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 repeals
An update to the proposal was tabled in May 2026 - Proposta de lei 77/XVII/1.
The updated proposal, repeals Art. 12-A of the labour code (the platform-specific presumption introduced by Law 13/2023) and brings platform work under the general presumption of employment in Art. 12, with platform-specific facts as an extra indicium for economically dependent providers. Furthermore, algorithmic rules in Arts. 127 and 129 apply to all employees.
Article 12(1) of the labour code presumes an employment contract where some of the following are present: a) the activity is carried out in a place belonging to or determined by the beneficiary; b) the equipment and tools used belong to the beneficiary; c) the provider observes start and finish times set by the beneficiary; d) a fixed sum is paid to the provider at regular intervals in return for the activity; e) the provider performs management or supervisory functions in the company's structure.
Article 12(2) creates a sixth item (indicium), available only for platform work: restrictions on the provider's organisational autonomy, which is 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 extra indicium to apply, the provider must be in a state of economic dependence, defined as obtaining, directly and without the intervention of third parties, 80% of their annual income from a single beneficiary. This raises the existing threshold from 50%. Providers below the threshold remain covered by the general presumption.
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.
Updates (1)
The following recent changes to this legislation have been recorded.
- 17 September 2026
On 19 May 2026 the government tabled Proposta de Lei No. 77/XVII/1, which repeals Article 12-A outright rather than amending it, brings platform work under the general presumption in Article 12 where the four listed facts (a closed list, weighed together) now count only as an additional indicium, drops the regularity requirement, and confines the 80% economic-dependence condition to that indicium rather than to the presumption itself; a new Article 12-B defines digital platforms and lists the protections, and the algorithmic-management rules sit in Articles 127(4) and 129(3)-(4) as general employee rights.
- 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
