Remote workers in Portugal will see a healthier work-life
balance under new labor laws approved by the country's parliament.
The new rules approved on Friday are a response to
the explosion of home working as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Portugal's
ruling Socialist Party said.
Under the new rules, employers can now face fines for contacting workers outside of their normal working hours. But the amendments to Portugal's labor laws have limits: they will not apply to companies with fewer than ten employees.
Employers must not monitor their employees while
they work at home.
However, a proposal to include the so-called
"right to disconnect" - the legal right to switch off work-related
messages and devices outside office hours - was rejected by Portuguese MPs.
Companies must also now contribute to expenses that workers have incurred as a result of switching to remote working. This can include bills for electricity or internet, but not water. Employers can write off these costs as a business expense.
The new rules are also good news for parents of
young children. They now have the right to work from home without having to
arrange it in advance with their employers, up until their child turns eight
years old.
Portugal was the first European country to alter
its remote working rules as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic in January
this year. The temporary rules made remote working a mandatory option - with a
few exceptions - and obliged employers to provide the necessary tools for
getting the job done at home.
But while remote working during the pandemic
brought new flexibility to many employees, issues such as unequal access to IT equipment showed the need for the government to step in, Portugal's Minister of Labor and
Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, told the Web Summit conference in Lisbon
last week.
"Telework can be a 'game changer' if we profit
from the advantages and reduce the disadvantages".
Building a healthy remote working culture will also
bring other benefits to Portugal, in the form of foreign remote workers seeking
a change of scenery.
"We consider Portugal one of the best places
in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in,
we want to attract them to Portugal," Mendes Godinho told the Web Summit
audience.
