PORTUGAL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Marta Afonso Pereira, Inês Albuquerque e Castro, André David and João Camilo, Eversheds Sutherland
pandemic” world and introducing measures that seek to balance business needs and employee protection. In July 2025, the Labour Authority issued an opin - ion on its understanding regarding the right to dis - connect, stressing that only in critical/urgent cases can the employee be contacted by the employer and that, even if no immediate answer is required from the employee, the simple fact that the employee is being contacted out of his/her working hours is a breach of the right to disconnect. It further clearly stated that such a breach of the right to disconnect may be rel - evant in the wider context of harassment. The Legal Classification of Platform Work in Portugal: a Shifting Landscape The classification of labour relationships in Portu - gal’s platform economy has undergone notable judi - cial development in recent months. Although Article 12-A of the Labour Code introduced a presumption of employment for platform workers, courts have applied it unevenly, gradually shaping a new test of legal sub - ordination suited to the digital age. A central issue in recent rulings is the possibility of substitution. Where platforms allow couriers to del - egate tasks to third parties, courts have often con - cluded that the relationship lacks the personal ele - ment typical of employment contracts. In such cases, the absence of intuitu personae has weighed against a finding of legal subordination. Exclusivity is another contested criterion. Some deci - sions interpret the ability to work across multiple platforms as a sign of economic and organisational independence, suggesting a service relationship rather than employment. Others have taken a more nuanced view, recognising that formal non-exclusivity may mask real dependence, especially where work - ers rely on a single platform for most of their income. The use of geolocation (GPS) tracking has also split judicial opinion. Some courts see it as a neutral logisti - cal tool for optimising deliveries, while others interpret real-time tracking as indirect control comparable to traditional managerial oversight.
These diverging approaches show that the presump - tion introduced by Article 12-A is far from settled. Por - tuguese case law is developing incrementally, weigh - ing autonomy against control to determine whether an employment relationship exists. Each case contrib - utes to the evolving legal framework governing plat - form work, where promises of flexibility increasingly intersect with calls for greater worker protection. The Moral Harassment Awakening Awareness Portuguese law provides a robust legal protection for employees claiming moral harassment, leading to an increase in claims and significant consequences for employers. This, coupled with increased awareness and judicial decisions, is driving a cultural and social shift in workplace behaviour. The definition of moral harassment under the 2023 Labour Code does not require a discrimination fac - tor, but requires a disruption effect to the employee through intimidation, destabilisation or humiliation. Regardless of whether the conduct is perpetrated by a colleague or a manager, the employer remains liable. Courts have required a frequency/regularity of behaviour to conclude that there is harassment; how - ever, an intention of harassment from the author is not required, which gives room to cover behaviours that, in most cases, result from a different individual perception of what is appropriate or not. In light of this, employers must comply with the fol - lowing preventative duties: • approve internal codes of conduct to prevent harassment (if the company has more than seven employees); • reject any harassment acts; and • investigate harassment claims and file the corre - spondent disciplinary process, if there are reasons to do so. Employees claiming harassment are afforded protec - tions against retaliation, which consists of the follow - ing: • the employer cannot take disciplinary action against the claimant or witnesses in connection
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