Extra holiday for good attendance in Portugal: what the law actually provides in 2026

What the law says now, and what keeps circulating

This is the search where the available information is most out of date. Many guides, including some published in 2026, present the uplift as a right currently in force. It is not. The chronology explains why.

The regime that applied until 2012

It is worth knowing, because many collective agreements reproduce it almost word for word. The former article 238(3) increased the holiday period where the worker had no absences, or only justified absences, in the reference year: three days up to one absence or two half-days, two days up to two absences or four half-days, one day up to three absences or six half-days. A single unjustified absence removed the entitlement entirely.

Paragraph 4 of the same article treated parental leave as effective working time for this purpose. The Commission for Equality in Labour and Employment took that view expressly: a worker who had taken maternity leave could not be penalised on the uplift. That reasoning still matters wherever a collective agreement reproduces the mechanism.

Why the November 2025 news changed nothing

In November 2025, facing opposition to the draft labour reform and a general strike called for 11 December, the government signalled that it would restore the three days for good attendance. The story travelled widely and is the source of half the present confusion.

An announcement in social dialogue does not amend the Labour Code. Nine months of negotiation later, and with no agreement among the social partners, the bill approved on 14 May 2026 went to Parliament without the uplift. Our position at Fed Finance is straightforward: until a text is published in the official gazette, the applicable law is the law in force, and no worker should plan holiday around a legislative intention.

What the Trabalho XXI reform actually does about holiday

The confusion is compounded because the bill does contain a measure on additional holiday days. It is not the same thing, and the difference matters to anyone building a holiday plan.

We track what actually changes in the wording in our guide to the Portuguese Labour Code for 2026.

Where the uplift genuinely still exists

The 2012 repeal removed the mechanism from general law. It did not prohibit it. Several collective agreements kept it or created their own versions, and that is where a worker or an HR manager should look. The construction sector is a well-known example, its agreement providing additional days linked to attendance.

Checking is not difficult, but it has to follow a precise order.

1. Identify the applicable instrument. Check the employment contract and the payslip: the applicable agreement and the professional category are usually stated on one of them.
2. Find the text of the agreement. Published collective instruments appear in the Boletim do Trabalho e Emprego, available from the Directorate-General for Employment and Labour Relations.
3. Look for the clause on the length of the holiday period, not for a clause containing the word attendance: many agreements deal with the point inside the general holiday clause.
4. Read the absence criterion carefully. Some agreements exclude only unjustified absences; others also count justified absences above a threshold.
5. Confirm the reference year. A contractual uplift normally relates to attendance in the previous calendar year, not the year in which the holiday is taken.
6. Where no collective agreement applies, check the individual contract and the staff handbook. A benefit granted repeatedly can harden into company practice.

The principle almost everyone gets backwards

Before discussing additional days, the base rule needs stating, because it generates the most disputes. Article 237(2) of the Labour Code provides that the right to holiday is not conditional on attendance or effective service.

In practice: a worker signed off sick for six months of 2025 has exactly the same 22 working days of holiday in 2026 as the colleague who worked the full year. Reducing holiday in proportion to sick leave is unlawful, and it is one of the errors we see most often in payroll audits. Absences affect pay and may affect a contractual uplift, but not the statutory 22 days.

There is one relevant exception, in article 239(6): where a prolonged impediment begins in one calendar year and ends in the next, the worker becomes entitled to two working days for each full month worked after returning, up to a maximum of 20 days. The pay effect of absences is set out in our article on justified absences and what changed in 2026.

What to do if the company withdraws days it had been granting

This has been the commonest situation since 2013: companies that carried on granting 25 days out of habit and, in a tight year, revert to 22. The answer depends entirely on the source of the right.

A case we followed this year at a shared services company in Lisbon: 25 days granted since 2016, with nothing in the contract and no applicable collective agreement. Management announced a return to 22. The argument was not settled in the Labour Code; it was settled in eight years of payslips and holiday charts. The full picture on entitlements is in our guide to who is really entitled to 25 days of holiday.

Frequently asked questions

Does a justified absence cost me holiday days?

Not the statutory 22 working days, because the right to holiday does not depend on attendance. It may cost a contractual uplift, depending on the criterion the collective agreement sets. Check the clause before assuming the worst.

Does parental leave count as an absence for this purpose?

Under the repealed statutory regime it did not: parental leave was treated as effective working time. Agreements that reproduce that regime tend to be read the same way, and the equality commission has said so. If your employer takes the opposite view, ask for the reasoning in writing.

Do contractual extra days count towards the holiday allowance?

The holiday allowance corresponds to base pay and to elements that are consideration for the specific way the work is performed; it is not calculated per day. Having 25 rather than 22 days does not in itself increase the allowance, unless the agreement expressly says otherwise.

Can I exchange holiday for money if I have more than 22 days?

Article 238(5) allows a worker to waive the taking of days above 20 working days, keeping the corresponding pay and allowance, which are cumulative with pay for the work actually done on those days. It is a waiver of the taking of leave, with limits, not a sale of holiday.

Do the same rules apply in the public sector?

No. Public sector employment has its own rules on the length of, and additions to, the holiday period. Comparing the two regimes directly is one of the commonest sources of error here.

Official resources

• Portuguese Labour Code, consolidated version - official gazette
• CITE - annotated Labour Code and opinions
• DGERT - collective agreements and the Boletim do Trabalho e Emprego
• ACT - Working Conditions Authority
• Government —-Trabalho XXI labour reform bill
• Portuguese Social Security