Vacations – Rights and Obligations for workers and companies

How many days of vacation are there by right?

Article no. 238 of the Labour Code defines that workers are entitled to a minimum of 22 working days (between Monday and Friday) of vacation per year. There are, however, collective bargaining instruments that may grant workers in a given sector of activity more vacation days.

Regardless of the Collective Bargaining Agreements, there are companies that establish 3 or more extra vacation days as a reward for attendance, compliance with schedules, or other factors.

Scheduling holidays in a company

The scheduling of workers’ holidays must be made by agreement between employer and employee. It is advisable that, if you work with more people in the same department, not to coincide on dates to avoid possible conflicts between workers.

For this reason, companies try to have as many dates confirmed as possible in advance, so they try to better balance all the employees’ vacations.

What happens if employee and employer do not agree on the vacation period?

In the absence of agreement, the employer schedules the holidays on the date it deems appropriate, hearing for this purpose, and if applicable, the workers’ committee or, in its absence, the inter-union committee or the trade union committee representing the worker concerned.

In this situation, the employer of small, medium and large companies must schedule the vacation between May 1 and October 31 (unless specifically indicated in the collective bargaining agreement or opinion of the workers’ representatives).

For micro-enterprises, in the absence of an agreement, vacations can be scheduled at any time of the year: from January 1 to December 31.

Holidays for couples from the same company

The law also determines the right to take holidays in the same period for people working in the same company who are married, in a de facto union or who live in a common economy (provided that this situation does not cause serious damage to the employer).

When should you take the holidays?

The enjoyment of the vacation period may be interpolated, by agreement between employer and employee, provided that at least 10 consecutive working days are taken.

Holidays in the year of admission

In the year of admission, the employee is entitled to two working days of vacation for each month of the duration of the contract, up to 20 days, which may be taken after six full months of contract performance. If the calendar year ends before these 6 months, the leave is taken until 30 June of the following year.

The application of these rules cannot, however, result in the enjoyment, in the same calendar year, of more than 30 working days of vacation, without prejudice to the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement.

What is a company’s vacation map?

The staff hollidays map is a document that must be drawn up and posted by the employer.

It must be drawn up by April 15 of each year, indicating the beginning and end of the vacation periods of each employee of the company, and be posted in the workplace(s) between April 15 and October 31.

In the case of workers who do not have a physical workplace (e.g. sales representatives working for foreign entities without a permanent establishment), this document must be given to the employee and remain in a file inside the employee’s service vehicle.

Failure to display the holiday map is punishable by a fine, so don’t make it easy!

Are working holidays paid?

The payment of holidays worked in Portugal, or holiday allowance, is calculated based on the gross monthly salary and the time worked for the company.

The holiday allowance must, as a rule, be paid before the beginning of the longest holiday period, or, in the case of an agreement between employer and employee, monthly, by twelfths.

Do you have questions about this or other obligations in the field of employment? Get information from experts in Labor Advice, as your company can not only avoid being in default before the authorities that regulate workers’ rights, but also promote greater transparency and trust in the relationship with your workers.