Portugal: Law no. 13/2023 of April 3 – Amends the Labour Code and related legislation as part of the decent work agenda

The new Employment Code reform and its related legislation was definitively approved by Law 13/2023 of 3 April, which will enter into force on 1 May. This reform is intended to implement the “Agenda for Decent Work”, which is based on four pillars: combatting precarious employment; exploiting young people’s potential in the labour market; promoting work-life balance; and promoting collective bargaining and worker participation. This law transposes both Directive 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions and Directive 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers. At the same time, it deals with the issue of platform work, establishing a specific presumption of the existence of a contract of employment, and imposing further restrictions on fixed-term contracts and temporary work. It includes several measures intended to promote collective bargaining, such as incentives for companies that have concluded or revised an agreement during the past three years. Compliance with this will be a pre condition for gaining access to public funds, including European funding, participating in procedures applicable to public procurement contracts and qualifying for tax incentives. The text also provides for collective labour agreements to be extended to include subcontractors and economically dependent workers. The legislative process in question has been long and somewhat chaotic. It was disputed by the employers, who called in vain on the President to refer the draft law to the Constitutional Court, arguing that the requirement for social dialogue had not been honoured, given that some measures were not debated on the Economic and Social Committee (see article in Expresso). The trade unions also believe that the reform offers insufficient protection for employees’ rights (see article in Publico).