From the labour standpoint, the first steps to have in mind when opening up a shop in Portugal, are the following:
- Enter into employment agreements
Although as a rule, employment agreements are not subject to statutory written form some forms of employment – such as term and part-time employment agreements – are mandatorily required to be entered into in writing. In addition, the employer is required to provide written information on the employment conditions and other relevant information to the employees, at the beginning of the employment relationship. When the employment agreements cover the issues that are subject to information provisions, the employee information duties are deemed to have been fully fulfilled.
Therefore, it is advisable to enter into written employment agreements in all cases.
- Register each employee with the Social Security
Online at www.seg-social.pt within 24 hours preceding the employment agreement’s entry into force in order to proceed to monthly contributions at the general rate of 34.75%, of which 23.75% are borne by the employer and 11% by the employee.
- Adhere to the Work Compensation Fund [“Fundo de Compensação do Trabalho” (“FCT”)] and to the Work Guarantee Compensation Fund [“Fundo de Garantia de Compensação do Trabalho” (“FGCT”)] for each employee
Until the entry into force of the employment agreements, in order to proceed to monthly contributions at the rate of 0.925% to the FCT and of 0.075% to the FGCT. - Subscribe to a work accidents insurance and include each employee • Contract health and safety services • Implement a working time map and recording system • Implement an antiharassment policy (whenever the company has at least seven employees)
Please note the Portuguese Labour Code requires employers to keep the following information on recruitment processes launched (disaggregated by gender of candidates) for a period of 5 years: a) invitations for available positions; b) employment offer advertisements; c) number of candidates for CV appraisal; d) number of candidates called for pre-selection interviews; e) number of candidates awaiting recruitment; f) admission or selection test results and g) social reports performed to assess possible gender discrimination in the access to job positions, training, promotions and work conditions.