Not all workers are subject to fixed times. Portuguese labor legislation provides for the possibility of exemption from working hours in certain functions, but only in specific and properly formalized situations. This special regime can bring advantages, but it also implies its own rules that it is important to know.
According to the authority for work conditions (ACT), time exemption can only be established by written agreement and applies to workers in functions that require autonomy or flexibility, such as management positions, trust functions, activities performed outside the facilities without direct supervision or complementary work that, by their nature, cannot be done within normal hours.
Who can benefit from exemption
ACT clarifies that this regime applies, for example, to those who hold positions of administration, direction, supervision or direct support to these positions. It also covers teleworking workers or external functions where there is no immediate control of the hierarchical superior.
There is yet another possibility: the instrument of collective labor regulation (IRCT) can extend the admissibility of exemption to other situations, adapting it to specific sectors or activities.
Time exemption modalities
The law provides for different modalities, in accordance with Article 218 of the Labor Code. Among them are:
- Total exemption from the maximum limits of the normal working period;
- Exemption that allows work to extend work up to a predefined number of hours per day or a week;
- Exemption from observance of the normal working period agreed.
If there is no express stipulation between employer and worker, exemption without subjection to maximum time limits applies.
Rest and exception
Despite the flexibility, the general rule is that the worker keeps the minimum daily rest of 11 hours between hours, as well as weekly rest and holidays. However, Article 214 (2) of the Labor Code establishes exceptions for management positions, direction or functions with autonomous decision -making power, in which this rule may not be applied.
Additional remuneration
Being free of time does not mean losing rights. According to, the worker is entitled to a specific remuneration provided for in IRCT or, in the absence of it, to a supplement that can never be less than the equivalent of one hour of supplementary work per day. In the case of exemption from the normal period, the amount must correspond to at least two hours of supplementary work.
However, workers in management or management positions may give up this remuneration if they understand it.
What should retain
The exemption from time does not always be available, nor does it remove fundamental rights to rest. What allows you to adjust the work to functions that, by their nature, require greater autonomy or flexibility. To be valid, there must always be a written agreement and, in most cases, an additional financial compensation.
Also read:
