Shift work and night work in Portugal: rules and pay

Do you work nights or rotating shifts in Portugal? The law protects you on three fronts: rotation has rules (you only change shift after your weekly rest day), hours have limits, and night time pays more, with a 25% premium on the daytime hour (Article 266 of the Labour Code). Not paying that premium is a very serious administrative offence.

What counts as shift work

Ines works in a components factory that runs from 06:00 to 22:00. Since the operating period exceeds the 8 hours of one person's schedule, the company set up two teams: one from 06:00 to 14:00, another from 14:00 to 22:00. That is shift work: different teams successively occupy the same posts, at a set rhythm, whether rotating, continuous or discontinuous (Article 220 of the Labour Code).

The law requires shifts of different staff whenever the operating period exceeds the maximum limits of the normal working period (Article 221(1)). It is not the company's choice: it is the legal way to cover more operating hours than one worker may do. Each person's limits stay in place. See how many hours you can work per day.

There is also mandatory paperwork that works in your favour: the posted work schedule map must show the number of shifts and the rotation roster, and the composition of each shift is recorded in a dedicated book or digital record (Article 215(3) and (4)). The employer must also keep a separate record of the workers in each shift (Article 221(6)). Failing the map or the records is a serious administrative offence. If there is ever a dispute about who was on which shift, these records are the evidence.

Rotation rules: when you can (and cannot) change shift

The most important rule for anyone living by a roster: a worker can only change shift after the weekly rest day (Article 221(4)). Ines finishes the week on the morning shift, takes her Sunday rest, and only on Monday can she start on the afternoon shift. Going straight from a night shift into the next morning shift, without the rest day in between, is illegal and a serious administrative offence (paragraph 7).

The other organisation rules (Article 221):

• Your preferences count. Shifts must, as far as possible, be organised according to workers' interests and preferences (paragraph 2). It is a weak criterion, but you can invoke it: put it in writing, especially if you have children or study.
• No shift may exceed the normal working period limits (paragraph 3): 8 hours per day and 40 per week as the general rule (Article 203).
• In continuous operations (factories that never stop, emergency services, activities that cannot be interrupted), shifts must be organised so that every worker gets at least one rest day in every period of seven days (paragraph 5), without prejudice to any additional rest they are owed. Andre, a hospital auxiliary, may see his rest day rotate, but never seven straight days of work.

And if your schedule was individually agreed, with the exact hours in your contract, moving you to shifts requires your agreement: an individually agreed schedule cannot be changed unilaterally (Article 217(4)). See who sets the work schedule and when it can change.

What about the shift allowance? An honest note: the Portuguese Labour Code does not set any shift allowance (subsidio de turno). That payment, common in many sectors, comes from the collective agreement or the contract. What the law guarantees everyone is the 25% night premium for hours inside the night period. If you do receive a shift allowance, it counts towards your holiday allowance, because it pays for the specific way the work is done (Article 264(2)).

Health and safety has its own rule too: shift workers are entitled to protection suited to the nature of their work and to prevention resources equivalent to those of other workers, available at any time (Article 222). The health service cannot close at 18:00 for someone who works at 23:00.

Night work: which hours count

Jorge works in a logistics warehouse on a fixed shift from 22:00 to 06:00. All his hours fall inside the night period: in the absence of a collective agreement, night work is work performed between 22:00 on one day and 07:00 the next (Article 223(2) of the Labour Code).

The sector's collective agreement can set a different period, within limits: minimum length of 7 hours, maximum of 11, and it must always include the interval between 00:00 and 05:00 (paragraph 1). Check your collective agreement, because it changes what you get paid.

The night period catches more people than you would think. Rui is a baker who starts at 04:00: from 04:00 to 07:00 he does 3 night hours per day, every day. He does not "work nights" in the everyday sense, but for the law those 3 hours carry the premium and, as you will see, make him a night worker.

What the night hour pays: the 25% premium

Night work is paid with a 25% premium over equivalent work performed during the day (Article 266(1)). The basis is the hourly rate, using the legal formula (Rm x 12) : (52 x n), where Rm is the monthly pay and n the weekly normal working period (Article 271).

Jorge's numbers, with a base of 1,000 euros and a 40 hour week:

• Normal hour: (1,000 x 12) : (52 x 40) = 5.77 euros
• Night premium: 5.77 euros x 25% = 1.44 euros per hour
• The 22:00 to 06:00 shift (8 night hours): an extra 11.54 euros per night
• A month with 22 nights: around 254 euros in premiums, on top of the base salary

And Rui's, the baker on 1,100 euros with 3 night hours a day: an hourly rate of 6.35 euros, a premium of 1.59 euros x 3 hours = 4.76 euros per day, around 105 euros per month that must show up on his payslip.

A collective agreement can replace the premium with an equivalent reduction of the normal working period or a fixed increase of the base salary, as long as you are not left worse off (Article 266(2)). What cannot happen is for it to vanish with nothing in return: not paying the premium is a very serious administrative offence (paragraph 4).

There are three exceptions, where the premium only applies if the collective agreement provides for it (paragraph 3): activities carried out exclusively or predominantly at night (shows and public entertainment; Tiago, a barman in a nightclub, has no legal right to the premium); activities that by their nature serve the public at night (hotels, restaurants and bars, pharmacies during opening hours); and cases where the pay was already set taking night work into account.

[Common interpretation: the law does not expressly say whether the night premium stacks with the overtime premium, but the dominant reading is that it does, since they have different grounds. An overtime hour at 23:00 adds both premiums, the one in Article 268 and the 25% in Article 266.] See how overtime is paid.

Are you a night worker? You get extra protection

A night worker is anyone who performs at least 3 hours of normal night work each day, or whose annual working time includes a night share equivalent to 3 hours per day (Article 224(1)). Jorge (8 hours per night) and Rui (3 hours before dawn) are both night workers. A collective agreement can define the status differently.

The status brings a package of protections (Article 225):

• Free and confidential health exams before being placed on night work and afterwards at regular intervals, at least once a year (paragraph 1).
• A risk assessment every 6 months, looking at your physical and mental condition, and always before working conditions change (paragraph 2). The employer keeps the record (paragraph 3).
• Transfer to day work: if you have a health problem connected to night work, the employer must, whenever possible, assign you to daytime work you are fit to perform (paragraph 5).
• Mandatory consultation of the workers' health and safety representatives, or of you directly if there are none, about the assignment to night work and the organisation that best suits you (paragraph 6).

Breaching any of these duties is a serious administrative offence (paragraph 7).

There is also an hours brake: in activities with special risks or significant physical or mental strain (monotonous or repetitive work, construction and excavation, extractive industry, explosives, medium and high voltage electricity, gases, or others the risk assessment flags as particularly hard or dangerous), a night worker should not work more than 8 hours in any 24 hour period in which they perform night work (Article 224(4)). Under a flexibility regime, a night worker's normal daily period should not exceed 8 hours as a weekly average (paragraph 2), and rest days and public holidays do not count towards that average (paragraph 3). These rules do not apply to directors and managers exempt from a work schedule (paragraph 5).

Pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding: the right to leave the night

Beatriz works on a filling line, on the 22:00 to 06:00 shift, and is pregnant. The law gives her the right to be exempted from work between 20:00 on one day and 07:00 the next (Article 60(1) of the Labour Code). Note that the protected period starts at 20:00, before the normal night period:

• For 112 days before and after the birth, of which at least half before the expected date (in practice, typically 56 days before and 56 after);
• During the rest of the pregnancy, if needed for her health or the baby's, with a medical certificate;
• For as long as breastfeeding lasts, if needed for her health or the child's, also with a certificate.

The request is made in writing with 10 days notice, with the certificate where required; in an urgent situation confirmed by a doctor, the deadline falls away (paragraphs 4 and 5). The employer then has two options: give Beatriz a compatible daytime schedule or, if that is not possible, release her from work (paragraphs 2 and 3). The occupational doctor can impose the exemption whenever they identify a risk for a pregnant, postpartum or breastfeeding worker (paragraph 6). Refusing is a serious administrative offence.

An important note: this absence counts as effective work and costs you no rights, except pay (Article 65(1)). For that period, check with Social Security whether you qualify for a benefit. For the full picture of parental protection, see maternity leave in Portugal.

Six situations and what the law says

How to react if the employer does not comply

1. Confirm your situation. Check the posted schedule map (it must show the shifts and the rotation roster, Article 215(3)) and your payslip: night hours must appear with the premium.
2. Do the maths. Use the hourly rate formula and multiply the month's night hours by 25% of the hourly value. Keep rosters, clock records and payslips.
3. Ask in writing. A simple email requesting the missing premium creates evidence. Salary credits can be claimed throughout the contract and up to one year after it ends (Article 337).
4. Complain to ACT. Rotation without rest, unpaid premiums or missing health exams are serious or very serious administrative offences. See how to file a complaint with ACT.

For companies: build shift rosters without fines

If you run a shift operation, the essentials fit in a short list. Publish the schedule map with the number of shifts and the rotation roster, and keep the separate record of who is on each shift (Articles 215 and 221(6)). Design the roster so that nobody changes shift without the weekly rest day in between (Article 221(4)) and, in continuous operations, guarantee one rest day in every seven (paragraph 5). Pay the 25% premium on every hour inside the night period, or negotiate in the collective agreement a reduced schedule or an equivalent fixed increase (Article 266(1) and (2)); failure to pay is a very serious administrative offence. Budget and book the health exams for your night workers (before placement, then yearly) and the six monthly risk assessment (Article 225). And treat exemption requests from pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding workers as an obligation, not a favour: a compatible daytime schedule or release from work (Article 60). For complex rosters in continuous operations or sectors with their own collective agreement, checking with a lawyer is the prudent recommendation.

General information, not legal advice. Always confirm figures and deadlines in the official sources.