It`s illegal to contact employees after work in Portugal

Portugal has announced new labor laws, including a prohibition on bosses contacting employees outside of working hours.

Portugal’s Parliament earlier this month established new labor laws. This change came following an uptick in people working from home amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

A document introducing the new labor laws became public at the end of October. It revealed that workers should have the right to at least 11 continuous hours of “night rest,” throughout. Moreover, the company should not interrupt them unless for emergencies.

The rules also ask employers to provide their staff’s work-from-home expenses, like internet and electricity.

In enhancement, bosses will have to meet with members of staff face-to-face every two months.

At the new Web Summit in Lisbon, Ana Mendes Godinho, Portugal’s minister of labor, solidarity, and social security, stated that the epidemic had bestowed telecommuting as a game-changer, giving workers the power to choose where and from whom they want to work.

Employers who do not follow the new rules could receive punishment. However, the laws reportedly do not apply to companies with less than ten staff members.

Not all of the stated rules received approval from lawmakers

For example, the Portuguese Parliament reportedly did not pass a proposal to provide workers the “right to disconnect” and turn off their work devices at the end of the day.

It comes following most lawmakers in the European Parliament decided in favor of putting forward a “right to disconnect” law to perform across the bloc.

This law is already active in some form in countries including France and Spain. A “right to disconnect” law has also been asked for in the U.K.

Data has revealed that people have been working long hours while at home during the COVID-19 epidemic.

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