Portugal Set to Cap Nursing Breaks, Redefine Miscarriage Leave

Few policy tweaks affect a family’s day-to-day routine more directly than the hours you may step away from your desk to feed a newborn or the time you are legally allowed to mourn a pregnancy loss. Portugal’s government, after weeks of tense negotiations with the main trade-union confederation UGT and the employers’ lobby CIP, says it is ready to soften earlier draft rules that alarmed both working parents and human-resources departments. The revised text is expected to reach Parliament later this autumn as part of the wider Trabalho XXI labour-law overhaul.

Why expatriate families should pay attention

For foreigners on Portuguese work contracts, the upcoming changes will determine how long breast-feeding pauses remain protected, whether a medical certificate must be renewed every semester, and what support a non-Portuguese partner can expect after a miscarriage. Because labour rights are attached to the contract rather than nationality, any modification affects all employees. Multinational firms with offices in Lisbon, Porto or the Algarve will need to adjust their internal policies as soon as the legislation is final.

The breast-feeding clock: from unlimited to a two-year ceiling

Current Portuguese law grants two paid hours per workday for amamentação “for as long as breast-feeding lasts”, with a doctor’s note required only after the baby’s first birthday. In July the cabinet proposed a strict two-year cap and an immediate obligation to file a medical certificate every six months. Business groups said the paperwork burden was excessive; unions countered that limiting the right contradicts World Health Organization recommendations to breast-feed until at least 2 years.

After several rounds at the Concertação Social table, the Ministry of Labour signalled “evolution”: the two-year limit appears to stay, but the advance certificate before month 12 is being dropped. Another novelty is the extension of the right to the father or second parent up to the child’s second birthday, doubling the current one-year allowance. Whether the daily pause itself will be lengthened—Communist MPs suggest three hours split into two 90-minute slots—remains an open question as party amendments trickle in.

Gestational-loss leave: three paid days in jeopardy

Since 2023 the Code of Labour allows each parent three fully paid days off for luto gestacional. The government’s first draft tried to erase that article, arguing the existing 14-to-30-day “licença por interrupção da gravidez” is more favourable for the mother and already financed by Social Security. Critics shot back that the partner would be downgraded to unpaid family-care absences—hardly equal treatment. Under pressure, officials now promise a redrafted clause that clarifies the longer licence applies “sempre” (always) to any pregnancy loss, spontaneous or induced, and keeps up to 15 days of justified absence for the other parent, though without guaranteeing salary payment. Women’s groups warn that very early miscarriages, often undocumented by hospitals, could slip through the cracks if the three-day rule vanishes altogether.

The road to law: what happens next?

Labour minister Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho insists the cabinet is “not immobile” but also “will not negotiate eternally”. Once a fresh document is endorsed by UGT and CIP, it will travel to São Bento for a first reading, probably before the state-budget vote in November. Expect parliamentary committees to call medical associations, equality watchdog CITE and HR leaders from the tech and tourism sectors, two industries packed with foreign talent. Final approval could arrive before the New Year, giving companies a narrow window to update employee handbooks.

How Portugal stacks up against neighbours

Expat parents often compare rights across borders. Spain provides one paid hour per day for feeding during the first nine months, extendable to 12 with partial wage cuts; France limits paid breast-feeding breaks to six months and may leave them unpaid if no collective agreement states otherwise. Germany guarantees paid feeding pauses up to the first birthday but no longer. On miscarriage, Berlin recently introduced up to eight weeks of paid leave after a loss beyond week 12, a landmark step. Madrid still routes early losses through ordinary sick-leave, while Paris offers job-protection but little specific time off. Lisbon’s search for a middle ground therefore sits somewhere between the German and Spanish models.

Practical checklist for foreigners working in Portugal

• Verify whether your work contract references the national Code or a sectoral agreement; the latter may already grant more generous breastfeeding or bereavement provisions.

• Keep medical documentation of miscarriages; if the three-day rule disappears, such papers could be essential to trigger the longer Social-Security-paid licence.

• Fathers or same-sex partners should clarify with HR how the new two-year feeding pause applies and whether flexible hours or remote work can substitute on-site breaks.

• Multinational employers should budget for potential unpaid productivity windows: two hours daily for up to two years can add 400+ paid hours per employee.

• If you joined Portugal under a relocation package, ask your tax adviser whether Social-Security contributions already cover the allowances you intend to claim.

Bottom line

Portugal is on the cusp of re-drawing parental-support rights that many expat families have come to rely on. The latest compromise dials back some of the most controversial bureaucracy but keeps the fundamental shift toward a defined two-year horizon for breast-feeding breaks and a broader, yet uneven, approach to miscarriage leave. Keep an eye on the parliamentary calendar—and update those employee manuals sooner rather than later.