The Working Conditions Authority (ACT) highlights that the law "establishes the employer's duty to refrain from contacting employees during their rest periods."

"This document aims to disseminate the ACT's understanding of Article 199-A, added to the Labour Code by Law No. 83/2021 of December 6, which establishes the employer's duty to refrain from contacting employees during their rest periods," reads the ACT's technical note.

The ACT notes that the law provides for a "duty for the employer: to refrain from contacting employees during their rest periods, except in cases of force majeure."

This is a "duty that is not limited to teleworking or remote work, but rather has cross-functional application, encompassing all types of work."

"The legislator thus reinforced the guarantee of the effectiveness of the worker's right to rest, ensuring that they enjoy effective rest periods, free from work pressures," the same document states.

ACT understands that the "duty to abstain from contact, enshrined in Article 199-A of the CT, as well as the underlying right to disconnect, are essential to guarantee the enjoyment of workers' rest periods, promoting health, well-being, and work-life balance."

It further clarifies that the "'rest period' is any time during which the employee is no longer 'constrained to work' and is not obliged to be at the employer's disposal."

According to the law, contact should be understood as "any communication or attempted communication that interrupts the full enjoyment of the employee's right to rest, regardless of the means by which it is made, including telephone, visits, email messages, chat notifications, and meeting requests, among others."

"In this regard, it states that the duty to refrain from contact implies 'do not disturb!' and is violated whenever a message is sent to the employee, even if it does not request a response or order immediate action, since 'the legal norm imposes refraining from contact, not refraining from issuing orders or asking questions.'"

It is important to emphasize that the "duty to refrain from contact is not absolute," as it is provided that the "employer may contact the employee during their rest period in the event of 'force majeure situations.'"

"A 'force majeure' situation is characterized by its 'inevitability': it is a natural event or human action that, although foreseeable or even preventable, cannot be avoided, either in itself or in its consequences," explains the ACT.

It further clarifies that the situation in question refers to situations and events that affect the company and "are likely to cause serious destruction or damage."

In the same document, the ACT notes that "these are 'unforeseeable situations, beyond the employer's control, and which the employer was unable to prevent, such as earthquakes, fires, floods, severe weather, power outages, etc.'"

"In these situations, the aim is to safeguard the company's viability and its continued operation, which will protect jobs," the ACT concludes.

They conclude that "urgent situations created by the employer or hierarchical superiors, which could be resolved within the employee's working hours, are not considered 'force majeure situations' for the purposes of not requiring compliance with the duty to abstain from contact."