Half-Pay Deal: 700 Novo Banco Workers Face October Ultimatum

For hundreds of Novo Banco employees, the beginning of autumn has brought an unexpected decision: accept a one-off cash top-up equal to half of the money they have chased for more than a decade, or keep the dispute alive in court. The management says the payment would close the books on a nagging legacy of the old Banco Espírito Santo (BES). The unions say the clock is ticking and every banker must decide alone. Either way, the episode has reopened uncomfortable questions about how Portugal’s best-known rescue bank treats ordinary staff while preparing to change hands.

A Surprise Offer After Years of Stalemate

Novo Banco’s board slid the document across digital desks in early October, promising roughly 50 % of the sums each of the 700 affected workers had claimed since 2011. Back then, BES cancelled corporate credit cards that functioned as a salary supplement—often written into individual contracts—without negotiation. The resulting pay gap never went away. Now the bank says it will wire the compensation in a single October paycheck if at least 90 % of those staff sign. The management frames the deal as a “fair closure”, noting that continued litigation could drag on for years and carry the risk of partial expiry of claims. Workers, however, must also sign a waiver that eliminates future liability for the bank.

The Fine Print Workers Must Weigh

Lawyers who examined the draft highlight several pressure points. First, the proposal is individual: anyone who declines can keep suing, but the collective threshold of 90 % means a handful of refusals would void the deal for everyone. Second, acceptance extinguishes the right to accrued interest that courts have sometimes awarded in similar cases. Third, the bank promises swift payment, yet the agreement contains a clause allowing Novo Banco to defer if “material adverse changes” hit its capital ratios—a reminder that the institution still carries scars from past crises. Finally, employees close to retirement fear the lump sum could distort tax brackets and social-security contributions. Human-resources advisers have been busy crunching the numbers for each scenario.

How the Unions Read the Proposal

Reaction across the fragmented banking-union landscape has been anything but uniform. The Sindicato Nacional dos Quadros e Técnicos Bancários (SNQTB), which represents the majority of those on the list, calls the offer a “balanced position” that recognizes part of the debt while sparing members a costly court battle. By contrast, the Sindicato dos Bancários do Norte (SBN) stresses it will not block lawsuits by members who want the full amount; the same message comes from Mais Sindicato. Union officials report a “fifty-fifty mood”: staff who long ago wrote off the money welcome an unexpected windfall, while others view 50 % as an insult when the courts have recently sided with employees over similar perks. Each union is running webinars to decode the legal jargon before the signing window closes at month-end.

A Dispute Rooted in the Fall of BES

Understanding the bitterness requires a glance back to the spectacular collapse of BES in 2014. The credit-card perk was one of many benefits that fed a culture of lavish spending inside the Espírito Santo empire. When regulators carved out Novo Banco from the wreckage, the new institution shed loss-making assets but never fully settled staff claims linked to BES. A 2023 labour-court ruling—triggered by a separate 2016 collective dismissal—ordered the bank to reintegrate nine employees and repay salaries covering almost seven years, citing the regularity of the credit-card payments as evidence they were part of base pay. That verdict emboldened other claimants and likely nudged Novo Banco toward the current offer.

What It Means for Novo Banco’s New Owners

The timing is no accident. Lisbon has just green-lighted the sale of the state-backed Fundo de Resolução’s 13.54 % stake to France’s BPCE Group, finally closing the rescue chapter and ending the costly Contingent Capital Agreement. Cleaning up legacy litigation helps showcase Novo Banco as a normal commercial lender rather than a political sore. Financially, management insists the payout is “immaterial” against the bank’s €8 B balance-sheet, but analysts note reputational stakes are higher: executives linked to Lone Star stand to share up to €1.1 B in performance bonuses, a figure that dwarfs the workers’ claim and fuels accusations of double standards. Resolving the credit-card saga could dampen criticism ahead of BPCE’s arrival.

Next Steps and Possible Scenarios

If more than 90 % of employees sign before the deadline, the bank wires the cash in the last week of October and the saga ends—barring any rogue challenges. Should participation fall short, Novo Banco has not said whether it will sweeten the pot or retreat to the courts. Some legal specialists predict the bank could face separate suits that drag well into 2027, a distraction BPCE would rather avoid. For the workers, the decision boils down to certainty now versus the prospect of full recovery later, minus legal fees and stress. As one veteran teller put it, the offer forces staff to choose between “half a loaf today or maybe the whole bread after another ten winters.” Whatever the outcome, the episode is a reminder that the human echoes of the BES collapse are still being heard in Portuguese banking halls.