Working in Portugal - Employment of Women

The Código do Trabalho provides that any exclusion or restriction of access to any type of professional activity or training required to obtain access to that activity practised against a job applicant or employee on the grounds of gender constitutes sex discrimination. Job advertisements and other types of advertising connected to pre-selection and recruitment may not contain, either directly or indirectly, any gender-based restriction, specification or preference.

Specially defined temporary legislative measures that benefit certain underprivileged groups, particularly on the grounds of sex, are not deemed to be discriminatory.

Dispensation from night work

Female employees who are pregnant, in labour or lactating who wish to be dispensed from night work must inform their employer and present a medical certificate.

The Código do Trabalho stipulates that female employees who are pregnant, in labour or lactating are prohibited from performing any activities the assessment of which indicates risks of exposure to agents or working conditions prejudicial to their safety or health.

Activities involving exposure to physical agents likely to cause foetal injury or detachment of the placenta are restricted, particularly: 

• blows, mechanical vibrations or movements, the manual handling of loads involving risks or whose weight exceeds 10 kg, noise, non-ionising radiation, extreme cold or heat, movements and postures, movement within or outside the establishment, mental and physical fatigue and other physical overloading connected to the work carried out.

Female employees who are pregnant, in labour or lactating are also restricted from performing any activities which involve or may involve the risk of exposure to biological agents defined in occupational health and safety legislation; activities which involve or which may involve the risk of exposure to chemical substances (mercury and its by-products, auramine, carbon monoxide, etc.), and activities involving the following industrial processes and working conditions: the production of auramine, work with aromatic policyclic hydrocarbons, exposure to dust or fumes during the calcination and electrorefining of nickel mattes; hard acid process during the manufacturer of isopropyl alcohol and exposure to hardwood dusts.

The performance of activities in which they may be exposed to the following physical agents are prohibited: ionising radiation; high overpressure atmospheres, and activities in which they may be in contact with vectors transmitting toxoplasm and the rubella virus. The performance of any activity in which they may be in contact with chemical agents, particularly lead and lead compounds, is also prohibited.

Underground work in mines

Female employees who are pregnant or lactating are prohibited from carrying out this activity.
The dismissal of a female employee who is pregnant, in labour or lactating always requires a prior report from the body competent in the area of equal opportunities between men and women. Dismissal on the grounds of a fact attributable to a female employee who is pregnant, in labour or lactating is assumed to be without just cause (see file on end of contract).

Useful information:

• Código do Trabalho [Labour Code], Law No 99/2003 of 27 August; Law No 35/2004 of 29 July
• CIDM - Comissão para a Igualdade e Direitos da Mulher [Commission on the Equality and Rights of Women]
  Tel. +351 21 798 3000; Fax: +351 21 798 3098
• CITE – Comissão para a Igualdade no Trabalho e no Emprego [Commission for Equality in Labour and Employment]
  Tel: 800 204 684

Text last edited on: 12/2004

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2007
Reproduction is authorised.