Portugal
Vocational Integration Offices
Impact date: 18 March 2025 This Executive Order provides for a network of employment support structures, Vocational Integration Offices, which operate through partnerships with public and private non-profit organizations accredited to support the vocational integration of people, particularly the unemployed, in close cooperation with employment services, with the capacity to act in close proximity to the territories and populations.
Employer implications/action needed N/A
Employer risk N/A
Dematerialization of medical board processes for assessing disabilities
Impact date: 11 April 2025 This Executive Order determines the dematerialization of medical disability assessment board processes, approves the list of pathologies that can be the subject of a medical certificate of multi-purpose incapacity, with exemption from the medical disability assessment board, and issues new provisions on medical disability assessment boards.
Employer implications/action needed Employers must take into account this regulation for the purpose of justified absences.
Employer risk N/A
MAIS Programme – Activation and social inclusion measures
Impact date: 18 April 2025 This Executive Order provides for a program that aims to encourage employment and work, as well as the professional development and integration into the labor market of unemployed people.
Employer implications/action needed N/A
Employer risk N/A
Promotion of the rights of people with endometriosis or adenomyosis
Impact date: 28 April 2025 This Executive Order promotes the rights of people with endometriosis or adenomyosis by strengthening their access to health care and qualifying the respective absences from work and classes as justified, amending the Labour Code.
The absences from work of employees with endometriosis or adenomyosis during their menstrual period shall not determine the loss of any rights, including remuneration, for up to three consecutive days for each month of work. The medical prescription that attests to endometriosis or adenomyosis with incapacitating pain should be submitted to the employer and constitutes proof of a justified absence, without the need for monthly renewal.
Persons with endometriosis or adenomyosis also have the right to justified absence from classes, without loss of any rights, for up to three consecutive days per month. The medical prescription that attests to endometriosis or adenomyosis with incapacitating pain should be submitted to the educational institution and constitutes proof of a justified absence, without the need for monthly renewal. Educational institutions are required to incorporate these provisions into their attendance and absence policies.
Employer implications/action needed The employer will be required to take into account these provisions for absences purposes.
Employer risk N/A
Link Law n. º 32/2025
Protection of employees against risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens during work
Impact date: 2 May 2025 This decree law completes the transposition of Directive (EU) 2022/431 on the protection of employees from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work and amends Decree-Law 301/2000 of 18 November.
This decree law stipulates that employers in situations where carcinogens, mutagens or toxic substances are used must adopt a set of measures:
- Limiting the quantities of carcinogens, mutagens or substances toxic to reproduction in the workplace
- Design of work processes and technical measures that avoid or minimize the release of carcinogens, mutagens or substances toxic to reproduction in the workplace
- Removal of carcinogens, mutagens or substances toxic to reproduction at source, by localized aspiration or general ventilation, appropriate and compatible with the protection of public health and the environment
- Use of appropriate methods for measuring carcinogens, mutagens or substances toxic to reproduction, in particular for the early detection of abnormal exposures resulting from an unforeseeable event or accident
- Delimitation of risk zones and use of appropriate health and safety signage, including no-smoking signs in areas where there is a risk of exposure to carcinogens, mutagens or substances toxic to reproduction and
- Safe means of collecting, storing and removing waste by workers, including the use of airtight containers labelled in a distinct, clear and visible manner so as not to be a source of contamination for workers and workplaces, which comply with legal provisions on waste and environmental protection
Employer implications/action needed Employers that may adopt carcinogens, mutagens or toxic substances in the respective activities must take into account these new obligations.
Employer risk N/A
Link Decree-Law 72/2025
Contact
© Eversheds Sutherland. All rights reserved. Eversheds Sutherland is a global provider of legal and other services operating through various separate and distinct legal entities. Eversheds Sutherland is the name and brand under which the members of Eversheds Sutherland Limited (Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP and Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP) and their respective controlled, managed and affiliated firms and the members of Eversheds Sutherland (Europe) Limited (each an "Eversheds Sutherland Entity" and together the "Eversheds Sutherland Entities") provide legal or other services to clients around the world. Eversheds Sutherland Entities are constituted and regulated in accordance with relevant local regulatory and legal requirements and operate in accordance with their locally registered names. The use of the name Eversheds Sutherland, is for description purposes only and does not imply that the Eversheds Sutherland Entities are in a partnership or are part of a global LLP. The responsibility for the provision of services to the client is defined in the terms of engagement between the instructed firm and the client.