Portugal prohibits bosses from sending messages to their employees outside of working hours

  • The neighboring country approves the teleworking law and regulates digital disconnection

From now on, the bosses on Portugal they will not be able to send emails, whatsapps or contact in any other way with their subordinates Outside working hours. This is how the new law of the telecommuting, which also regulates the digital disconnect, recently approved by the Parliament of the Portuguese country.

The standard does not refer to “right to disconnect” by the employee, but picks up an article in which he obliges the “duty to abstain from contact“by the company, which in case of breach will be a serious fault, according to the Portuguese Labor Code.

The law, approved with the votes in favor of the Socialist Party and Left Bloc and the abstention of the PSD (center-right), prohibits constant surveillance from the employer to the worker, so it does not allow images, sounds or texts to be captured.

Telework costs

According to the new regulation, costs of the teleworking system in energy and telecommunications They will be assumed by the company and the meal allowance that the employee was receiving previously cannot be canceled with the new system and will be assumed by the employer.

For the teleworking regime to exist, the two parties have to reach a agreement and formalize it in writing.

Until now, the Portuguese labor law authorized teleworking to parents with minor children up to three years without the need for agreement with the company. And with the new law approved, this agreement is extended to parents with children up to eight years of age, provided that the activity is compatible with teleworking.

The only one exception in this article is for small companies (less than ten workers), in which workers with children up to three years of age will not need prior agreement.

Temporary agreements

The law also provides for the option of teleworking being proposed unilaterally by the employer, where the employee may object without arguing any reason.

In the event that telework is proposed by the employee, the employer will have to use arguments to reject it.

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Temporary teleworking agreements between the two parties will have a maximum duration of six months, which will be extended for the same periods, although it may be revoked by either party.

Indefinite teleworking agreements can also be adopted which, likewise, may be canceled later.

Reference-www.elperiodico.com

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