Additional leave compliance rules and complexities

Working patterns

Full-time work is 8 hours a day, or 40 hours a week. When it comes to overtime, employees should not exceed two hours a day, or 48 hours a week. Companies with 50 employees or more may not exceed 150 hours of overtime a year, and companies with fewer than 50 employees should not exceed 175 hours of overtime in a year. The overtime rate is 125% of the employee’s hourly rate for the first hour, and 137.5% of their hourly rate for any subsequent hours. Any overtime work completed on rest days or holidays is set at 150% of the employee’s hourly rate.

Annual leave

Employees start to accrue 2 business days off per month after 6 months of employment. Employees are not allowed to take more than 20 business days off in their first year of employment. This extends to 30 days in their second year of employment. From their third year of employment, employees are entitled to at least 22 business days off, with the leave year resetting every January 1st.

Sick leave

Social security covers all sick leave once an employee’s taken more than 4 days off.

Maternity and paternity leave

Social security also covers maternity leave, paternity leave, and shared parental leave. Portuguese employees are also entitled to up to five days’ bereavement leave, up to 30 days’ family care leave, and up to 15 consecutive days of paid leave after getting married.

Study leave

If employees are studying, they’re entitled to take paid study leave on the day of a test and the day before.