How to Hire Workers in Portugal | Employer of Record (EOR) in Portugal

In Portugal, Workers recognize up to 13 public holidays. Workers are entitled to a paid day off in recognition of public holidays. Workers that work on a public holiday are entitled to 150% of wages or time off in lieu depending on the employment agreement. Public Holidays include New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter, Freedom Day, Labor Day, Portugal Day, Corpus Christi, Assumption of Mary, Republic Day, All Saints' Day, Restoration of Independence, Immaculate Conception Day, and Christmas Day

In the first year of employment, vacation is accrued at rate of two days per month up to a maximum of 20 days. Subsequent to that, Workers are entitled to 22 workdays of vacation annually. Unused vacation for a given year generally expires on 1 January of the following year of which it was accrued. However, vacation time may be used up until 30 April of the subsequent year of accrual by agreement between both parties. If the calendar year ends before 6-months have been completed, the expiration of the days the worker is entitled to use will be extended until 30 June the following year. A worker cannot accrue more than 30 days per year even with this roll over exception. A minimum of 20 days of accrued vacation time must be exercised in order to provide the worker with physical and psychological recovery. A worker may waive days of leave that exceed 20 working days.

There are no subcategories of workers in Portugal.

The maximum probationary period for most Workers is 90 days and can be greater for Workers in technical or managerial positions. In fixed-term contracts, the probationary period is 30 days if the contract's duration is more than six months or 15 days if the contract's duration is less than six months. Either party can terminate the contract without providing notice during a probationary period less than 60 days. However, if the probationary period has lasted longer than 60 days, the employer should abide by a 7-day notice period for termination. If the probationary period has lasted longer than 120 days, the employer should abide by a 15-day notice period. These notice periods may be waived by agreement from both parties.

Eligible Workers are entitled to up to 1,095 days of sick leave, payable by the government (either directly or via the employer) at 55% to 75% of ordinary wages.

A standard workweek is 40 hours per week, eight hours per day. The average working time including overtime cannot exceed 48 hours per week.

Overtime is limited to a maximum of 2 hours per day and up to 8 hours per week. Overtime is capped at various annual limits depending upon the size of the business and whether the Worker is full-time or part-time. Overtime compensation typically includes a premium of 25% for the first hour on weekdays, increasing to 37.5% for subsequent hours. Overtime on weekends and holidays carries a 50% premium. Overtime must be justified by reasons let forth in Portugal's Labor Code.

All Workers are entitled to a "Holiday Allowance" equal to one month's pay which must be taken before the Worker's annual leave (typically in June), and "Christmas Bonus" equal to one month's pay, which must be paid by December 15 each year.

For workers under fixed-term contracts, the amount of severance pay is 24 days of base salary and seniority pay per each complete year of seniority. For workers under indefinite contracts, the worker is entitled to severance payments generally corresponding to tenure-based increments for every complete year of seniority. The total amount of non-taxable severance payments cannot be higher than 12 times the monthly base wage and tenure-based increments of the worker.

Workers are required to provide at least 30 days notice if they choose to resign. This length of notice will vary based on years of service, contract specifics and if anything additional is outlined in a Collective Bargaining Agreement. 

Portugal has a 13th and 14th salary payments. These are paid out to the worker in June and December each year. 

Statutory Maternity/Paternity pay, Temporary Sickness/Incapacity, Long Term Sickness/Disability Benefit, Unemployment benefit, pension benefit