A new handbook spells out the rules of domestic work in Portugal

Portugal’s labour inspectorate has released an easy-to-read handbook that gathers, for the first time in one place, everything the law says about working inside a private household – information many foreign workers and employers have struggled to piece together on their own.Portugal’s labour inspectorate has released an easy-to-read handbook that gathers, for the first time in one place, everything the law says about working inside a private household – information many foreign workers and employers have struggled to piece together on their own.

Why the publication matters now

The Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho (ACT)Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho (ACT) timed the launch to coincide with International Domestic Workers Day on 16 June, underscoring a sector that often operates out of public view. Although Portugal’s overall unemployment rate hovered around 6.4 percent last year according to the national statistics office (INE), domestic service remains one of the country’s most informal job niches, relying heavily on migrants from Brazil, Cape Verde, Nepal and the Philippines. International Labour Organization data suggest roughly ninety-thousand people earn a living cleaning, cooking or caring for children and older adults in Portuguese homes, many without written contracts. ACT officials say the new guide aims to bring that hidden economy closer to full legal compliance.

What the guide actually covers

Spread across plain-language chapters, the handbook clarifies how to formalise a work relationship, what minimum pay must look like, and the amount of weekly rest, public holidays and annual leave domestic employees are entitled to under Decree-Law 235/92 and the Portuguese Labour Code. Separate sections spell out procedures for sick days, maternity and paternity leave, on-the-job safety obligations – an area that now extends to ergonomic risks such as repetitive scrubbing – and the less-discussed duties of employees, including respect for family privacy and proper notice before resigning. ACT adds that the publication answers frequent questions about social-security registration, a step that unlocks pension accrual and state health coverage.

How to get it – and why foreign residents should read it

The twenty-page PDF is free to download on ACT’s multilingual website and will be distributed through parish councils, immigrant support centres and vocational-training schools in the coming weeks. For expatriates who employ a cleaner or live-in caregiver, the manual doubles as a checklist of legal obligations, from paying the monthly social-security contribution to issuing electronic pay slips. Fines for non-compliance can reach several thousand euros and, in serious cases, jeopardise a residence permit if the employer is also a foreign national.

Broader context: a sector in flux

Portugal’s domestic-work landscape has been shifting alongside demographic change. Smaller family sizes, longer life expectancy and a sharp rise in remote work – 20.5 percent of the employed population now spends at least part of the week at home – have increased demand for in-home services. At the same time, the government has toughened inspections after ratifying International Labour Organization Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers. ACT carried out more than eleven-hundred household inspections last year, issuing formal warnings in nearly half of the cases, mostly for missing contracts or unpaid social contributions.

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