he Law no. 13/2023, published in April, came into force on May 1, International Workers' Day, and amended the Labour Code and related legislation, as part of the Dignified Work Agenda and Valuing Young People in the Labour Market, a set of around 70 measures aimed at improving working conditions and reconciling personal, family and professional life.
This New Labour Law was approved in parliament with the votes in favor of PS, the abstention of PSD, Chega, PAN and Livre, and the opposing votes of BE, PCP and IL.
What has changed with this new labour law? In this article, we explain some of the changes that came into force.
Extension of the scope of remote work and payment of expenses
The right to remote work has been extended to parents of children with disabilities, chronic illness or cancer. According to Article 166-A, "workers with children up to the age of three or, regardless of age, with a disability, chronic illness or oncological disease, who live with them in a communal household, have the right to work remotely, when this is compatible with the activity performed and the employer has the resources and means for it to happen".
There are also new developments when it comes to the expenses related to remote work.
Article 168 states that "the individual contract and the collective employment contract must establish the amount of compensation due to the employee for additional expenses when there’s a remote work agreement". If no fixed amount is set for the payment of these expenses, additional expenses are those corresponding to the purchase of goods and services that the employee did not have before the agreement was signed, as well as those determined by comparing them with the corresponding expenses in the last month of on-site work. These expenses must be supported by invoices in order for the compensation to be tax-free.
Shortened trial period
The trial period for permanent employment contracts can now be reduced. More specifically, in permanent employment contracts for workers who are looking for their first job or are long-term unemployed, the 180-day trial period can be "reduced or excluded depending on whether the duration of a previous fixed-term employment contract with a different employer was equal to or greater than 90 days", according to article 112. The same article states that this trial period can also be "reduced depending on whether the duration of the professional internship with a positive evaluation, for the same activity and a different employer, was equal to or greater than 90 days in the last 12 months".
No outsourcing for up to 1 year after layoff
With this change in legislation, it is now forbidden to resort to outsourcing for a period of one year after collective redundancies or redundancies due to job cuts. According to article 338-A, "it is not permitted to resort to the acquisition of external services from a third party in order to meet the needs of a worker whose contract was terminated in the previous 12 months due to collective redundancy or redundancy due to job extinction".
Increase in compensation for layoff
Compensation paid to employees in the event of collective redundancies has increased from 12 to 14 days. According to article 366, "in the event of collective redundancy, the worker is entitled to compensation corresponding to 14 days' basic pay and seniority for each full year of seniority".
Compensation also increased in the case of the termination of contracts, both permanent and fixed-term. According to articles 344 and 345, in cases of termination of fixed-term and permanent employment contracts, workers are entitled to compensation corresponding to 24 days' basic pay and seniority pay for each full year of seniority (as opposed to the previous 18 days for fixed-term contracts and 18 or 12 for permanent contracts, depending on seniority).
Waiver of salary receivables only possible through court mediation
With the entry into force of this law, workers cannot waive the receivables owed to them in the event of termination or layoff (vacation, Christmas or training allowances, or overtime) without court mediation. According to Article 337, a worker's receivable arising from an employment contract "cannot be extinguished by waiver, except through a court settlement".
Increase in the overtime rate from 100 hours per year
Overtime is now better paid. According to Article 268, overtime work exceeding 100 hours per year is paid at the hourly rate, plus 50% for the first hour or fraction thereof and 75% for each subsequent hour or fraction, on working days, and plus 100% for each hour or fraction on compulsory or complementary weekly rest days or public holidays.
Possibility of requesting sick leave through SNS 24
With this new law, sick leave of up to 3 days can now be requested online. According to article 254, proof of the employee's illness can be provided by a declaration from the National Health Service's digital service, which is "made by means of a self-declaration of illness, under oath, which can only be issued when the employee's illness does not exceed three consecutive days, up to a limit of twice a year". In other words, the employee is entitled to a total of 6 (non-consecutive) days justified by declaring themselves ill. You can find more information about self-declaration of illness on the SNS 24 website.
As with "traditional" sick leave, employees' sick allowance only starts to be paid from the 4th day of illness, and there has been no change in this regard.
Change in the length of parental leave
The father's parental leave has been increased from 20 working days to 28 days in a row (which may, depending on the case, not represent a real increase). According to article 43, "the father is obliged to take parental leave of 28 days, in consecutive or intermittent periods of at least 7 days, in the 42 days following the birth of the child, 7 of which must be taken consecutively immediately after the birth". After taking this leave, the father is also entitled to 7 days of leave, consecutive or intermittent, as long as they are taken at the same time as the mother's initial parental leave.
According to article 40, parents may also, after taking 120 consecutive days, combine the remaining days of leave with part-time work on each day.
Bereavement leave
Leave for the death of a spouse is increased from 5 to 20 days. Gestational bereavement leave is created for mothers and fathers, who can be absent from work for up to three consecutive days, as described in Article 38.º-A.
Creation of leave and increased rights for workers who are caretakers
The entry into force of this law marks the creation of a leave for caretakers, who are now entitled to five working days' leave, taken consecutively, to assist the person being cared for, as described in Article 101-B.
Workers with the status of non-main informal caregivers (people who regularly, but not permanently, provide care to a family member) also have the right to 15 days of justified absence per year to take care of this person, time off from overtime work and the right to remote work, flexible working hours or part-time work.
Less renewals of temporary contracts
The maximum number of renewals of temporary employment contracts has been reduced from six to four. According to article 182, "fixed-term temporary employment contracts (...) may be renewed up to four times". Paragraphs 8 and 9 of the same article also state that, after four years of temporary assignments by temporary employment agencies, the contract is converted into an indefinite employment contract for temporary assignment. This is a contract signed between a temporary work company and a worker, whereby the latter undertakes to temporarily provide his activity to users, maintaining his link to the temporary work company and receiving payment from it.
Presumption of an employment contract in the context of a digital platform
The existence of an employment contract is now presumed for workers on digital platforms, companies such as Uber, Glovo and all TVDEs.
Article 12a of the law states that "the existence of an employment contract is presumed when, in the relationship between the activity provider and the digital platform", certain characteristics are verified, such as the establishment of the payment for the work carried out on the platform or the establishment of maximum and minimum limits for it, or the control and supervision of the execution of the activity, including in real time, or verification of the quality of the activity provided, namely through electronic means or algorithmic management, by the digital platform.
Increase in interns' pay
With the amendment to Article 8 of Decree-Law 66/2011, interns will now receive 80% of the Guaranteed Minimum Monthly Wage (RMMG), known as the "minimum wage", which currently stands at €760*, for a monthly total of €608.
Possibility of combining salary, family allowance and scholarships for student workers
Young student workers, aged up to 27, who have a salary whose annual amount is less than 14 times the Guaranteed Minimum Monthly Wage, can combine it with family allowance, higher education scholarships and survivor's pensions, according to article 6 of Decree-Law 70/2010, also amended with this law.
*Minimum wage in Portugal is 820€ since January 1st, 2024, which means that, according to the updated Labour Law, interns now receive 656€ per month.
