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Portugal - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Lisbon

 

CLIMATE

Maritime temperate. Cool and rainy in the north whereas it is warmer and drier in the south.

 

LANGUAGES

Portuguese

 

LEGAL SYSTEM

Civil law system. The Constitutional Tribunal reviews the constitutionality of legislation. Portugal accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations.

 

CURRENCY

Euros (1 USD = 1.07090 EUR as of June 1, 2002)

 

PORTUGAL - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

 

PORTUGAL - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U.S. Embassy at Lisbon

Avenida das Forcas Armadas

1600-081 Lisbon

PSC 83 APO AE 09726

Lisbon, Portugal

Telephone: (351) (21) 727-3300

Fax: (351) (21) 727-9109

http://www.american-embassy.pt/

 

Embassy of Portugal at Washington D.C.

2125 Kalorama Road N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 328-8610

Fax: (202) 462-3726

http://www.portugalemb.org/

 

PORTUGAL - HOLIDAYS

 

PORTUGAL - LEAVE

Annual Leave: 4 weeks paid vacation.

 

Maternity Leave: 98 days – 100% of pay (paid for by social security).

 

PORTUGAL - MINIMUM AGE

The minimum working age is 16 years.

 

(Section 6.d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment, Portugal - Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

PORTUGAL - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

The monthly minimum wage during the year was approximately €334.

 

Minimum wage legislation covers full-time workers as well as rural workers and domestic employees ages 18 and over. Along with widespread rent controls, basic food and utility subsidies, and phased implementation of an assured minimum income, the minimum wage affords a decent standard of living for a worker and family.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Portugal - Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

 

PORTUGAL - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

 

PORTUGAL - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

 

a.  The Right of Association

 

The Constitution provides for the right to establish unions by profession or industry. Workers in both the private and public sectors have the right to associate and to establish committees in the workplace to defend their interests, and they exercise these rights freely.


 
Two principal labor federations exist, the Workers' General Union (UGT) and the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP). No restrictions limit the formation of additional labor federations. Unions function without hindrance by the Government and are associated closely with political parties. Trade union associations have the right to participate in the preparation of labor legislation.

 

Strikes are permitted by the Constitution for any reason, including political causes; they are common and generally are resolved through direct negotiations. However, should a long strike occur in an essential sector such as health, energy, or transportation, the Government may order the strikers back to work for a specific period. The Government rarely has invoked this power, in part because most strikes last only 1 to 3 days. The law requires a "minimum level of service" to be provided during strikes in essential sectors, but this requirement is applied infrequently. When it is applied, minimum levels of service are established by agreement between the Government and the striking unions. Unions have complained, including to the International Labor Organization (ILO), that the minimum levels have been set too high.

 

Police officers and members of the armed forces may not strike. However, in June police went on strike and demonstrated before Parliament as part of their demand to form a union. In December a law was passed that allows police to form unions but prohibits strikes by police.

 

There are no restrictions on the ability of unions to join federations or of federations to affiliate with international labor bodies.

 

 b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

 

The Constitution provides for collective bargaining, and it is practiced extensively in the public and private sectors. Collective bargaining disputes usually are resolved through negotiation. When collective bargaining fails, the Government may appoint a mediator at the request of either management or labor.

 

The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and the authorities enforce this prohibition in practice. The General Directorate of Labor promptly examines complaints.

 

There are no export processing zones.

 

 c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

 

The law prohibits forced labor; however, trafficking in women for the purpose of prostitution and in persons for forced labor was a problem (see Section 6.f.).

 

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, and there were no reports that such practices occurred.

 

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

 

The minimum working age is 16 years. There are instances of child labor, but the overall incidence is small and is concentrated geographically and sectorally. The greatest problems were reported in Braga, Porto, and Faro and tended to occur in the clothing, footwear, construction, and hotel industries. In 1998 the Government, in conjunction with the ILO, polled 26,500 families, with separate questionnaires for parents and children, to try to measure the incidence of child labor. According to this survey, as many as 20,000 to 40,000 children under the age of 16 may be engaged in some form of labor. The majority of these cases consist of daily chores on family farms, which do not prevent school attendance. However, the study estimates that as many as 11,000 children may be working for nonfamily employers, a figure that represents 0.2 percent of the labor force. The Government undertook a new comprehensive study of the child labor problem during the year, but the full results had not been published by year's end.


  
Government agencies have noted a continued gradual shift from child labor in industries to child labor in the home. Increasingly children work in family businesses, especially in rural farm work. The extensive national network designed to combat child labor was beginning to shift some of its resources toward these family-run businesses.


 
The key enforcement mechanisms of labor laws fall to labor inspectors. According to the Ministry of Labor and Equality, the incidence of child labor is decreasing as a result of government efforts to combat child labor and a move towards a higher technology industrial base (with a corresponding need for better educated and skilled labor). The Ministry reported a 50 percent decrease in child labor cases from 1999 to 2001.

 

A government commission, the Plan for the Elimination of Exploitation of Child Labor (PEETI), has developed, in conjunction with several NGO's, an integrated program of education and training in which local teams of social workers and educators intervene in situations involving dropouts and working children. These teams develop programs of scholastic and vocational study tailored to the individual child and his community. PEETI gives "scholarships" to help offset the loss of income to the family. Up to 800 teenagers participated in this work-study program on a rotating basis during the year. In addition the National Council Against the Exploitation of Child Labor (CNETI), a multiagency government body, coordinates efforts to eliminate child labor.


 
The Government prohibits forced and bonded child labor, and such practices are not known to occur (see Section 6.c.).

 

 e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

 

Minimum wage legislation covers full-time workers as well as rural workers and domestic employees ages 18 and over. The monthly minimum wage during the year was approximately €334. Along with widespread rent controls, basic food and utility subsidies, and phased implementation of an assured minimum income, the minimum wage affords a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most workers received higher wages.

 

Employees generally receive 14 months' pay for 11 months' work: the extra 3 months' pay are for a Christmas bonus, a vacation subsidy, and 22 days of annual leave. The maximum legal workday is 10 hours, and the maximum workweek is 40 hours. There is a maximum of 2 hours of paid overtime per day and 200 hours of overtime per year, with a minimum of 12 hours between workdays. The Ministry of Employment and Social Security monitors compliance through its regional inspectors.

 

Employers legally are responsible for accidents at work and are required by law to carry accident insurance. An existing body of legislation regulates safety and health, but labor unions continued to argue for stiffer laws. The General Directorate of Hygiene and Labor Security develops safety standards in harmony with European Union standards, and the General Labor Inspectorate is responsible for their enforcement. However, the Inspectorate lacks sufficient funds and inspectors to combat the problem of work accidents effectively. Workers injured on the job rarely initiate lawsuits. A relatively large proportion of accidents occurs in the construction industry. Poor environmental controls in textile production also cause considerable concern. While the ability of workers to remove themselves from situations where these hazards exist is limited, it is difficult to fire workers for any reason and severance payments are high.

 

 f.  Trafficking in Persons

 

Specific legislation prohibits trafficking in persons; however, trafficking in women for prostitution remained a problem, although it has decreased. Some Portuguese women are trafficked to Spain for sexual exploitation; the majority of these women tend to be from poorer areas and are often drug users. Some women from Brazil and Lusophone Africa also are trafficked into Portugal. The majority of trafficked persons originate in the former Soviet Union, specifically Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Mafia organizations, primarily of Moldovan and Ukrainian origin, are present in the country and operate largely in the transportation and extortion of Central European manual laborers.

 

More than 80 percent of illegal immigrants enter Portugal as "tourists," having obtained visas from either the Dutch or German embassies in the former Soviet Union, primarily Kiev or Chisnau. Typically upon arrival at the Spanish border, "bandits" working on behalf of the trafficking rings steal money from the trafficked persons and often steal or confiscate their passports. The victims often arrive in Portugal with neither money nor documents, making them easy targets for organized crime members. Once at their destinations, they live in overcrowded, substandard "hostels."  The traffickers offer them loans at very high interest rates and, for a fee, find them jobs at constructions sites or other industries, e.g., textile mills, woodworking or metal shops, and marble fabrication. Generally the traffickers' local group leader at the hostel sets up the work and provides transportation. The traffickers coerce the workers into paying large portions of their salaries to them. A refusal to pay leads to severe beatings and even murder. There were 10 killings of trafficked workers during the year, plus other deaths possibly attributable to the trafficked status of the victims.

 

Under the Penal Code, trafficking in persons is punishable by 2 to 8 years' imprisonment. In January Parliament passed legislation that established prison sentences of 1 to 4 years for facilitating the illegal entry of persons; for those employing an illegal immigrant, the sentence is 2 to 5 years. Concerted efforts by national police forces have resulted in the breaking up of two large construction industry trafficking rings during the year. Police arrested almost 100 alleged traffickers during the year:  Of these, 38 were awaiting trial at year's end, 3 were convicted and sentenced, and the remainder were in preventive detention pending further investigation.
 

PORTUGAL - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The maximum legal workday is 10 hours, and the maximum workweek is 40 hours. There is a maximum of 2 hours of paid overtime per day and 200 hours of overtime per year, with a minimum of 12 hours between workdays.

 

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Portugal - Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.) 

 

PORTUGAL - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

 

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

 

PORTUGAL - TOTALIZATION AGREEMENT WITH U.S.

NOTE: In addition to old-age, survivor, and disability benefits, Portuguese Social Security taxes cover several other benefit programs including sickness (temporary disability), maternity, occupational injury and disease, unemployment, and family allowances. Workers and employers exempted from Portuguese coverage may wish to arrange for alternative benefit coverage.

 

Effective Date of Agreement: August 1, 1989.

 

Coverage and Social Security Taxes: 

 

For employees sent by a Portuguese employer to work in the U.S. for five years or less, taxes and coverage fall to Portugal. If the employee is sent to work in the U.S. for more than five years, was hired in the U.S., or is a U.S. citizen, taxes and coverage fall to the U.S.

 

Certificate of Coverage Request: 

 

To establish an employee's exemption from coverage under the U.S. Social Security system, the employer in Portugal must request a certificate of coverage from the regional center of the Social  Security system in Portugal where the employee is registered, providing the same information required for a certificate of coverage from the U.S. except that the worker's Portuguese Social Security number should be shown rather than the U.S. number.

 

Minimum Credits Needed: 

 

An employee without enough work credits to qualify for Portuguese benefits, but with at least one year of coverage under the Portuguese system, may combine Social Security credits from the U.S. and Portugal to meet eligibility requirements.

 

Summary of Social Security Benefits:

 

Retirement or old-age benefits are payable at age 65 for men and age 62 for women. Disability benefits are payable to individuals under age 65 (62 if a woman) if worker is permanently unable to earn more than 1/3 of prior earnings due to non-work related injury or illness. There are no provisions for family benefits; however, a spouse's supplement may be payable to an old-age beneficiary with a dependent spouse. Survivor benefits are payable at any age to widows; widowers must have been age 65 or totally and permanently disabled at the time of wife's death; children's benefits are payable up to age 18 (benefit is doubled if both parents are deceased). There is a flat-rate funeral grant as well as a survivors' grant payable to surviving spouse and other dependent survivors.

 

Additional Information:

 

For specific information about Portugal's Social Security program, visit a local Portuguese Social Security office in Portugal, or write to:

 

Departamento de Relacoes

Internacionais e Convencoes de Segurance Social

Rua da Junqueira, 112

1 302 Lisboa Codex

PORTUGAL

 

See Totalization Agreements