Lisbon,Aug 24, 2025 (Lusa) - The free fixed-term contracts for pensioners provided for in the draft reform of labour legislation are "an opportunity" for those who want to return to the labour market and eliminate existing inequalities, but they also raise "social concerns", according to experts.
"Although this system represents an opportunity for certain pensioners who wish to return to the labour market or for those who are currently working in irregular situations, it nevertheless raises concerns on a social level, especially for those who, due to insufficient income, are forced to return to work and who are therefore treated differently from other fixed-term employees," says Madalena Caldeira, from the law firm Gómez-Acebo & Pombo (GA-P).
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the coordinating partner for labour law at GA-P's Lisbon office explained that the regime currently in force "only determines that when a worker with an indefinite contract becomes a pensioner, the contract is automatically converted into a fixed-term contract 30 days after both parties become aware of the situation, and is subject to specific rules".
However, the preliminary draft recently presented by the government - which still has to be discussed in social dialogue - stipulates that it will now be permissible to hire pensioners freely (due to old age or disability) under a fixed-term contract, with a duration of six months, renewable for equal and successive periods, without any maximum limit on renewals.
The expiry of the contract only requires prior notice - 60 days on the employer's initiative and 15 days on the employee's - and does not entitle the employee to any compensation.
"In essence, this is the system that already exists for a permanent worker who becomes a pensioner. Now the system has been expressly extended to retirees hired on an “ab initio” basis," notes Madalena Caldeira.
Thus, she says, while "it is true that the regime is essentially the one that already existed for the aforementioned situations of contract conversion due to retirement status", the fact is that "the basic situations are obviously different and eventually it may not make sense that in these new hires there is no right to compensation".
Mariana Paiva, a senior consultant at PLMJ Advogados, notes that currently, a worker who, under an indefinite employment contract, retires due to old age or disability, sees their employment contract converted into a fixed-term employment contract, under the terms of article 348 of the Labour Code.
However, if an employer wished to hire a worker who had already retired due to old age or disability, "they would not be able to do so on a fixed-term basis, as this situation is not legally provided for".
"With the current regime, there is a clear situation of inequality, which was to have, in the same company, a worker with several years of service, but now in a temporary situation; and a recently acknowledged worker, with an indefinite employment contract," she observes.
In this way, Mariana Paiva believes, the amendment now provided for in the preliminary draft "aims to resolve this situation by making it possible for any worker in retirement (whether due to old age or disability) to be hired on a fixed-term basis".
The draft labour law reform approved by the government, which will still be negotiated with the social partners, provides for the revision of "more than a hundred" articles of the Labour Code.
The changes envisaged in the proposal - called "Work XXI" and which the government presented on July 24 as a "profound" revision of labour legislation - range from the area of parenting (with changes to parental leave, breastfeeding and gestational bereavement) to flexible working, training in companies or the trial period of employment contracts, and also provide for a broadening of the sectors that minimum services will cover in the event of a strike.
According to the minister of labour, solidarity and social security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, the aim is to make labour regimes "that are very rigid" more flexible, to increase the "competitiveness of the economy and promote business productivity".
PD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
