Remote Working Legislation, Laws & Regulations in Portugal

The regime of teleworking is addressed in the Portuguese labour code.

It may be implemented by means of an employment contract or by an addendum to that contract.  

This agreement can be concluded with or without term:

• If concluded for a fixed term, it cannot exceed 6 months, being automatically renewed for equal periods, if none of the parties revoke it in writing at least 15 days before the end of each 6-month period. If concluded without term, either party may terminate it by written notice, which shall take effect 60 days later.

No, it is not possible to force an employee to work from home.  

Employees have the right to work from home (i.e., are entitled to this regime) when it is compatible with their respective functions, and the employer has the resources and means to support the employee in the following situations:

• An employee with a child up to three years of age;
• An employee with a child with a disability or chronic/oncological illness, living in the same household, regardless of age;
• An employee with a child up to eight years of age, in the following conditions:

1. • When both parents meet the conditions to exercise the activity in a telework regime, provided that it is exercised by both parents in successive periods of the same duration, within a maximum reference period of 12 months; or
   • Single-parent families / situations where only one of the parents demonstrably meets the conditions for exercising their activity in a telework regime.

• An employee who is a victim of domestic violence, if the following conditions are met: filing of a criminal complaint and leaving the family home at the time of the transfer.
• An employee who has been recognised as having the status of informal non-main caregiver, for a maximum period of four consecutive or interpolated years.

The employer is responsible for providing the employee with the equipment and systems necessary to work from home, and the telework agreement should specify whether they are supplied directly by the employer or acquired by the employee.

The employee must observe the rules of use and operation of this equipment.

Unless otherwise agreed, the employee cannot use equipment and instruments made available by the employer for anything other than those duties inherent to the performance of their work.

The employer must ensure the installation and maintenance of the working equipment referred to above.

Furthermore, additional expenses arising from this regime—namely regarding any goods or services necessary to perform the functions under this regime, as well as any increase in the costs of energy and the network installed at the workplace—have to be borne by the employer.

The parties may also agree on a fixed amount to be paid monthly as additional expenses, which must be included in the employment contract, or it can be foreseen in the applicable collective bargaining agreement. If the absence of a fixed amount, the increase of expenses will correspond to all those related with the acquisition of equipment and systems necessary to work from home. Furthermore, the employer must reimburse the difference between the employee’s costs (e.g., internet, water, electricity) and those in the last month the employee worked on-site.

In any case the payment of these additional expenses is considered, for tax purposes, as an employer cost, and will not be considered as employee income up to a maximum value to be set by the members of government responsible for tax and social security matters.

No. Regarding work-from-home payments, please refer to the question above.   

Yes. Further to the health and safety obligations applicable to all employees, the employer has to promote health examinations before a work-from-home regime is implemented and, afterwards, annual exams to evaluate the physical and psychological ability of the employee.

Furthermore, the employee must provide access to the respective place of work for the evaluation and control of the safety and health conditions at work at a previously agreed period between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., within working hours. Such a visit may only be used to check the work activity, as well as the work instruments, and may only take place in the presence of the employee.

Under this regime, the employer has some special duties, such as:

• To inform the employee, where necessary, about the characteristics and method of use of all devices, programmes and systems adopted to remotely monitor their activity;
• To refrain from contacting the employee outside of working hours;
• To endeavour to reduce the employee’s isolation by promoting face-to-face contact with the employee’s superiors and other employees, as established in the agreement, or, in case of omission, with intervals not exceeding two months;
• To consult the employee, in writing, before introducing changes to the equipment and systems used in the provision of work, the functions assigned or any characteristic of the contracted activity;
• To provide the employee with the training for the proper and productive use of the equipment and systems to be used by them in teleworking.

Yes. A work accidents insurance is mandatory for employees working from home. For this purpose, the place of work is considered to be the place chosen by the employee to habitually carry out their activity.

Yes, the regime is the same for  the employees performing functions on-site.

No. The regime only foresees the possibility of paying additional expenses incurred by the employee.

Yes, the employees working from home have specific obligations, such as:

• To inform the employer in due time of any malfunctioning or defects of the equipment and systems used in the provision of work;
• To comply with the employer’s instructions regarding the security of the information used or produced in the development of respective functions;
• To respect and to comply with the restrictions previously established by the employer regarding the personal use of the equipment and systems supplied by the latter;
• To comply with the employer’s guidelines on health and safety at work.

Yes. Since 2022 there is a new type of visa – the Digital Nomad Visa – which allows the possibility of being granted a residence visa to employees and self-employed professionals to work remotely. Remote employees will be able to live and work in Portugal for up to 12 months. After that period they can apply for a residence permit if the necessary requirements are fulfilled.

Employees working from home have the same rights and duties as other employees performing functions on-site with the same professional category / functions, namely regarding training, career progression, limits on working hours, rest periods, among others.