The Government’s draft proposal to revise labor legislation, currently under discussion with social partners, aims to amend “more than a hundred” articles of the Labor Code and is a significant factor prompting unions to call for a general strike on December 11.
It’s noteworthy that the Government is meeting again today with the three public administration union federations to discuss the general salary update, with unions suggesting an increase in social protest if the government doesn’t align more closely with their demands.
The secretary-general of Fesap (affiliated with the UGT) issued a warning: “Otherwise, people will take to the streets”, highlighting the announced general strike on December 11, which will unite CGTP and UGT against the labor package affecting many public administration workers.
What changes are on the horizon for workers?
The proposed changes in the so-called “Work XXI” project, presented by the Government on July 24 as a “profound” labor legislation revision, aim to address areas from parental leave (including changes to parental, breastfeeding, and gestational mourning leave) to flexible work, corporate training, or probation periods for employment contracts. They also foresee the expansion of sectors required to maintain minimum services during strikes.
Here is a summary of the key changes proposed in the labor legislation reform draft:
- Parental leave can extend to six months with a split between parents
Initial parental leave due to childbirth may extend to six months (equivalent to 180 days) if, after taking the mandatory 120 days, both parents opt for an additional 60 days in a shared arrangement, according to the Government’s proposal.
Currently, the Labor Code stipulates that both the mother and father are entitled to a leave of 120 or 150 consecutive days, which they can share post-birth, and it can be taken simultaneously by both.
With the proposed changes, initial parental leave could last six months if, following the mandatory 120 days, “which can be split between the parents,” they choose an additional 60 voluntary days “in equal shared periods.”
If not, the leave may extend to 150 days, with an optional additional 30-day period following the mandatory 120 days.
The current Labor Code already allows initial parental leave to last 180 days if parents opt for 150 consecutive days and if “each parent takes, exclusively, a period of 30 consecutive days, or two periods of 15 consecutive days, after the mother’s mandatory period.”
- Government wants fathers to take 14 consecutive days of leave after childbirth
The total period of a father’s exclusive parental leave remains at 28 days, to be taken within the 42 days following the child’s birth. However, the Government wants fathers to take 14 consecutive days immediately after the child is born, instead of the current seven.
The Government’s draft also removes the rule that required the remaining days to be taken in minimum seven-day intervals, eliminating any specific duration for the leave periods.
- Changes in parental subsidy
The parental subsidy continues to correspond to 100% of the reference wage for the first 120 days of leave but undergoes changes in other cases.
Opting for the 150 days of leave currently reduces this subsidy to 80%, but it is 100% in case of sharing (if each parent takes at least 30 consecutive days or two periods of 15 consecutive days). Under the proposal, the daily amount in this case is reduced from 100% to 90% of the wage.
For the 180-day leave, currently paid between 83% and 90% of the reference wage depending on sharing, the Government intends it to be paid at 100% of the reference wage if the additional 60 days are used “in equal shared periods by both parents,” meaning one month for each.
- Changes to breastfeeding rules
Regarding breastfeeding, the Government’s proposal imposes a two-year limit on work exemptions for this purpose, while current law allows this period to extend “as long as breastfeeding lasts” without a maximum duration.
Additionally, employers will require a medical certificate to prove the breastfeeding status “10 days before the start of the exemption period,” with this document needing renewal every six months “to prove that [the mother] is breastfeeding.”
- Government wants to eliminate bereavement leave for pregnancy loss
Another change in the labor legislation reform draft concerns leave for pregnancy interruption. The 14 to 30 days of leave (decided by a doctor), paid at 100%, remain, but the three consecutive days of bereavement leave currently granted to a mother who does not opt for the leave, and which can also be taken by the father if the mother is on leave, will be revoked.
In alternative, the Government proposes that the companion be subject to the existing family assistance leave regime, where a worker may take “up to 15 days per year to provide urgent and essential assistance, in case of illness or accident, to a spouse or person living in cohabitation or household economy with the worker, or a relative or in-law in the direct ascending line or up to the second degree of the collateral line.”
- Flexible working and the right to refuse weekend work
Regarding flexible working for employees “with family responsibilities,” a Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) understanding currently allows a worker with a child under 12 years old (or, regardless of age, a child with a disability or chronic illness living with them) to refuse certain work schedules, especially at night or on weekends and holidays.
However, the Government now seeks to clarify that this flexibility should “align with special work time arrangements arising from the business’s operating period or the nature of the employee’s duties, particularly in night or regular weekend and holiday work.”
- Strike law amendment
1) Expanding minimum services to elderly, child, and disabled care (through an expanded concept of “indispensable social needs”). The Government wants to include nurseries and care homes in minimum services during strikes, as well as the food supply sector and private security services for essential goods or equipment.
According to the Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security, the idea is “to be a little more demanding in defining minimum services without undermining the right to strike,” making it “only defensible against other fundamental rights,” such as the right to health, work, or “mobility.”
- Changes to employment contract deadlines
1) Initial fixed-term contracts can now last a year, instead of the current six-month limit, and may be renewed up to three times, according to the Government’s proposal.
2) Increasing the maximum duration of term contracts from two to three years.
3) In uncertain-term contracts (where no specific end date is set), there’s also an extension of the maximum term from four to five years.
- Changes to other employment contract regimes
For workers on intermittent contracts who engage in other activities during inactive periods, their income from such work will no longer be deducted from the compensatory payment received from the employer.
- Individual hours bank returns
The Government aims to reintroduce the individual hours bank but with different terms than before.
The proposed framework allows for an individual hours bank to be established through an agreement between the employer and the employee, allowing the normal work period to increase up to two hours daily, reaching a maximum of 50 hours weekly, limited to 150 hours annually, and includes a reference period not exceeding four months.
“The employer must notify the employee of the need for overtime work at least three days in advance,” the proposal explains.
- Mandatory training hours in micro-enterprises halved
The Government plans to adjust continuous training hours for companies, reducing them to 20 hours per year for micro-enterprises.
