Mental or chronic illness at work in Portugal: your rights

You do not have to tell your employer about your illness. Absences due to illness are justified, as long as you give notice and proof. You have no automatic right to different hours or to remote work. If your illness is chronic, the law gives you strong tools: exemption from night work and from the hours bank if they harm your health, the right to refuse overtime, and workplace adjustments.

1. Do I have to tell my employer I am ill?

Marta is 31 and works in a call centre in Lisbon. She has bipolar disorder, stable on medication for four years. Her manager found out she takes pills at lunch and asks her, in front of colleagues, "what illness is that?". Does Marta have to answer? No.

The law protects your health in three ways:

• Privacy. Your health status is part of your private life. The employer must respect it, both in accessing and in disclosing it (Art. 16(2)).
• They cannot demand the information. The employer cannot demand health information from a worker or a job applicant. The exception is when specific requirements of the job justify it, and the reasons must be given in writing (Art. 17(1)(b)). Even then, you speak to a doctor, and the doctor only tells the employer whether you are fit or not (Art. 17(2)).
• Exams only with a reason. The employer cannot demand tests or exams to prove your physical or mental condition, outside the occupational health and safety rules. It can only do so to protect you or others, or if the job requires it, and always with written reasons (Art. 19(1)). The doctor only reports whether you are fit or not (Art. 19(3)).

Breaching paragraph 1 or 2 of these articles is a very serious offence (Art. 17(5) and Art. 19(4)).

What about the occupational doctor? You see them at the hiring exam and then every 2 years, or every year if you are over 50 (Art. 108(3) of Law 102/2009). Your conversation with them is protected: the clinical file is under professional secrecy (Art. 109(2)). The employer only receives the fitness certificate, which cannot contain anything covered by that secrecy (Art. 110(3)). If you are found unfit, the doctor indicates other tasks you can do, where appropriate (Art. 110(2)).

The trade-off. Not telling is your right. But the special rights for chronic illness (hours, overtime, workplace adjustments) only work if the employer knows you have a chronic illness. [Common interpretation:] a note from your doctor saying you have a chronic illness and what you need is enough. It does not need to include the diagnosis.

2. Can I miss work for medical appointments?

Joana is 38 and works as an administrative officer in Coimbra. She earns 1,050€ for 40 hours a week. She has recurrent depression and a psychiatry appointment at the hospital once a month, at 10am. The hospital has no evening slots. Each appointment takes 2 hours out of her working day.

Is it a justified absence? [Common interpretation:] yes. Art. 249(2)(d) justifies an absence when you cannot work for a reason not attributable to you, namely illness. An appointment that only exists during your working hours fits here. Absences for part of a day are added up until they make a full day of absence (Art. 248(2)).

Three rules so you do not lose the justification:

1. Give 5 days' notice, with the reason (Art. 253(1)). If you do not know that far ahead, give notice as soon as possible (Art. 253(2)). [Common interpretation:] writing "medical appointment" is enough, without naming the specialty.
2. Keep the proof. The employer can ask for it within 15 days of your notice (Art. 254(1)). [Common interpretation:] an attendance note from the hospital or health centre is enough.
3. No notice, or no proof when asked, turns it into an unjustified absence (Art. 253(5) and Art. 254(6)).

Do you lose pay for those 2 hours? Here the law is not clear. Art. 255(2)(a) removes pay for absences "due to illness" when you are covered by a Social Security sickness protection scheme. [Common interpretation:] there are two readings. One applies this rule to appointments. The other says that, with no sickness benefit for a 2 hour appointment, your pay stays. [Depends on the case:] your collective agreement may settle the question: check it.

If the employer deducts pay, do the maths. Joana's hourly rate is (1,050 × 12) ÷ (52 × 40) = 12,600 ÷ 2,080 = 6.06€ (Art. 271). Each 2 hour appointment costs her 12.12€.

There is a way out that the law guarantees. You can swap the lost pay for holiday days, as long as you keep at least 20 working days of holiday (Art. 257(1)(a) and Art. 238(5)). The employer cannot refuse (Art. 257(3)), and your holiday allowance is not reduced (Art. 257(2)).

One exception with a clear answer: a worker with severe, disabling pain caused by endometriosis or adenomyosis during her period can be absent for up to 3 days in a row per month of work, without losing pay (Art. 252-B(1)). The medical prescription handed to the employer counts as proof, and it does not need to be renewed every month (Art. 252-B(2)).

3. Can I ask for different working hours?

Rui is 44, has type 1 diabetes and works in a warehouse in Maia, on shifts from 4pm to midnight (16h to 24h). The night shifts upset his blood sugar. He wants to move to the morning shift.

There is no general right to choose your hours. The employer sets them (Art. 212(1)). The flexible schedule in Art. 56 is for workers with children under 12 or children with a disability or chronic illness, not for your own illness. But Rui has four strong arguments:

• Health comes first. When setting the schedule, the employer must take into account, as a priority, the protection of your safety and health (Art. 212(2)(a)). Ignoring this is a serious offence (Art. 212(4)).
• Exemption from nights and special schedules. With a chronic illness, you are exempted from working between 8pm and 7am and from adaptability, hours bank or concentrated hours schedules, if they could harm your health or safety (Art. 87(1)). You must have a health exam before the employer applies that schedule (Art. 87(2)). It is a serious offence (Art. 87(3)).
• Overtime. You are not obliged to work it (Art. 88(1)). You do not need to give a reason.
• Adjustments. The employer must take appropriate measures so you can keep your job, unless the burden is disproportionate (Art. 86(1)). [Common interpretation:] changing shifts, having breaks or adjusting your start time are measures of this kind.

Fewer hours? You can move to part time by written agreement, permanently or just for a set period (Art. 155(1)). If it is for a set period, at the end you have the right to return to full time (Art. 155(4)). You can back out of the agreement, in writing, up to the 7th day after signing it (Art. 155(2)), unless the signatures were certified in person by a notary (Art. 155(3)).

Practical tip: if you get a special schedule, put it in writing. A schedule agreed individually cannot be changed by the employer alone (Art. 217(4)).

4. Can I ask for remote work?

Inês is 36, a software developer in Braga, and has Crohn's disease. During flare-ups she needs to be close to home. She asks for 3 days of remote work per week.

There is no automatic right. Art. 166-A gives a right to remote work to parents of a child up to 3 years old (up to 8 in the cases of Art. 166-A(3), except in micro companies) or, regardless of age, of a child with a disability, chronic illness or cancer, to victims of domestic violence (under the conditions in Art. 195) and to non-primary informal carers. The worker's own illness is not on the list.

But Inês is not left with nothing:

• Refusal in writing and with reasons. If the job is compatible with remote work, given how the company works and the resources it has, the employer can only refuse in writing and stating the grounds (Art. 166(7)). A verbal refusal does not comply with the law.
• Adjustment measure. [Common interpretation:] also request remote work as an appropriate measure under Art. 86. Then the employer can only avoid it by proving a disproportionate burden.
• Trial agreement. Remote work requires a written agreement (Art. 166(2)). It can be for a fixed term of up to 6 months, and it renews automatically unless either side says in writing, up to 15 days before the end, that it does not want to renew (Art. 167(2)). It lets the employer test it without a long commitment.

All the rules are in the guide do I have a right to remote work?.

5. Do depression, anxiety or burnout count as a chronic illness?

The Labour Code does not define chronic illness. It does not mention mental illness either. So the answer depends on your situation.

[Depends on the case:] recurrent depression, bipolar disorder or an anxiety disorder that lasts for years and needs ongoing appointments and medication may qualify as a chronic illness. A short episode, treated and resolved, is unlikely to. In a dispute, what matters is your doctor's report: diagnosis, duration and effect on your work. Keep it yourself and only show it if you have to prove the illness.

If it qualifies, you have:

• The same rights as your colleagues in access to employment, training, career and working conditions (Art. 85(1)). Breaching this is a very serious offence (Art. 85(3)).
• The rights in section 3 of this guide (Arts. 86 to 88).
• Protection against discrimination. Chronic illness is a prohibited ground of discrimination (Art. 24(1)). If you are treated worse than a colleague, you name that colleague and the employer has to prove that the difference has nothing to do with your illness (Art. 25(5)). You are entitled to compensation (Art. 28).

If you need to stop: for up to 3 days in a row, twice a year, the self-declaration of illness on SNS 24 justifies the absence (Art. 254(5)). For longer, you need a note from the hospital or health centre, or a medical certificate (Art. 254(2)). If you return after more than 30 days off sick, the employer must arrange an occasional exam with the occupational doctor (Art. 108(3)(c) of Law 102/2009). For how much you receive while off sick, see sick leave payment in 2026.

Checklist: what to do, in order

1. Ask your doctor for a note saying you have a chronic illness and what you need (appointments, hours, breaks). Without the diagnosis, if you prefer.
2. Make your requests to the employer in writing: hours, exemption from nights or the hours bank, remote work, adjustments. Quote the articles.
3. Ask for the health exam before any night schedule or hours bank (Art. 87(2)).
4. Give 5 days' notice for each appointment and keep the attendance notes.
5. Keep every reply. If your job is compatible with remote work, a refusal without written reasons is already a failure by the employer (Art. 166(7)).
6. If you are treated worse, write down names, dates and facts and read how to file a complaint with the ACT.

All the chronic illness rights, with more examples, are in the guide disability or chronic illness at work: rights.

For employers: do not ask for the diagnosis. If the job requires a health assessment, give the reasons in writing and refer the worker to the occupational doctor, who will only tell you whether the worker is fit (Art. 17). When you receive a request for different hours, remote work or an adjustment, reply in writing and with reasons. In a discrimination complaint, it is your company that has to prove the decision had nothing to do with the illness (Art. 25(5)).

This guide is for information only and does not replace legal advice on your specific case.