Portuguese employers have banned their employees from calling and texting after several hours

Portugal Recognized a law that had great support for the telecommuting system It took more power during epidemics. It is about employers and employers banning calling and texting their employees after their working hours.

The new law, approved by the country’s parliament, is designed to help workers maintain a better balance between work and healthy living, extending their working hours and workload to indefinite hours of the year.

That says the text “Employer must respect worker’s privacy”, including leisure time and family time. As a rule, any repeated violation is a “serious” offense and can result in a fine.

Under the new rules, Employers may face penalties for communicating with workers outside of office hours.

But amendments to the Portuguese labor law have limitations: They do not apply to companies with less than ten employees. Employers are also prohibited from monitoring their employees while they work at home.

However, the Portuguese representatives They rejected a plan that includes the so-called “right to disconnect” the legal right to disable work-related messages and devices outside of office hours.

And that indicates the action Employers are responsible for providing the right tools for workers Get your work done remotely.

In addition, household expenses, such as electricity or the Internet, must be borne by the employer in the event of an increase in work from home. This does not apply to services such as water, which are written off as business expenses.

The new rules are good news for parents of young children. They now have the right to work from home without prior arrangements with their employers until their child is eight years old.

According to the new standard, If employees choose remote work, they have the right to avoid it. They can also request it if it is compatible with their work.

Measures to address loneliness are included in the remote work rules, and more Companies are expected to arrange face-to-face meetings at least once every two months.

Portugal was the first European country to change its remote working rules in January this year as a direct result of the COVID-19 epidemic. But this is not the first time this type of law has been recognized in the European region. In 2017, Hours later the right to ignore business emails was recognized in France.

Temporary rules made remote work a mandatory option, With a few exceptions, they forced employers to provide the tools they needed to work from home.

But while long-distance work brings new flexibility for many during epidemics, issues such as unequal access to technical equipment and the Internet underscore the need for government intervention, said Portugal’s Minister of Labor and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho. Summit in Lisbon last week.

“Accelerates the need to regulate what needs to be controlled to control the epidemic.” Said.

“Teleworking can be a ‘game changer’ if you take advantage and minimize the disadvantages”, Added.

Creating a healthy long-distance work culture can bring other benefits to Portugal, said Mendes Godinho in the form of foreign long-distance workers who want to change the landscape.

“We consider Portugal to be one of the best places in the world for these digital nomads and remote workers to choose to live in and we want to attract them to Portugal,” he said. Told the audience at the web summit.

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