Informal carer at work in Portugal: leave, hours, protection

If Social Security has recognised you as a non-principal informal carer (cuidador informal não principal), the Portuguese Labour Code gives you a dedicated set of rights since 2023 (Arts. 101-A to 101-H). You get 5 working days of leave a year, up to 15 days of absence to assist the cared-for person, the right to part time for up to 4 years, flexible hours, remote work for up to 4 years and an exemption from overtime. And the employer cannot dismiss you without a prior opinion from CITE.

Who is a carer worker

Helena is 44, works for an insurer in Coimbra and her father, 79, has had a stroke. He lives alone, receives the 2nd degree dependency supplement (complemento por dependência) and Helena goes there every day in the late afternoon and at weekends. A brother helps midweek. Helena is a non-principal informal carer: she cares regularly but not permanently and keeps her job (Law 100/2019, Statute, Art. 2(3)).

For the Labour Code, that alone is not enough. A carer worker (trabalhador cuidador) is someone who completes two steps (Art. 101-A):

1. Has non-principal informal carer status recognised by the Social Security Institute (ISS).
2. Hands the employer the proof of that recognition.

Recognition is requested on Segurança Social Direta or at a Social Security desk, with the cared-for person's consent whenever possible (Statute, Art. 4(1)). The cared-for person must be in a situation of dependency and receive the 2nd degree dependency supplement or the third-person assistance allowance (Art. 3(1)). Someone bedridden or dependent on a temporary basis can also count (paragraph 2); if they receive the 1st degree supplement, the family doctor or attending doctor assesses the situation and sets the period (paragraph 3). The practical steps are in the official informal carer guide.

Two notes before moving on:

• The principal informal carer, who cares permanently and has no income from work (Statute, Art. 2(2)), is not the audience of this guide. That carer gets Social Security support, not employment rights, because by definition they do not work.
• If the cared-for person is your child and you already hold parental rights over them, you cannot combine the two regimes (Art. 101-H). You pick one. Compare with the child assistance leave guide.

Carer leave: 5 consecutive working days

Helena's father is about to be discharged from hospital and she wants to be at his home for the first week. She is entitled to an annual leave of 5 working days, taken consecutively (Art. 101-B(1)).

How to request it:

• In writing, 10 working days in advance, stating the days (paragraph 2).
• Attach a declaration that other members of your household or the cared-for person's household, if they work, do not take the same leave in the same period, or cannot provide the assistance (paragraph 3). In Helena's case, her brother declares he will not take the leave that week.

What happens during the leave:

• You are not paid for those days. It is the only right you lose: the leave "does not cause the loss of any rights, except pay" (paragraph 6). It counts as effective work for seniority, holidays and allowances.
• You cannot work for another company or provide services outside your home during those days (paragraph 4).
• If you fall ill halfway, the leave is suspended with a medical certificate and resumes afterwards (paragraph 7(a)).
• The employer cannot suspend the leave for its own convenience (paragraph 7(b)).
• At the end, you return to your job (paragraph 5).

Refusing the leave, not letting you return or suspending it for convenience is a serious offence (paragraph 8). You can file a complaint with the ACT.

In practice: 5 unpaid working days on a 1,400 euro salary are about 318 euros less that month [Common interpretation: 1,400 divided by 22 working days, times 5]. See the effect on net pay in the salary calculator.

Assistance absences: up to 15 days a year

Three months later, Helena's father falls at home and has to go to A&E. This is not the 5 day leave, it is something else: the absence to assist a household member (Art. 252).

• Any worker can be absent up to 15 days a year to provide urgent and essential assistance, in case of illness or accident, to a spouse, partner, parents, grandparents, adult children, siblings or in-laws in those degrees (paragraph 1).
• Law 13/2023 extended that right to the carer worker, in case of illness or accident of the cared-for person, even if not a relative (paragraph 2).
• If the person is an ascendant (parent, grandparent), living in the same house is not required (paragraph 4).

These absences are justified and count as effective work, but you lose the pay for the days missed (Art. 255(2)(c) and (3)). The employer can demand proof that the assistance was urgent (a hospital declaration, for example) and a declaration that nobody else in the household was absent for the same reason (Art. 252(5)).

Notify the absence like any other: if foreseeable, 5 days in advance; if not, as soon as possible (Art. 253). Read how in the unforeseeable absence guide and what happens to pay in justified absences and salary deductions.

The two add up: 5 + 15 = 20 days a year to care, all unpaid, all counting as service time.

Part time for up to 4 years

A few months on, Helena realises she needs to be with her father every afternoon. She has the right to switch to part time for a maximum of 4 years, consecutive or not (Art. 101-C(1)).

How it works, unless agreed otherwise with the employer (paragraph 2):

• Hours drop to half of the full time of a comparable worker. From 40 hours a week to 20.
• You choose the pattern: every day in the morning, every day in the afternoon, or 3 days a week.

Example: Helena earns 1,400 euros gross full time. At half time she goes to 700 euros gross. That is the price of the regime: the Labour Code provides no compensation for the difference. See the net figure in the net salary calculator.

Rules during part time:

• You cannot take another job outside your home in the freed-up hours (paragraph 3). The regime is for caring, not for stacking jobs.
• At the end of the period, you return to full time automatically (paragraph 4).
• The employer cannot penalise you in performance appraisals or career progression (paragraph 5).
• Any breach of the article is a serious offence (paragraph 6).

The general part time rules (proportional pay, allowances and holidays) are in the part time work guide.

Flexible hours for as long as needed

If the problem is not the number of hours but when you start and finish, the route is flexible hours (Art. 101-D). Unlike part time, there is no 4 year limit: it lasts for as long as the need for assistance exists (paragraph 1).

Flexible hours are those of Art. 56(2) to (4):

• You choose, within limits, the start and end time of your working day (paragraph 2).
• The employer designs the schedule with one or two core periods of mandatory presence, adding up to half the normal day, and with entry and exit windows of at least a third of the day (paragraph 3).
• You can work up to 6 consecutive hours and up to 10 hours in a day, as long as you meet the weekly average over each 4 week period (paragraph 4).

Example: an 8 hour day with a core period from 10am to 2pm. Helena can start at 7am and leave at 3.30pm to go to her father, or on another day start at 10am and leave at 6.30pm. At the end of 4 weeks she must have worked the 160 hours.

Here too: no penalty in appraisals or career (Art. 101-D(3)), and refusing the right is a serious offence (paragraph 4). For how schedules work in general, see the work schedule guide.

How to request: 30 days ahead, in writing

Part time and flexible hours are requested the same way (Art. 101-E(1)): in writing, 30 days before the start, with these elements:

1. The proof of non-principal informal carer status (a).
2. The period you want, within the limit (b).
3. For part time only (c): a declaration that you have not used up the 4 years; a declaration that nobody else in your household or the cared-for person's household is part time for this reason at the same time, or is unable to care; and the pattern chosen (morning, afternoon or 3 days).

Then the procedure of Art. 57(2) to (10) applies (paragraph 2). This is the timeline:

• The employer can only refuse on grounds of imperative operational requirements or the impossibility of replacing you, if you are indispensable (57(2)).
• It has 20 days to reply in writing (paragraph 3). If it does not reply, the request is accepted on your exact terms (paragraph 8(a)).
• If it wants to refuse, it states why, and you have 5 days to reply in writing (paragraph 4).
• Within the next 5 days, the employer sends everything to CITE (the Commission for Equality in Labour and Employment). If it does not, the request is accepted (paragraph 5 and 8(c)).
• CITE issues its opinion within 30 days. If it does not, the opinion counts as favourable to the employer (paragraph 6).
• If the opinion is unfavourable to the employer, it can only refuse after a court decision (paragraph 7).

Breaching these rules (refusing without grounds, not replying, not sending the file to CITE) is a serious offence (paragraph 10).

Two exit rules (Art. 101-E(3) and (4)):

• At the end of the period, you go back to your previous regime. Not giving you your schedule back is a serious offence (paragraph 5).
• If circumstances change before the end (Helena's father moves into a care home, for example), you inform the employer within 5 working days and, if it agrees, you return early to the previous regime. Without agreement, you complete the period requested.

Remote work up to 4 years and no forced overtime

If your job is done on a computer, Art. 166-A(5) gives you the right to remote work for a maximum of 4 years, consecutive or not, with two conditions: the activity must be compatible and the employer must have the means. The employer can object on imperative operational grounds, but only by following the same Art. 57 procedure, with CITE (paragraph 6). Breaching the article is a serious offence (paragraph 8).

The full regime, including who pays for equipment and expenses, is in the remote work rights guide.

And overtime: for as long as the need for assistance lasts, you are not obliged to work overtime (Art. 101-G(1)). Forcing you is a serious offence (paragraph 2). You can accept if you want, and in that case it is paid with the normal premiums in the overtime pay guide.

Dismissal: CITE opinion is mandatory

The strongest protection in the package is this: dismissing a carer worker requires a prior opinion from CITE (Art. 101-F(1)). It is the same protection given to pregnant workers and workers on parental leave.

How it works (Art. 63(3) to (9), applied by paragraph 3):

• The employer must send the file to CITE before deciding: in a disciplinary dismissal, after the evidence stage; in a collective dismissal, after the negotiation stage; in job extinction and unsuitability, after the consultations (63(3)).
• CITE replies within 30 days. If it does not, the opinion counts as favourable to the dismissal (paragraph 4).
• It is the employer that must prove it requested the opinion (paragraph 5).
• If the opinion is unfavourable, the employer can only dismiss with a court decision, and has 30 days to file the action (paragraph 6).
• If the dismissal is declared unlawful, the employer cannot oppose reinstatement, and you can choose instead the increased compensation of Art. 392(3), 30 to 60 days per year (paragraph 8).

And there is more: a disciplinary dismissal of a carer worker is presumed to be without just cause (Art. 101-F(2)). That means in court it is the employer that must prove just cause existed, not you who must prove it did not.

If you were dismissed without a CITE opinion, read can my employer fire me, is it legal? and the unfair dismissal compensation guide. You have 60 days to challenge it (Art. 387(2)).

Checklist: what to do, in order

1. Request recognition as a non-principal informal carer on Segurança Social Direta (Statute, Art. 4).
2. Hand the proof to the employer, in writing, and keep evidence of delivery (Art. 101-A).
3. Pick the regime: 5 day leave (10 working days notice), part time or flexible hours (request 30 days ahead), remote work (up to 4 years).
4. Attach the household declarations each regime requires.
5. Count the employer's deadlines: 20 days to reply; silence is acceptance.
6. If they refuse without following the procedure, file a complaint with the ACT.
7. If you are dismissed without a CITE opinion, challenge it within 60 days.

For an open conflict with the employer, it is worth talking to a lawyer or your union. But the rights above do not depend on that: they are in the law and apply from the moment you hand over the proof.