Preventive suspension in Portugal: what your employer can and cannot do

You get a phone call from HR in the middle of the afternoon: "you are suspended starting now, go home, we will talk later". You leave without really understanding what is happening, with a mix of fear, anger and confusion. In three sentences, your routine is shattered. Stay calm. This is called preventive suspension and Portuguese labour law has clear rules about what can and cannot happen next.

This guide walks through the two types of preventive suspension in the Labour Code, how long each one can last, what you should keep getting paid, your rights while you are at home, and the tactics some employers use to push you out without ever having to formally dismiss you.

What preventive suspension means, in plain English

Preventive suspension is the decision by the employer to send you home temporarily while they investigate or decide on an alleged breach. You stay at home. The employer keeps paying you. The contract does not end, it is paused.

Portuguese law sets this out at two different moments, with different rules:

1. Before the disciplinary notice, under Art. 329 n.º 5 of the Labour Code.
2. With the disciplinary notice, under Art. 354 of the Labour Code.

These are two distinct legal regimes. Mixing them up gives the employer room to play games, for example by keeping you suspended indefinitely without ever issuing a formal notice. Let us look at each one.

Type 1: Suspension before the disciplinary notice (Art. 329 n.º 5)

This is the "precautionary" suspension that the employer can apply while still investigating. There is no formal accusation yet, only a suspicion.

Cumulative requirements (all of them must be present):

A serious ground: your presence at work would harm the investigation or the working environment. Written form with the reasons stated. A maximum duration of 30 days. Full salary throughout the period.

If the employer fails on any of these points, the suspension is unlawful. You can demand to return to work in writing, file a complaint with ACT, and use it as an argument in your reply to the disciplinary notice when it eventually arrives.

What happens on day 30:

If the employer issues a disciplinary notice, the suspension changes regime, switching to Art. 354 and continuing through the disciplinary process. If the employer does not issue a notice and does not call you back, the suspension loses its legal basis. You must return to work. If the employer keeps you out, that is a breach of the right to effective work (Art. 129 n.º 1 letter b) with late wages.

Type 2: Suspension with the disciplinary notice (Art. 354)

When the employer issues the disciplinary notice, the suspension shifts up a level. Art. 354 n.º 1 says, in short:

With the notification of the disciplinary notice, the employer may preventively suspend the worker, without loss of pay, during the disciplinary process.

Translation:

The suspension follows the disciplinary process from start to finish. It still comes with full salary. The grounds are the same as the disciplinary notice.

How long it lasts in practice:

The disciplinary process normally closes within 60 days from the date of the notice (Art. 357 n.º 1). If you request investigative steps such as witnesses or expert evidence, the deadline can be extended, but not indefinitely. It ends with the final decision, whether dismissal, a lesser sanction or dropping the case.

Important: if more than 60 days passed between the moment the employer learnt the facts and the issue of the disciplinary notice, the procedure has lapsed (Art. 329 n.º 2). It is a nullity argument worth testing.

Salary during the suspension: what you must actually receive

The rule is simple: what you got before, you keep getting. Art. 354 n.º 1 talks about "without loss of pay". That includes:

Base salary (the salary without subsidies). Length of service bonuses (diuturnidades) if you received them. Meal allowance if it was paid every month, on every working day. Fixed commissions or contractual variable bonuses paid as a regular component. Other regular monthly perks (company car, mobile phone) usually maintained, unless the employer asks them back due to the process.

What the employer can withhold:

Transport allowance, if it was only paid for actual presence (public transport, vouchers). Variable commissions linked to sales you can no longer make. Access to email, internal systems and premises, as long as it is not done in a humiliating way.

Classic trick: the employer says they will "sort it out at the end of the process". No. The salary must keep arriving every month, on the normal date, in the normal IBAN. If it does not, you are on the late salary path.

Your rights while you are at home

Suspension is not dismissal. The contract is alive. You keep everything you had:

Seniority counts. All the suspension time counts as seniority. Pro rata holidays accrue. Christmas allowance is calculated on total time, including the suspension. Social Security contributions continue from both employer and worker. Workplace accident insurance stays active.

You also keep these rights:

You are not required to be reachable 24/7. You have a right to disconnect. You are not required to come into the company unless for steps in the process (delivering a reply, hearing witnesses). You have the right to receive the full file (Art. 356), including emails, statements, reports and recordings. You can be helped by a lawyer, by your sector trade union, by a workers' delegate or by the workers' committee.

Abusive tactics you see in real life

Most suspensions stay within the law. But there are abusive patterns worth spotting early:

1. Suspension with no paper trail. Phone call, informal message, "we will talk later". Not enough. Demand it in writing the same day. A confirmation email is the bare minimum. If you do not get written grounds within 48 hours, record that.

2. Indefinite suspension with no disciplinary notice. They send you home "pending investigation" and you sit there for two, three, four months. Unlawful. On day 31, send an email demanding return to work under Art. 329 n.º 5.

3. Cutting half the salary. They pay base salary and drop meal allowance, commissions and transport allowance with no explanation. Unlawful for any portion that was a regular monthly entitlement. Calculate the gap, record it, and use it for late wage interest.

4. Walking you out in front of colleagues. They can cut access, they can ask for the laptop back. They cannot stage a show: security escort, internal announcement, public message in Slack. If it happens, gather witnesses and screenshots. That is harassment under Art. 29.

5. Using the suspension to push you into mutual termination. "Sign this agreement and it ends today". The pressure is the point. Do not sign under pressure without legal advice. Negotiations can run in parallel, but your 10 working day deadline to reply to the disciplinary notice does not pause.

6. Refusing access to the file. You ask for documents, they invent delays. Record it in writing. It is grounds for invalidity (Art. 382 n.º 2 letter c).

How to react in the first 7 days

Simple, practical plan.

Day 1: ask for grounds in writing.

If the suspension came by phone or chat message, send an email asking for written confirmation that includes the type of suspension (Art. 329 n.º 5 or Art. 354), the concrete facts behind the measure, and the expected date for the disciplinary notice if applicable.

Days 1 to 2: save everything.

Copies of the contract, the last 12 payslips, internal regulations. Important work emails, transferred to your personal email before access is cut. Relevant conversations on Slack, Teams or work WhatsApp.

Days 3 to 5: talk to allies.

Your sector trade union if you are a member. A trusted lawyer, or apply for legal aid (Apoio Judiciário) at Social Security if you cannot afford one. Colleagues who could be witnesses, but without discussing the case in team chats.

Days 5 to 7: prepare the reply.

If the disciplinary notice has not arrived yet, prepare your evidence file. If it has, open the reply template and start structuring the response.

[Common interpretation:] do not wait for the deadline to tighten. The reply to the disciplinary notice is played in 10 working days. It is better to deliver on day 8 with everything ready than on day 10 in a panic.

What happens when the process ends

There are three scenarios at the end:

Scenario A: case dropped.

The employer concludes there is no just cause and no grounds even for a lesser sanction. You go back to the same role and duties. Retaliation is forbidden (Art. 331). If the employer changes your role, lowers your salary or isolates you, that is a breach of the right to effective work.

Scenario B: lesser sanction.

A registered written warning, loss of up to 30 holiday days, a fine, or a suspension as a sanction (but the time of preventive suspension is deducted from the sanction, Art. 330 n.º 1). You go back to work. The sanction is recorded in the internal disciplinary file but it does not appear on the work certificate.

Scenario C: dismissal.

The decision is in writing (Art. 357). You have 60 days to challenge it in court (Art. 387). If you win, you are entitled to:

Reinstatement in your role, or compensation between 15 and 45 days per year of service (minimum 3 months), at your choice, plus back pay for every month from the dismissal to the court ruling.

The choice between reinstatement and compensation is yours, and it is strategic. If the relationship is irreparably broken, compensation usually makes more sense. If you want to come back and make a point, you go for reinstatement.

Quick recap of what to do

Preventive suspension is a normal procedural measure. The abuse comes when employers use it as punishment, pressure or an exit ramp without paying for it. Your three control points:

1. Written form, with grounds and a deadline. If you do not have it, demand it.
2. Full salary every month. If it does not land, that becomes a late salary case.
3. Reply to the disciplinary notice within 10 working days. Do not negotiate an exit without replying.

Most disciplinary dismissals fall in court because of procedural failures. If you log every failure during the suspension and the investigation, half of your defence is already built before the final decision lands.