On 5 November 2021, the Portuguese Parliament approved an amendment to the Labour Code, introducing changes on remote work. According to the new law, there are some employees entitled to request to work remotely, without the employer being able to oppose, provided that the activity is compatible with remote work and the employer has the required means and resources. As a general rule, equipment must be provided by the employer, who also has to fully compensates the additional expenses the employee incurs, including additional energy and network costs.

No discrimination is allowed between remote workers and others in terms of holidays, careers, training, health and insurance arrangements. Companies will also be required to organise regular face-to-face meetings to prevent remote workers from feeling isolated.

Among these provisions, the law will prohibit employers from contacting their employees after office hours, except in situations of force majeure.

This debated amendment was approved during a review of the new rules for smart working, but this duty applies to the whole workforce.

The so called “right to disconnect” is a widely discussed issue over the last year. The majority of lawmakers in the European Parliament voted in favor of putting forward a “right to disconnect” law to implement in the member states, and this sort of provision has already been introduced in some form in countries like France, Spain and Italy.  Similarly, in the UK a “right to disconnect” law has also been called for.

Portugal is one of the European countries that have invested the most in smart working, even providing temporary residence visas for freelancers and entrepreneurs from other countries willing to move to Portugal to work. Minister Godinho, who strongly advocated this reform, said that distance working "can be a 'turning point' if we exploit its advantages and reduce its disadvantages". The new rules are designed to make Portugal more attractive to so-called digital nomads, and will also include tax breaks designed to attract technology entrepreneurs and other potential investors.

However, the solutions adopted by this new law, according to the Business Confederation of Portugal (Confederação Empresarial de Portugal, CIP), do not respond to the development of labour markets: the issue of disconnection should have been examined taking into account the sector of activity, the type of work performed and the labour contract between the parties, as there are some professions who demand a permanent connection and where the availability of workers is essential.

The CIP considers it desirable that such important and sensitive topics be shared between the social partners and the Government, and that the measures to be implemented in this area can be defined by the social partners or the parties at the various levels of collective bargaining.