Dismissed for Expecting? Left-Wing MPs Challenge Portugal's Employers

The parliamentary benches may be small, yet their warning landed loudly this week: pregnant workers and new parents say they are being shown the door at a rate that belies Portugal’s protective labour laws. Livre and Bloco de Esquerda (BE) want the government to tighten the bolts before a shaky economy turns isolated incidents into an accepted practice.

Why the alarm rings louder now

The last 12 months have brought a wave of restructuring plans in retail, call-centres and the hospitality sector—precisely the fields where job security is already fragile. Union hotline operators report a noticeable uptick in calls from women who received termination letters within weeks of declaring their pregnancy or requesting licença parental. The parties on the left argue that what used to be an exception is fast becoming a pattern, one that may deepen Portugal’s persistently low birth-rate of 1.4 children per woman.

Parliamentary voices turn up the volume

In separate press conferences, Livre’s Rui Tavares and BE’s Mariana Mortágua promised new draft bills before the end of the current legislative session. Both propose tripling fines for illegal dismissals, forcing companies to reinstate workers automatically, and making employers carry the burden of proof—not the worker—during legal disputes. “If the Labour Code is already clear, the real problem is enforcement,” Mortágua told reporters, accusing larger corporations of treating existing penalties as ‘‘the cost of doing business.’’

What the law already says—and why that is not enough

Under Article 63 of the Portuguese Labour Code, pregnant employees, recent mothers and anyone on parental leave enjoy special dismissal protection, and every firing must first be vetted by the equality watchdog CITE. The Constitution goes even further, declaring parenthood worthy of ‘special protection from society and the state’. Yet labour inspectors admit privately that their workload has doubled over the past decade while staffing levels remain frozen. The result, say critics, is a lag between complaint and inspection that can stretch to 4-6 months—plenty of time for a company to fold, relocate or erase evidence.

Workplace stories putting faces to the statistics

Natália P., a 29-year-old store supervisor in Braga, learned she was redundant exactly two days after informing her manager of her pregnancy. Despite filing a complaint, she says the company merely paid the statutory severance and reposted the job under a different title. A similar story in Setúbal sparked street protests when a call-centre eliminated an entire afternoon shift predominantly staffed by young mothers. These anecdotes, highlighted in parliamentary debates, demonstrate how dismissal tactics are becoming subtler—contract non-renewals, task eliminations, or “performance” justifications designed to skirt official approval.

Livre and BE’s toolbox for change

The joint strategy being circulated among left-wing MPs includes: creating a public blacklist of employers with repeated infractions; mandating ACT inspectors to fast-track pregnancy-related cases within 15 days; and introducing tax penalties for firms that fail to reinstate unlawfully dismissed parents. BE additionally suggests extending the reversal of the burden of proof to disciplinary procedures, not just outright dismissals. Both parties want the minister of labour to commit to an annual report breaking down dismissals by gender, parental status and company size.

Corporate reaction oscillates between concern and caution

Business associations CIP and CCP concede that "no woman should lose her job for becoming a mother," yet warn that automatic reinstatement could deter investment and complicate genuine restructuring efforts. They advocate instead for better mediation services and targeted subsidies to offset the cost of replacement workers during long absences. Behind closed doors, however, executives voice fears of reputational damage in a country where corporate branding increasingly hinges on social responsibility ratings.

European temperature check

Across the EU, eight member states have already gone beyond the 2019 Work-Life Balance directive by presuming any dismissal within six months of childbirth to be discriminatory unless the employer proves otherwise. Spain adopted that rule in 2022; Italy followed this spring. Portuguese advocates argue that lagging behind neighbours could weaken Lisbon’s negotiating position in upcoming talks on a wider European directive covering fertility-rate incentives.

What happens next—and what workers can do now

Parliament’s labour committee is expected to open public hearings later this month. If the government sides with Livre and BE, a final vote could arrive before Christmas, giving inspectors new powers by early 2026. Meanwhile, employment lawyers recommend that expecting parents: keep written records of every communication with their employer, request CITE opinions immediately upon receiving any dismissal notice, and file for interim relief in court to block a termination until the watchdog’s decision is issued.

Whether the bill survives intact or gets watered down, the debate has already re-ignited a central question for a graying nation: Can Portugal afford to let fear of losing a job become another reason not to have children?