PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Nuno Ferreira Morgado and Júlia Mendes da Costa, PLMJ
other in writing of the intention to terminate the con - tract, 15 or eight days prior to the end of the term. All methods of termination require compliance with specific procedures provided in the law. The legal grounds for collective dismissals are as fol - lows: • definitive closure of the company; • closure of one or more sections; or • reduction in staff for structural, technological or market reasons. If the dismissal is made on the grounds of redundancy, the employer must notify its intention, in writing, to the works council (if there is one) or otherwise to either the inter-union committee or the union committees. The notice must contain: • the reasons given for the collective dismissal; • a workforce table, broken down into the company’s organisational structures; • indication of the criteria serving as the basis for selection of the workers to be dismissed; • the number of workers to be dismissed and occu - pational categories covered by the dismissal; • the period of time over which the dismissal is to be made; and • the method to calculate any redundancy payments to be awarded to the redundant workers, over and above that provided for by law or by collective agreement. At the same time as the employer notifies the workers, it must also send a copy of the letter and the enclo - sures to the appropriate department of the ministry responsible for employment that deals with collective employment relationships. Where there are no workers’ representative bodies, the letter must be sent to each of the employees who may be affected by the collective redundancies. Within five business days of the date of receipt of the initial notice, the employees may appoint, from among themselves, a workers’ representative committee of no more than three or five members, depending on whether the dismissal will cover up to or more than
five workers. In the 15 days following the date of receipt of the initial notice, the employee and/or the workers’ representatives may issue a non-binding opinion about the dismissal and propose alternative measures. If employment contracts are to be terminated, the company must, within 20 days after the initial notice has been received, inform each of the workers who are affected, in writing, of the decision to proceed with the redundancies, expressly stating the grounds for termination and the date of termination of the employ - ment contract. 7.2 Notice Periods Only employees who are dismissed on grounds of redundancy or on grounds of failure to adapt must be given notice of termination as follows: • employees with under one year of service – 15 days; • employees with between one year and under five years of service – 30 days; • employees with between five years and under ten years of service – 60 days; or • employees with ten or more years of service – 75 days. 7.3 Dismissal for (Serious) Cause Dismissals without just cause are not permitted. In general, any wilful behaviour on the part of the employee, which, given its significance and conse - quences, makes any continuation of the employment relationship immediately impossible, constitutes just cause for dismissal. In particular, any of the following conduct by the employee is deemed to constitute just cause for dis - missal: • illegitimate refusal to comply with instructions given by the employer; • violation of other employees’ rights and guaran - tees; • regular conflicts with other employees; • continuously careless or negligent performance of duties;
472 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook