September) |
Initial parental leave – detailed provisions | |
Maximum duration | Initial parental leave is 120 or 150 consecutive days of leave. It is obligatory for the mother to take 42 days (six weeks) following the birth; the remaining period may be shared between the father and the mother by mutual agreement. The duration of the leave is extended by 30 days in the case of shared leave; each parent takes leave of 30 consecutive days or two periods of 15 consecutive days. Mothers have the option to take up to 30 days of initial parental leave before birth. It is obligatory for the father to take 20 working days of exclusive parental leave, of which five days must be taken consecutively immediately after birth and 15 days must be taken during the subsequent 42 days (six weeks). After this period, voluntary leave of five days, consecutive or not, may be taken by the father after the period referred to and during the initial parental leave of the mother. The initial parental benefit is extended by 30 days per child in the case of multiple births, besides the first one. In the case of multiple births, an extra two days for each child (besides the first one) are added to the father’s exclusive 20 compulsory days of parental leave. Extended parental leave (Article 16) may be granted to one parent or to both parents (alternately), up to a maximum period of three months (for each parent), provided that it takes places immediately after the initial parental benefit or after the extended parental benefit of the other parent. |
| Reimbursement | The parental leave benefit varies according to the option of the parental leave.
When the level of earnings is very low, the law provides a minimum amount of €11.81 per day, equal to 80% of one-thirtieth (representing one day) of the social support index (indexante dos apoios sociais; €443.20 per month in 2022). For the extended parental leave of three months, the benefit corresponds to a daily allowance of 25% of the average daily wage. When the level of earnings is very low, the law provides a minimum amount of €5.90 per day, equal to 40% of one-thirtieth of the social support index. |
Sick leave
The right to paid sick leave is granted by law (Decree Law 28/2004 of 4 February, with the changes introduced by Decree Law 146/2005 of 26 August, Decree Law 302/2009 of 22 October, Law 28/2011 of 16 June, Decree Law 133/2012 of 27 June and Decree Law 53/2018 of 2 July) to all people in employment (employees and those who are self-employed) and employees who are temporarily incapable of work owing to an occupational disease or an accident at work.
To qualify for paid sick leave, employees working under a labour contract must have made contributions to the social security system (or other similar system) for at least six months (consecutive or not) and must have worked at least 12 days of the first four months of the last six months before the sickness. However, this condition does not apply to self-employed workers or to seafarers covered by the voluntary social security scheme: these workers must have paid their social security contributions up to the end of the third month preceding the onset of incapacity.
The benefit is payable from the fourth day of the incapacity to work onwards (there is an unpaid three-day waiting period) in the case of employees, from the 11th day of the incapacity to work onwards (unpaid 10-day waiting period) in the case of self-employed workers and from the 31st day of the incapacity to work onwards for the beneficiaries covered by the voluntary social security scheme.
No waiting period is applicable in the case of (1) tuberculosis, (2) hospitalisation or outpatient surgery treatment in a duly authorised establishment and (3) sickness initiated during the entitlement period to the parental benefit and extending beyond this period.
This payment is granted by the state through social security. The amount of this allowance is calculated as a percentage of the worker’s salary (this salary is determined by taking into account the average salary of the first six months of the latest eight months before the sickness, Christmas and holiday allowances excluded), but this percentage varies according to the duration of the leave and to the nature of the sickness.
The amount of the average daily pay covered by sickness allowance varies according to the duration of the incapacity to work: 55% for up to 30 days, 60% for 31–90 days, 70% for 91–365 days and 75% for more than 365 days.
The minimum rate of benefits payable is set at 30% of the daily amount of the social support index (€443.20 in 2022). When the person’s reference income is lower than the social support index, the sickness benefit will be equal to the reference income. The benefits cannot exceed the reference income. The employment relationship may be terminated while the employee is on sick leave (Labour Code).
Retirement age
Ordinance 53/2021 of 10 March established that the normal age of entitlement to the old-age pension in 2022 is 66 years and 7 months.
Early retirement can be claimed if the insured person is at least 60 years of age and has made contributions for 40 years, without the application of the sustainability factor. Early retirement is penalised according to the rate established by Decree Law 187/2007 of 10 May, amended by Decree Law 16-A/2021 of 25 February: 0.5% per month before the age of access to the pension.
It is not possible for a person to access their pension before the age of 60 years. The personal age of access to the old-age pension is reduced by four months for each civil year of contributions an individual has made above the 40-year requirement; however, this reduction cannot lead to access to the old-age pension before reaching 60 years of age. Additionally, the sustainability factor is not included in the calculation of the old-age pension age as part of the flexibility scheme. In such cases, the beneficiaries are not double penalised.
There is a special pathway to retirement for older workers in long-term unemployment. If unemployment occurs after the age of 57 years, retirement is allowed, without penalties, at the age of 62. If unemployment occurs between the ages of 52 and 56 years, retirement is allowed, with penalties, at the age of 57. In the latter case, the qualifying period is increased from 15 to 22 years of insurance.
There are special retirement conditions for people with arduous jobs, such as miners, seafarers in fisheries, maritime workers of the merchant navy, coastal navigation and coastal fishery workers, air traffic controllers, professional classical and contemporary dancers and embroiderers from Madeira. These professionals may request early retirement within the specific conditions set up for each activity as regards age and contributory records, but they always have to comply with the 15-year (successive or not) record of contributions to social security and to any other social protection scheme that entitles them to a retirement pension.
