Representative Margarida Cordeiro, from Chega, in a debate on SIC Notícias, condemned the labor reform which, she states, brings “measuresworrying“in particular for women unfairly dismissed for issues related to Maternity. The deputy states that the PSD proposal does not protect women and does not help with birth rates. SIC Verifies.
The proposal to reform labor law, which will reach Parliament in the coming days, was this by the Minister of Labor, Rosário Palma Ramalho, after “more than 50 changes” were implemented to the initial draft.
In this context, former PS Government Labor Minister Ana Mendes Godinho and deputies Carla Barros, from PSD, and Madalena Cordeiro, from Chega, were in the SIC studios to debate the proposal. Madalena Cordeiro was pleased with the reception of some of Chega’s flags, but considered that this “law continues to have many unpopular measures” as is the case with the issue of reintegration of workers.
“I find this worrying and I would like, since we have this opportunity, to clarify the fact that we in 2024 we will have had two thousand women unfairly dismissed just and only because they are or on maternity leave or because they are pregnant“, began by stating the Chega deputy. The allegation is confirmed in news from which cites the Commission for Equality in Work and Employment.
Then, he continues with his sights set on the PSD’s proposal: “these dismissals cannot happen and what does the Social Democratic Party’s proposal, which comes today at this exact power point, [faz]? These women cannot be reinstated after being unfairly dismissed.”
Does the proposal protect women unfairly dismissed due to pregnancy or maternity leave?
There is no measure in the Government’s proposal that concerns exclusively for the reintegration of mothers or pregnant women. What is proposed is a “não-reinstatement after unlawful dismissal with increased compensation and end of the mandatory return compensation to challenge the dismissal” to all workerswhere Women are also included in these circumstances.
“In the case of micro, small and medium-sized companies or employees holding a position of administration or management, the employer can ask the court to exclude the reinstatementbased on facts and circumstances that make the return from worker seriously harmful and disruptive to functioning of the company“, the document reads.
As a result, the employer may ask the Court to replace the employee’s reinstatement with compensation, claiming that the return would be “severely harmful and disturbing” for the company. At the moment, This possibility only exists for micro-enterprisesas explained by Marta Esteves, a lawyer with a professional history in the area of labor law and currently dedicated to Parental Rights.
“In the current formulation of the law, this power of Opposition to reintegration is only foreseen for micro-enterprises. And what does the government intend to change here with the labor reform? AND extend this possibility to any company, that is, the possibility of only reintegrating the worker, whatever the size of the company”, says the lawyer.
That is, the issue is not specifically aimed at women, but may affect them in cases of dismissal linked to pregnancy, maternity or employment discrimination.
“All workers are more unprotected, including workers in even more fragile situationswhich are pregnant workers, breastfeeding workers or workers on parental leave”, says the lawyer.
Despite this Government proposal, it must be taken into account that there is also a namely article 65. However, this is not enough if labor reform advances. Marta Esteves states that the Labor Code safeguard only works in theory because “in practice, It’s hard to prove it” or is it “sometimes it is difficult for workers to have emotional availability to move forward with the legal process against the company.”
Furthermore, in cases where contracts are fixed-term, There is no protection at all, there is a fine for the company, but in practice the worker is left without work.
“Those who are not effectively protected are workers on leave, or who are pregnant or breastfeeding, but who have fixed-term contracts. Here there is no protection for the end of fixed-term contracts when pregnant workers are breastfeeding or taking leave. The law says that the employer, even before communicating the end of the contract to the worker, has to notify CITE in advance (…), but the truth is that if CITE detects any inconsistency, any irregularity, it will notify ACT, which may initiate administrative proceedings against the company. This ultimately leads to the company being obliged to the payment of a fine, but there is no reinstatement of the worker here“, concludes the lawyer.
In short, the proposal presented as in favor of ends up, in reality, weakening the position of workers and, in this case, women in the context of maternity.
SIC verifies that it is….
It is true that the Government proposal changes the rules for reinstatement in illegal dismissalsincreasing the company’s possibility of avoiding the employee’s return and replacing him with compensation. This may make it difficult to reinstate all workers unfairly dismissedincluding mothers.
