Disability or chronic illness at work in Portugal: rights

If you have a disability, a chronic illness or you are undergoing cancer treatment, the Portuguese Labour Code guarantees you the same rights as every other worker and adds four more: workstation adjustments (Art. 86), exemption from hours bank, adaptability, concentrated hours and night work if they harm your health (Art. 87), the right to refuse overtime (Art. 88) and protection against discrimination with the burden of proof on the employer (Arts. 24 and 25). Companies with 75 or more workers also have hiring quotas (Law 4/2019).

Who is protected: disability, chronic illness, cancer

Miguel is 38, works in the warehouse of a logistics company in Leiria and earns 1,100 euros a month. Two years ago he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. On bad days, fatigue hits in the late afternoon and heat makes everything worse. The company wants to move the warehouse to an hours bank with shifts until 11pm. Is Miguel protected? Yes.

The Labour Code has a dedicated subsection for the worker with a disability or chronic illness (Arts. 85 to 88) and another for the worker with reduced working capacity (Art. 84). Since Law 93/2019, the law also names cancer, and in Arts. 86 and 87 specifically active cancer undergoing treatment.

What the law does not do is define "chronic illness" with a list. In practice, it is a long term condition that needs ongoing care: diabetes, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV, Crohn's disease, among many others. [Depends on the case:] in a dispute, what counts is the medical report describing the condition, how long it lasts and how it affects your work. Keep it.

Three documents help, depending on which right you want to use:

You need none of them to have the rights in Art. 85: equality is automatic.

The same rights, plus four

The starting point is Art. 85(1): a worker with a disability, chronic illness or cancer has the same rights and is bound by the same duties as other workers in access to employment, training, promotion or career and working conditions, "without prejudice to the specificities of their situation". Breaching this is a very serious offence (Art. 85(3)).

In practice, this means the employer cannot:

• Refuse to hire you, promote you or train you because of your condition.
• Pay you less than a colleague doing the same job (the minimum wage has its own exception, explained below).
• Pick you for dismissal because you are "the one who is absent most" when the absences are justified by your illness. See what counts as a justified absence in justified absences: do you lose pay?.

On top of this equality, the law adds four rights other workers do not have. Let's go through each one.

Workstation adjustments

Ana is 45, works at an accounting firm in Porto and is on chemotherapy for breast cancer. She needs a different chair, to leave early two days a week for treatment, and not to carry files up three flights of stairs. Can she demand this? Largely, yes.

Art. 86(1) requires the employer to adopt appropriate measures so that a person with a disability or chronic illness, "including active cancer undergoing treatment", can access a job, do it and progress in it, or receive vocational training. The only exception: when the measures involve a disproportionate burden.

And here is the part many people do not know: the burden is not disproportionate when it is offset by State support (Art. 86(3)). The IEFP (public employment service) has grants for adapting workstations and removing physical barriers. If the employer can apply for the grant and does not, it cannot claim the adjustment is too expensive.

What counts as an appropriate measure [Common interpretation: the law gives no list; these are the usual examples]:

• Equipment: chair, adjustable desk, larger screen, screen reader software.
• Organisation: adjusted hours, breaks, working from home on treatment days.
• Duties: removing physical tasks and swapping them for equivalent ones.
• Access: ramp, lift, parking space.

For the worker with reduced working capacity, Art. 84(1) is even more direct: the employer "must facilitate employment" by providing "adequate working conditions, in particular the adaptation of the workstation, pay" and training. Breaching Art. 84(1) is a very serious offence (Art. 84(5)).

If you ask for an adjustment and the employer ignores you, ask in writing, keep the reply (or the silence) and read how to file a complaint with the ACT.

Exemption from hours bank, adaptability, concentrated hours and night work

Back to Miguel and the hours bank with shifts until 11pm. Art. 87(1) states that a worker with a disability or chronic illness, including active cancer undergoing treatment, is exempted from working, if it could harm their health or safety:

• (a) under a schedule organised as adaptability, hours bank or concentrated hours;
• (b) between 8pm on one day and 7am the next.

Two important notes:

1. The exemption depends on the schedule potentially harming health or safety. It is not automatic: that is why Art. 87(2) says the worker must have a medical exam before the employer applies the schedule in question. The occupational doctor confirms the risk. If the employer applies the hours bank without that exam, it breaches the article.
2. The 8pm to 7am window is wider than the Code's normal night period (in the absence of a collective agreement, 10pm to 7am, Art. 223(2)). So Miguel's 3pm to 11pm shift falls inside the protected window from 8pm onwards.

If the exam confirms the risk, Miguel stays on his normal schedule, with no hours bank and no shifts past 8pm. The employer cannot penalise him for that. Breaching Art. 87 is a serious offence (Art. 87(3)).

To understand each of the schemes you can be exempted from, read the guides on adaptability, the hours bank, concentrated hours and shift and night work.

Overtime: you can say no

This is the simplest right in the package. Art. 88(1) states that a worker with a disability or chronic illness is not obliged to work overtime. Full stop. There is no health risk condition, no prior exam, no justification to give.

For other workers, the rule is the opposite: they must work overtime when the employer asks, unless they request an exemption for a valid reason. For you, the exemption is the rule. If you want to work overtime, you can; if you do not, the employer cannot force or punish you. Forcing you is a serious offence (Art. 88(2)).

If you do work overtime voluntarily, it is paid like everyone else's. Check the amount in the overtime pay guide or in the calculator.

Discrimination: the employer has to prove its case

Carlos is 29, has a motor disability rated at 62%, and applied for a customer support role at a telecoms company with 300 workers. He passed every test and was left out "for not fitting the profile". He later found out the job went to someone with a lower score. This has a name.

Art. 24(1) lists reduced working capacity, disability and chronic illness among the factors on the basis of which nobody may be "privileged, favoured, disadvantaged, deprived of any right or exempted from any duty". It applies to job applicants, not just to current employees, and covers selection, hiring, training, pay, promotion and dismissal criteria (Art. 24(2)). Since Law 13/2023, it also covers decisions made by algorithms or artificial intelligence (Art. 24(3)), which catches automated CV screening. Breaching Art. 24(1) is a very serious offence (Art. 24(5)).

Art. 25 adds three things that change the game:

• Reversed burden of proof (Art. 25(5)): Carlos names the person who got the job, and it becomes the employer's job to prove the choice had nothing to do with his disability.
• Justifiable requirement (Art. 25(2)): the employer can only defend itself if the characteristic is a "justifiable and determining requirement" for the role, with a legitimate aim and proportionate means. For a customer support role, a motor disability is not.
• Retaliation is void (Art. 25(8)): if you complain and the employer punishes you for it, that act has no effect.

Art. 28 gives you the right to compensation for financial and non-financial damage, and Art. 24(4) requires the employer to post information on equality and non-discrimination in a visible place (failing to do so is a minor offence).

If the discrimination is ongoing and humiliating, it may also be harassment: read workplace bullying in Portugal: what counts. Either way, a complaint to the ACT is free and can be anonymous.

Minimum wage and reduced capacity: the only exception

The rule: anyone with a disability or chronic illness receives the same as a colleague in the same role, and never less than 920 euros in 2026. Paying less "because of the disability" is discrimination (Art. 24(2)(c)).

The exception is in Art. 275(1)(b) and only applies to the worker with certified reduced working capacity. The minimum wage may be reduced by the gap between full capacity and the effective capacity coefficient for the job, but only if the gap is above 10%, and capped at 50%. The coefficient is certified, at the request of the worker, the applicant or the employer, by the IEFP or the health services (Art. 275(4)).

Three examples with the 920 euro minimum:

Four things to remember:

1. Without a coefficient certificate, there is no reduction. The employer cannot "estimate" your capacity.
2. The reduction applies to the minimum wage, not to your agreed salary. If your contract says 1,100 euros, the employer cannot cut 30% because your coefficient is 70%.
3. The disability percentage on the multipurpose certificate is not the effective capacity coefficient. They are different assessments for different purposes.
4. The reduction is allowed, not mandatory: the employer can pay the full minimum.

See what you take home in each scenario with the net salary calculator.

Quotas: large companies must hire

Back to Carlos and the company with 300 workers. Beyond the discrimination, that company has a quota obligation. Law 4/2019 requires:

• Medium companies with 75 or more workers: at least 1% of staff with a disability (Art. 5(1)).
• Large companies (250 or more workers): at least 2% (Art. 5(2)).

How it is counted:

• Only people with a multipurpose medical certificate showing a disability of 60% or more count (Arts. 1 and 3).
• The base is the average headcount of the previous calendar year (Art. 5(4)), adding up all sites (Art. 4(3)).
• Interns, trainees and service providers do not count (Art. 4(4)).
• A non-integer result is rounded up (Art. 5(3)).

The law's transition periods (4 years for companies with more than 100 workers, 5 years for those with 75 to 100, counted from 1 February 2019) have ended: the quotas are fully in force. Non-compliance is a serious offence (Art. 9(1)), and the company reports the number of workers with disabilities every year in the Relatorio Unico, the annual staff report (Art. 6).

There are two exits, but they are not automatic (Art. 8): the employer asks the ACT for an exemption with an opinion from the INR (national rehabilitation institute) stating that the role cannot be performed by a person with a disability, or proves, with an IEFP statement, that there were not enough registered candidates for the previous year's vacancies.

And the recruitment process must be adequate: at the candidate's request, assessment tests are adapted (Art. 7(1)). If Carlos needed extra time in a written test and was refused, that is one more point in his favour.

Sick leave, dismissal and what is left out

Some limits, so there are no surprises:

• Sick leave: having a chronic illness does not give you permanent sick leave. Each period of temporary incapacity follows the normal sickness benefit rules. See the amounts in sick leave payment in Portugal: 2026 table and the protection in fired during sick leave.
• Dismissal: there is no mandatory prior opinion from CITE for workers with a disability, unlike pregnant workers or informal carers. What exists is the prohibition of discrimination (Arts. 24 and 25) with the reversed burden of proof. If the real reason is your condition, the dismissal is unlawful. Read can my employer fire me? Is it legal?.
• Inadaptation: the employer cannot label your illness as "inadaptation" without following the procedure and conditions of Arts. 373 and following. See the dismissal for inadaptation guide.
• Work accidents and occupational diseases: if the reduced capacity comes from a work accident, a separate regime with its own compensation applies. Read work accident in Portugal: what to do.

Checklist: what to do, in order

1. Gather the documents: medical report, multipurpose certificate (if you are at 60% or more) and, only if you want a role adapted at the minimum wage, the IEFP coefficient certificate.
2. Request the adjustment in writing from the employer, stating what you need and why (Art. 86). Mention that IEFP support exists.
3. If the employer wants to put you on an hours bank, adaptability, concentrated hours or work after 8pm, demand the prior medical exam (Art. 87(2)) and keep the result.
4. Refuse the overtime you do not want to work, in writing, citing Art. 88.
5. If you are treated worse than a colleague, note names, dates and facts: that is how you trigger the reversed burden of proof (Art. 25(5)).
6. File a complaint with the ACT. It is free.
7. If you are dismissed, challenge it within 60 days (Art. 387(2)).

For employers: if your company has 75 or more workers, check the Law 4/2019 quota against the previous year's average headcount and apply for IEFP support before claiming an adjustment is too expensive. The prior medical exam in Art. 87(2) protects you too: without it, any hours bank applied to a worker with a chronic illness is a serious offence. And remember that in a discrimination complaint, you are the one who has to prove otherwise.

For open disputes, a lawyer or your union can help. But the rights above do not depend on that: they are in the law and apply from day one.