Description
The Portuguese government presented a broad labour reform package titled "Trabalho XXI" in July 2025. This package serves as the primary vehicle for transposing the Platform Work Directive (UE) 2024/2831. The proposal includes significant amendments to Article 12-A of the Labour Code, refining the "presumption of employment" and introducing new rules for algorithmic management.
The proposed reform establishes a legal presumption of an employment contract for work performed through digital platforms. This presumption is triggered if there are restrictions on the provider's organisational autonomy, evidenced by facts such as:
* The beneficiary determining work periods or periods of absence.
* Constraints on the provider's freedom to accept specific tasks.
* Limitations on the use of subcontractors or substitutes by the provider.
* The beneficiary choosing the clients for the provider.
For this presumption to apply, the activity must be regular and the provider must be in a state of economic dependence, defined as obtaining 80% of their annual income from a single beneficiary.
Workers engaged with digital platforms, whether hired directly or through intermediaries, are entitled to standard labour protections provided they are not incompatible with the nature of the activity. These protections specifically include:
- Compensation for accidents at work.
- Rules regarding the termination of contracts.
- Access to the national minimum wage.
- Statutory holiday entitlements (fears).
- Limits on normal working hours.
- Rights to equality and non-discrimination.
Additionally, independent workers in a situation of economic dependence gain the right to union representation and collective bargaining.
Overall, the reform addresses around 30 key areas. It includes beginning the transposition of two EU directives—one on adequate minimum wages in the EU and another on working conditions in digital platform work—and modernising the Labour Code by reviewing over 100 articles, along with nine additional legal acts related to labour law.
- Keywords
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algorithmic management,
employment status,
regulatory changes
- Actors
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Government
- Sector
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No specific sector focus
Sources
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On November 11th 2024, the new EU directive 2024/2831 on improving working conditions in platform work was published in the Official Journal of the EU. It ented into force on …
Portugal
