Portugal's Labour Code - Lei n.º 7/2009, consolidated as the Código do Trabalho - sets out working time rules that apply to virtually every private sector employment relationship. The law is detailed and the overtime supplements are higher than in most EU countries. Get the basics wrong and you'll pay for it twice: once in supplements, once in fines.

The Standard

8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. The 40-hour week has been Portugal's standard since 1996. An average working week of no more than 48 hours applies over a reference period of 4 months (or up to 12 months if a collective agreement allows it).

Daily rest: 11 consecutive hours between the end of one working period and the start of the next. Weekly rest: at least 24 consecutive hours, normally on Sunday.

Overtime Limits

The annual cap is 150 hours for companies with 50 or more employees. For companies with fewer than 50 workers, the cap is 175 hours per year.

On top of the annual cap, there's a daily limit: no more than 2 hours of overtime per day under normal circumstances. On days before or after a public holiday, this can be extended by agreement.

Overtime Pay - The Tiered System

This is where Portugal stands out. The supplements are mandatory and cannot be waived by contract:

  • +25% for the first overtime hour on a weekday
  • +37.5% for each subsequent overtime hour on a weekday
  • +50% for overtime on a mandatory rest day (typically Sunday) or public holiday

If overtime is worked on a day that is a substitute rest day, the employee can choose between the supplement or a compensatory rest day.

Keeping Records

The Labour Code requires employers to keep a registo de trabalho - a written record of each employee's working hours. This record must be available to Labour Authority inspectors (Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho, or ACT) at any time. It must include start time, end time, and any overtime.

Electronic records are accepted. Paper records are accepted. What's not accepted: no records.

Penalties

ACT classifies labour violations by severity. Breaching working time rules is typically a serious (grave) or very serious (muito grave) infraction:

  • Serious violations: fines from €1,020 to €9,690
  • Very serious violations (e.g., systematic breaches, endangering worker health): fines from €2,040 to €19,380

Amounts vary by company size. Larger companies pay at the higher end of each band. Repeat violations can result in prohibition from public contracts for up to 2 years.

What Actually Goes Wrong

Most violations in Portugal don't come from deliberate law-breaking. They come from three gaps:

Gap 1 - the annual counter. Overtime hours are tracked per employee per calendar year. When you use a paper rota, nobody monitors the running total. Employees hit 175 hours in September and keep working.

Gap 2 - the tiered rate. Managers pay a flat overtime rate. They forget that the second overtime hour on any given day costs 37.5% more than the first. Over time, that underpayment compounds.

Gap 3 - public holidays as rest days. An employee called in on a public holiday costs you 50%, plus the right to compensatory leave. When you don't track which days were public holidays, you can't calculate the liability correctly.

All three of these are data problems. The fix is the same: accurate, real-time records per employee.

Rezano tracks daily and weekly overtime per employee, applies the correct tiered rate automatically, and generates ACT-ready reports. Setup takes under 10 minutes. Try it at rezano.lv.