Working on a public holiday in Portugal: pay and rules

Working on a public holiday in Portugal does not mean double pay. It means one of two things: compensatory rest equal to half the hours worked, or a 50% surcharge on those hours, at the employer's choice (Art. 269 no. 2 of the Portuguese Labour Code). If it was overtime outside your schedule, each hour is worth +50% (Art. 268). Portugal has 13 mandatory public holidays a year and the holiday is always paid, whether you work or not.

The 13 mandatory holidays (and the 2026 dates)

Diogo works in an office in Braga, Monday to Friday. In 2026 he has 13 mandatory public holidays on the calendar, but only 10 fall on days he works. 25 April and 15 August are Saturdays; 1 November is a Sunday. Those three give him no day off at all. The list is closed and sits in Art. 234 no. 1:

Two details the law adds. Good Friday may be swapped for another day with local meaning within the Easter period (no. 2). And Art. 234 no. 3 allows certain holidays to be moved to the following Monday, but only "through specific legislation", and that legislation was never passed. So a holiday that falls on a weekend stays there.

Carnival and the municipal holiday: the optional ones

Ines works in a shop in Lisbon. On Shrove Tuesday (17 February 2026) her manager tells her the shop is open and she has to come in. Ines replies that it is a holiday. Who is right? The manager. Shrove Tuesday and the municipal holiday of the town (in Lisbon, 13 June) are optional holidays: they only count as a holiday in the company if the applicable collective agreement or the employment contract provides for it (Art. 235 no. 1). If nothing says so, it is a normal working day.

Two more rules:

• They can be swapped for another day. Instead of Carnival or the municipal holiday, employer and worker may agree on a different day (Art. 235 no. 2).
• No new holidays can be invented. Neither the collective agreement nor the contract may set holidays different from the ones the law lists (Art. 236 no. 2). A company can of course close on another day, but that is a courtesy day or annual leave, not a holiday.

What about the day off the Government grants at Carnival? It applies to the public sector. In the private sector, each company decides. If your company closes by its own choice, it cannot deduct that day from your pay or your leave.

The holiday is paid, even without working

Simple rule: on a public holiday you are entitled to the pay for that day without working (Art. 269 no. 1). Monthly paid workers do not even notice: the June salary, with two holidays, equals the March salary, with none. Workers paid by the hour or by the day are also entitled to the value of the holiday.

The same article closes a door: the employer cannot offset the holiday pay with overtime. In other words, it cannot ask you to "make up" the holiday hours on another day without paying them as overtime. Watch out for a different exception that does exist: when the company closes on a bridge day by its own decision and orders the hours to be made up on another day, that work does not count as overtime (Art. 226 no. 3, point g). But that covers the bridge day, not the holiday.

Working on the holiday: the two regimes

Here is the most common confusion. There are two different situations and they pay differently.

1. The holiday is part of your normal schedule

Ana works in a restaurant in Aveiro, 40 hours a week, 1,000 euros gross. On 10 June the restaurant opens and she works her normal 8 hour shift. The company is not required to close (restaurants may operate on Sundays, so they may operate on holidays, Art. 236 no. 1). This is the case of Art. 269 no. 2: for normal work on a holiday, Ana is entitled to one of these two compensations, at the employer's choice:

• Compensatory rest equal to half the hours worked: 8 hours of work give 4 hours of paid rest on another day; or
• A 50% surcharge on the pay for those hours.

This applies to shift work, hospitals, hotels, security, transport, retail: every activity allowed to open on Sundays. If the holiday lands on your shift, it is a normal working day: you cannot refuse it and the compensation is the one in Art. 269 no. 2.

2. You were called in outside your schedule: overtime

Rui works in a factory in Setubal that closes on public holidays. On 1 December management asks him to come in for 4 hours in the morning to fix a breakdown. This work is outside his schedule, so it is overtime (Art. 226 no. 1). It is paid with the surcharge in Art. 268:

Three rules that go with it:

• Cap: on a holiday, the maximum overtime equals your normal daily working period, 8 hours for someone working 8 a day (Art. 228 no. 1, point e). Exceeding it is a very serious administrative offence.
• Can you refuse? Only for a valid reason and by expressly asking to be excused (Art. 227 no. 3). Otherwise the law requires you to do it.
• Compensatory rest? The law only guarantees a paid compensatory rest day for work on the mandatory weekly rest day (Art. 229 no. 4). For overtime on a public holiday there is no automatic compensatory rest, only the surcharged pay. If your collective agreement gives more, the agreement rules.

A holiday during leave, on a weekend or on your day off

Three situations that raise questions every year.

A holiday in the middle of your annual leave. It does not use up a leave day. For leave purposes, only Monday to Friday count as working days, excluding public holidays (Art. 238 no. 2). The week of 8 to 12 June 2026 costs 4 leave days, not 5, because 10 June is a holiday. If you work Saturdays and rest on another day, the Saturdays and Sundays that are not holidays count instead (no. 3). Run the numbers in the holiday days calculator.

A holiday on a Saturday or Sunday. It is lost. The law provides neither compensation nor a move to Monday (Art. 234 no. 3 depends on legislation that does not exist). [Common interpretation: the same applies to a holiday that coincides with your weekly rest day, whichever day that is; there is no right to a day off in exchange.]

A holiday next to a bridge day. The bridge day is not a holiday. If the company closes on the Friday after a Thursday holiday (or the Monday before a Tuesday holiday), there are three possibilities. First: closure for annual leave. The company may close that day and deduct it from your leave, but only if it informed you by 15 December of the previous year (Art. 242 no. 2, point b and no. 3). Second: make-up. The company closes and decides that you work those hours on another day, without them counting as overtime (Art. 226 no. 3, point g). Third: a courtesy day, paid, with no deduction and no make-up. See who decides on leave dates in the guide can my employer set my holiday dates?.

Special cases: shifts, hours exemption and part time

Shift work. A holiday that lands on your shift is normal work on a holiday (Art. 269 no. 2): half the hours as rest or +50%, at the company's choice. A holiday that lands on your day off is lost. See the full regime in shift work and night work.

Working hours exemption. Being exempt from a fixed schedule does not erase public holidays: the exemption does not affect the right to weekly rest days, mandatory public holidays and daily rest (Art. 219 no. 3). Work performed on a holiday by an exempt worker is overtime and is paid as such (Art. 226 no. 3, point a only excludes normal working days). Details in working hours exemption.

Part time. If you work 3 days a week and the holiday falls on a day you do not work, there is no compensation. If it falls on a working day, it is paid like for any other worker (Art. 269 no. 1). Rules of the regime in part time work.

Concentrated schedule or flexible working time. The holiday is paid for the number of hours you would have worked that day. [Depends on the case: on a 4x10 schedule, a Tuesday holiday is worth 10 hours of pay; the law does not expressly regulate this and the agreement or the collective agreement sets the count.] See four day week and working time adaptability.

They did not pay your holiday: what to do

1. Confirm the regime. Normal work on a holiday (Art. 269 no. 2) or overtime (Art. 268)? The answer changes the amount.
2. Check your payslip. The holiday surcharge must appear as a separate line (Art. 276 no. 3).
3. Ask in writing. An email to the company stating the day, the hours and the article. If several months are missing, use the late wages demand letter template (Portuguese template).
4. Complaint to ACT. Not paying the holiday or the surcharge is a serious administrative offence (Arts. 268 no. 5 and 269 no. 3). The guide how to file a complaint with ACT walks you through it.
5. Deadline. Labour claims expire 1 year after the contract ends (Art. 337 no. 1). While you still work for the company, you can claim everything.

Six situations, what the law says

For employers: managing holidays without fines

If your activity is not allowed on Sundays, you must close on the 13 mandatory holidays (Art. 236 no. 1). Opening is an administrative offence and any work performed that day is overtime, with the surcharges of Art. 268 and the daily cap of Art. 228. If you may operate, plan the holiday as a normal day and decide upfront the compensation under Art. 269 no. 2: half the hours as rest or +50%. The choice is yours, but it must be given; the omission costs a serious administrative offence. Record overtime in the dedicated register (Art. 231) and itemise the surcharge on the payslip (Art. 276 no. 3). Optional holidays (Carnival, municipal) only apply if the collective agreement or the contract provides for them; check the sector agreement before answering your staff. Do not create "company holidays" by contract, they are not valid (Art. 236 no. 2); use a courtesy day, the bridge day of Art. 242 no. 2, point b (with notice by 15 December of the previous year) or the make-up of Art. 226 no. 3, point g. To design holiday rosters in sectors with their own collective agreement, checking the rules with a lawyer is the prudent recommendation. See the employer obligations checklist.