Portuguese law bans employers from contacting staff out of hours

Companies in Portugal will be forbidden from contacting employees outside working hours and must meet their extra energy and communications costs under one of Europe’s most employee-friendly laws for regulating homeworking.

The law, due to come into force in the coming weeks, seeks to uphold the rights of remote workers and protect their family lives after the pandemic triggered a shift to working from home.

“Remote working has great advantages provided we control the disadvantages,” Ana Mendes Godinho, labour minister, told Lisbon’s Web Summit this month. “The pandemic accelerated the need to regulate what already needed to be regulated.”

The law was one of the last pieces of legislation to be approved by Portugal’s minority socialist government, with the support of the anti-capitalist Left Bloc, before a political crisis triggered an election two years ahead of schedule.

Under the new regulations, employers who fail to “abstain from contacting” workers outside working hours will be guilty of a serious breach of labour law, except in emergencies.

The Confederation of Farmers has criticised the new law for being too hasty a response to pandemic, saying that preventing employers from having any contact with workers outside working hours is an “unreasonable” reaction to the problems caused by coronavirus.

To protect privacy, companies will also be prohibited from monitoring home workers in any way. Remote working must be by mutual agreement between employer and employee and based on contracts setting out the hours and location of the work, the law states. Workers can refuse to work at home without giving reasons, but companies must justify in writing why they cannot satisfy an employee’s request to work remotely.

Parents or carers looking after children up to eight years old will have the right to work at home without seeking their employer’s agreement, provided their job is compatible with remote working. If both parents are eligible, they are required to alternate periods of homeworking. Businesses with fewer than 10 workers, however, will be exempt from the more stringent rules.

Employers will be required to meet the additional costs remote workers incur at home, including communications, energy and equipment maintenance, and any upgrades to their internet connections required for work. Some lawyers have expressed concern over how these costs will be calculated.

Under the law, no discrimination is allowed between remote and other workers in terms of holidays, careers, training, health and insurance provisions. Companies will also be expected to organise regular face-to-face meetings to help prevent remote workers from feeling isolated.

As well as protecting workers, the new rules are designed to make Portugal more attractive to so-called digital nomads, and will add to existing tax breaks designed to attract tech entrepreneurs and other potential investors.

“People can both live in Portugal and work for the best companies in the world,” said Mendes Godinho.