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Bereavement Leave Calculator

Pick who died and see the days the law justifies, whether they are paid, and what each extra day costs.

The article 251 days are consecutive calendar days, so a weekend inside the period counts. Fill in the adjacent rest days only if an unjustified day falls immediately before or after them: that is what article 256(3) makes cost triple.

Justified and paid days
5 days
Pay lost
€200.00
Statutory ceiling for this relative5 days
Governing provisionArticle 251(1)(b)
Value of one day (pay ÷ 30)€40.00
Pay kept for the justified days€200.00
Days beyond the ceiling (unjustified)3 days
Days that lose pay5 days
Holiday renunciation headroom (article 257)2 days
Loss after using the renunciation€120.00

Article 256(3) pulled 2 of rest or public holiday into the pay-loss period, because an unjustified day fell immediately before or after them. It is why one badly placed day can cost three.

The holiday renunciation in article 257(1)(a) does not cover the whole loss: article 238(5) only allows renouncing the days exceeding 20 working days, which on a 22-day year is two days.

Beyond the pay, the unjustified days also fail to count towards seniority (article 256(1)).

All three paragraphs speak of «consecutive» days, that is calendar days: five days for a death on a Thursday run out on the following Monday.

These figures are the statutory floor and they are gross. Article 250 allows a collective agreement or the contract to grant more days, and a bereavement day is ordinary pay, so it carries income tax and the 11% social security share.

The law speaks in degrees, people speak in family

This is where most answers go wrong. Article 251(1) of the Labour Code does not say «grandparents» or «siblings-in-law»: it says «relative or in-law in the first degree of the direct line» and «other relative or in-law in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line». Someone asking how many days they get for a father-in-law is asking a family question, and the law answers in kinship degrees that have to be translated first. This calculator does that translation: you pick who died in plain words and it returns the governing paragraph and the number of days. The direct line is ancestors and descendants (parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, great-grandparents, great-grandchildren); the collateral line is people who share an ancestor without descending from each other (siblings in the second degree, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews in the third, cousins in the fourth). In-laws are the spouse relatives at the same degree: parents-in-law are first-degree direct line, siblings-in-law second-degree collateral.

The three brackets, and where the right stops

Paragraph (a) grants «up to 20 consecutive days on the death of a spouse not legally separated or equivalent, a child or a stepchild», and 251(2) extends that bracket to anyone living «in a de facto union or shared household» with the worker. Paragraph (b) grants «up to five consecutive days» to the remaining first-degree direct-line relatives and in-laws: parents, parents-in-law, step-parents, sons- and daughters-in-law. Paragraph (c) grants «up to two consecutive days» for «another relative or in-law in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line». Note that the direct line carries no degree limit at all, so grandparents, great-grandparents, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all fall in the two-day bracket, and the second collateral degree brings in siblings and, by affinity, siblings-in-law. And that is exactly where the article stops. An uncle or a nephew is third-degree collateral and a cousin fourth: the Labour Code gives them no bereavement days. That is not an omission on this page, it is the answer, and it answers one of the most searched versions of the question.

Two words that change the arithmetic: «up to» and «consecutive»

The current wording, given by Law 13/2023, says «UP TO 20 days», «UP TO five days» and «UP TO two days». These are ceilings, not credits. A worker who takes three days for a parent has spent three justified days and does not have two banked for later, and taking none banks nothing. The second word is «CONSECUTIVE», and it is the one that costs money: the days run as calendar days from the death, not as working days, so a weekend falling inside the period is consumed by it. Five days for a parent who dies on a Thursday run out on the following Monday, because Saturday and Sunday count. That is why so many people find they need more days than the law grants: not because five days is short, but because they are not five days of work.

They are paid, and here is why we can be certain

The question that follows «how many days» is always «will it be deducted?». It will not, and the certainty comes from two articles read together. Article 255(1) says a justified absence «does not affect any right of the worker, save as provided in the following paragraph», and that following paragraph lists, one by one, the justified absences that do lose pay: illness where the worker is covered by social protection, a workplace accident where there is a benefit or insurance, the assistance in article 252, the absences in article 249(2)(f) and (l) beyond 30 days a year, and absences authorised by the employer. Bereavement absences under article 251 are not on that list. Being ordinary pay, a bereavement day therefore appears on the payslip, counts towards seniority, holiday and the two annual allowances, and carries income tax and the 11 % employee social security share like any other day.

The finding: one extra day can cost three

This is the part no table of bereavement days explains, and the reason this page is a calculator rather than a table. When the days needed exceed the paragraph ceiling, the remainder are unjustified absences, and article 256(1) imposes «loss of the pay corresponding to the period of absence, which is not counted in the worker seniority». That is already two losses rather than one. But 256(3) adds a third: where the unjustified absence is «immediately before or after a day or half-day of rest or a public holiday», 256(2) makes it a serious infringement and 256(3) states that the period of absence counted for the pay loss «COVERS the days or half-days of rest or public holidays immediately before or after the day of absence». Translated into money: an unjustified Friday does not cost one day of pay, it costs the Friday, the Saturday and the Sunday. On a 1,200 € salary that is 120.00 € instead of 40.00 €. Placing the same day mid-week costs 40.00 €. The calculator asks explicitly whether rest days or holidays sit next to the absence, because it is the difference between a number and three times it.

The article 257 way out, and why it is not enough

There is an alternative very few workers know about and the employer cannot refuse. Article 257(1)(a) allows the pay loss to be «replaced by renouncing the same number of holiday days, up to the limit permitted by article 238(5), by express declaration of the worker communicated to the employer»; 257(3) states that «the employer may not oppose the worker request» and 257(4) makes refusal a serious administrative offence; and 257(2) guarantees that using it «does not entail a reduction of the holiday allowance corresponding to the vested holiday period», so you trade rest for cash and keep the allowance. The limit sits in the article it invokes. Article 238(5) only allows renouncing «holiday days exceeding 20 working days», and 238(1) fixes the minimum annual period at 22 working days. The arithmetic is immediate and we could not find it published anywhere: on a statutory holiday year this way out is worth TWO DAYS, once a year. It does not even cover a single badly placed Friday, which costs three. A worker with 25 holiday days under a collective agreement has five days of headroom instead of two.

Pregnancy loss: three days, and for the father too

Law 13/2023 added article 38-A to the Labour Code, recent enough to be missing from almost everything written about bereavement leave. Paragraph 1 gives the worker, «where the leave provided in the preceding article does not apply», the right to be absent «for reasons of gestational bereavement for up to three consecutive days», and paragraph 2 gives the father «up to three consecutive days» as well. Paragraph 3 asks only that the employer be informed and that proof be produced «as soon as possible» through a declaration from a hospital, a health centre or a medical certificate; paragraph 4 makes a breach a serious administrative offence. It is a standalone ground rather than a degree of kinship, which is why it appears as its own option in this calculator.

What this calculation does not do

The following is out of scope, stated rather than approximated. This is the Labour Code regime, that is to say the private sector; in public employment absences run under the General Law on Public Service Employment and may not match. Article 250 makes this regime mandatory but allows it to be improved: «the provisions on the grounds justifying absences and their duration may not be set aside by a collective labour regulation instrument [...] or by an employment contract», which means the figures here are FLOORS and your collective agreement may grant more days, or grant days for relatives the law does not cover. Also out of scope are the other justified absences in article 249(2), which have rules of their own: the 15 consecutive days for a wedding, illness (which has its own calculator, because social security pays it rather than the employer), and urgent assistance to a child, grandchild or member of the household under articles 49, 50 and 252. Finally, proving the death and the deadlines for notifying the employer are procedure rather than arithmetic. The figures shown are gross: a bereavement day is ordinary pay and carries income tax and the 11 % social security share.

Worked example

A worker earning 1,200 € a month loses their father. Article 251(1)(b) grants up to five consecutive days, and one day of pay is worth 1,200 € ÷ 30 = 40.00 €, so the five justified days are worth 200.00 € that the employer keeps paying in full. Now suppose the funeral, the travel and the paperwork require eight consecutive days: the three days above the ceiling are unjustified absences. If one of them sits next to the weekend, article 256(3) pulls the Saturday and the Sunday into the pay-loss period and it becomes five unpaid days, that is 200.00 € lost rather than three days and 120.00 €. The article 257 way out covers at most two days (22 working days of holiday less the 20 the law protects), so 120.00 € of the loss always remains. Two things the example makes visible: the three unjustified days also fail to count towards seniority, and had the deceased been an uncle rather than the father there would not have been a single justified day, because an uncle sits in the third degree of the collateral line and falls outside the article.

Frequently asked questions

How many days of bereavement leave am I entitled to in Portugal?
It depends on who died, and article 251(1) of the Labour Code has three brackets. Up to 20 consecutive days for a spouse, de facto partner, person in a shared household, child or stepchild (paragraph (a) and 251(2)). Up to five days for the remaining first-degree direct-line relatives and in-laws, that is parents, parents-in-law, step-parents, sons- and daughters-in-law (paragraph (b)). Up to two days for other direct-line relatives at any degree and for the second degree of the collateral line, that is grandparents, great-grandparents, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings and siblings-in-law (paragraph (c)). They are consecutive calendar days, not working days, and they are ceilings: the law says «up to».
Do I get bereavement leave for an uncle, a nephew or a cousin?
No. Article 251(1)(c) stops at the «second degree of the collateral line», and an uncle or a nephew is third degree while a cousin is fourth. For the Labour Code an absence for them is unjustified, with loss of pay for those days and no seniority credit. There are two ways to have the days anyway, and both are worth checking before assuming the worst: article 250 allows a collective labour regulation instrument or the contract itself to improve the statutory regime, so read your sector agreement; and article 249(2)(k) treats an absence «authorised or approved by the employer» as justified, although in that case article 255(2) allows it to be unpaid.
Is bereavement leave paid or deducted in Portugal?
It is paid in full. Article 255(1) says a justified absence «does not affect any right of the worker, save as provided in the following paragraph», and paragraph 2 lists the justified absences that do lose pay: illness with social protection, a workplace accident with a benefit or insurance, the assistance in article 252, the absences in article 249(2)(f) and (l) beyond 30 days a year, and absences authorised by the employer. Bereavement absences are not on that list. Being ordinary pay, the day enters the income tax and social security base like any other and counts towards seniority, holiday and the allowances.
I need more days than the law grants. What does it cost?
It costs the pay for the extra days and it can cost considerably more than that. Article 256(1) imposes loss of «the pay corresponding to the period of absence», which this calculator prices at the monthly pay divided by 30, and adds that the period «is not counted in the worker seniority». Paragraph 3 is the one that surprises people: if one of the unjustified days sits immediately before or after a rest day or a public holiday, the pay-loss period «covers» those rest days. On a 1,200 € salary an unjustified Friday costs 120 € rather than 40 €, because it takes the Saturday and the Sunday with it. The same day mid-week costs 40 €. If you can choose the day, choose one that does not touch the weekend.
Can I swap the extra days for holiday days?
You can, and the employer cannot refuse, but the swap is small. Article 257(1)(a) allows the pay loss to be replaced «by renouncing the same number of holiday days, up to the limit permitted by article 238(5), by express declaration of the worker communicated to the employer»; 257(3) forbids the employer from opposing it and 257(4) makes refusal a serious administrative offence; and 257(2) guarantees the holiday allowance is not reduced. The limit sits in article 238: paragraph 5 only allows renouncing «holiday days exceeding 20 working days» and paragraph 1 fixes the annual minimum at 22, so on a statutory holiday year the swap covers two days. A collective agreement granting 25 holiday days widens the headroom to five.
Do the five days include Saturdays and Sundays?
They do. All three paragraphs of article 251(1) speak of «consecutive» days, which are calendar days rather than working days, unlike holiday, which article 238(2) counts expressly in working days. The practical consequence is large: five days for a parent who dies on a Thursday end on the Monday, because the weekend is included, whereas the same five days after a Monday death give the whole working week. It is also why many people need more days than the law grants without five days being, in itself, a short period.
What if a pregnancy is lost?
There is a separate and recent regime. Article 38-A of the Labour Code, added by Law 13/2023, gives the worker, «where the leave provided in the preceding article does not apply», the right to be absent «for reasons of gestational bereavement for up to three consecutive days», and paragraph 2 gives the father «up to three consecutive days» as well. It is enough to inform the employer and produce, «as soon as possible», a declaration from a hospital, a health centre or a medical certificate (paragraph 3); breaching the article is a serious administrative offence (paragraph 4). Where the pregnancy-termination leave of article 38 does apply, that regime governs instead, with its own social security benefit.
Can the employer demand proof or refuse the days?
It can ask for proof; it cannot refuse the right. Bereavement absences are justified by force of law and article 251(3) states that «breach of this article constitutes a serious administrative offence», which puts refusal on the side of an infringement rather than management discretion. In exchange, the duty to notify and evidence the absence lies with the worker, and that is where days get lost: notice should be given as soon as possible and the proof is normally the death certificate or a document showing the family relationship. An employer who wants to grant more days than the law requires may do so: article 250 forbids setting the regime aside, not improving it.
I work in the public sector. Are the days the same?
This calculator applies the Labour Code, that is to say the private sector. In public employment absences run under the General Law on Public Service Employment and the instruments applicable to each career, and we did not model that here precisely so as not to show a number that may not be yours. If you work in public service, confirm with human resources or the applicable regulation before relying on these days. The same caution applies to anyone covered by a collective agreement: under article 250 it may grant more than the law, and what this page shows is the statutory floor.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: 2026-08-28