Portugal has passed a legislation to ensure its working population enjoys a proper work-life balance and the ‘right to rest’.
The Country has recently passed a law according to which, if employers try to get in touch with their employees by texting or calling after work hours, or before their work hours begin, they will have to pay a heavy penalty.
The new law also forbids organisations from monitoring their employees while they work from home.
With labour laws in the country being amended, companies will now be expected to pay for the higher electricity bills and internet expenses incurred due to remote working.
The law could not have been timed better, when the work from home culture has more or less erased the boundary between office and home for employees across the globe.
It has been observed that bosses rarely think twice before calling up their employees, irrespective of the time or hour of the day or night, to enquire about projects or tasks.
Therefore, the country’s Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, announced at a conference in Lisbon that the Portuguese government wishes to make life easier for remote workers, by lessening the disadvantages of the system.
This is also the Portuguese government’s way to promote employees’ ‘right to rest’.
The law will not apply to employers who have less than ten employees in the workforce.
