MADRID: Portugal limits employers from contacting their staff outside their working hours contracted under the new law and remotely monitor their work, in one of the bravest efforts in the world to regulate remote work forced by a pandemic in the industrial world.
And, when the surge in natural gas prices has sent soaring electricity costs, the law requires employers to pay a portion of the electricity bill and the internet staff who work from home.
Legislation, approved in parliament on Friday and will take effect this weekend, designed by the Portuguese government led by socialists in an effort to preserve the balance of work life.
Pandemic locking makes millions of countless people working from home for the past two years, but Portugal is a rare country to impose laws that try to officially protect workers’ workers and contain costs related to their work.
The legislation was delivered by the Ministry of Labor Portugal, Ana Mendes Godinho, as a way not only to protect domestic workers but to encourage more foreigners to choose Portugal as the location to work remotely.
Portugal has been the main goal for the so-called digital nomader, partly because it offers them a resident visa while specifically to work from Portugal.
Under the new law, employers can be fined to contact staff outside regular hours except in emergency situations.
The law also requires companies to ensure that people who work from remotely go to their workplace at least once every two months, to meet with supervisors and their fellow employees, in an effort to prevent excessive isolation.
It also gives young parents the right to work from home without the preliminary consent of their boss, as long as their children are less than 8 years old.