Portugal makes it illegal for bosses to call employees after work

Work-life balance took a beating when work from home became the norm during the coronavirus pandemic. In a bid to tackle work from home blues, Portuguese parliament has declared it illegal for bosses to contact their employees outside working hours under the newly passed labour laws.

An employer can be held liable for contacting employees after their work hours. In addition to this, employers will also be liable to pay for increased gas and electricity bills due to work from home.
 
The Portuguese government is also likely to introduce rules such as barring employees from monitoring their workers at home and ensuring that workers would meet their boss every two months to stop isolation.
 
“The pandemic has accelerated the need to regulate what needs to be regulated,” said Portugal’s Minister of Labour and Social Security Ana Mendes Godinho. She further noted that telework has the potential to be a ‘game changer’.
 
She also added that this law could play a role in attracting ‘digital nomads’ to Portugal. “We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in. We want to attract them to Portugal,” Godinho said.
 
Meanwhile, a Deloitte Global survey earlier this year showed that work from home took a heavy toll on working women. Nearly 82 per cent of women surveyed said that their lives have been impacted adversely due to the pandemic.
 
“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve all had to adapt our daily lives. However, women are being impacted in profound ways, facing tremendous challenges and commonly taking on expanded duties at home while continuing to juggle their careers,” says Emma Codd, Deloitte Global Inclusion Leader.

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