A new Portuguese law making it illegal for companies to contact staff outside their contracted working hours is ground-breaking, but may prove challenging to implement, according to an employment law expert.
Anne Sammon of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law, said the move was “undoubtedly a brilliant and bold step”.
“Legislating measures to protect workers health and wellbeing is powerful and delivers a clear message. However, as we shift into a world of new working practices – flexible, condensed, hybrid – there are some questions around whether this law captures the changes that we are seeing and if it will protect everyone,” Sammon said.
The law was announced by Portuguese labour minister Ana Mendes Godinho at a technology conference in Lisbon in early November.
It will make it illegal for employers to contact employees outside working hours except in emergencies. Employers will also be prevented from monitoring home working, and remote working will be governed by contractual provisions.
As we shift into a world of new working practices – flexible, condensed, hybrid – there are some questions around whether this law captures the changes that we are seeing and if it will protect everyone
Businesses will also be forced to pay household expenses incurred while their employees work from home, including internet and electricity bills.
The law also brings in provisions preventing discrimination between home and office workers, and requires companies to make sure...
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