Employment
Lei Geral do Trabalho 7/15 with fixed-term flexibility and expatriate quotas
The Lei Geral do Trabalho (Lei 7/15) replaced the 2000 statute, liberalising fixed-term contracting and simplifying dismissal for large employers while preserving compensation on termination. Company size determines several obligations, and the foreign-worker quota applies alongside.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The Inspecção-Geral do Trabalho supervises; labour sections of the provincial courts adjudicate.
- Deadline — Fixed-term contracts: maximum durations by employer size, renewable within limits
- Deadline — Dismissal compensation: computed on base salary and years of service
Governing law
- Lei Geral do TrabalhoLei 7/15
- Lei da Protecção Social ObrigatóriaLei 7/04
In practice
The 2015 law's differentiation by employer size was unusual and deliberate: micro and small enterprises face materially lighter dismissal obligations, which was intended to formalise small business but produces sharply different outcomes for identical conduct depending on the employer's headcount.