Notice periods in Portugal: how many days

What the notice period is

The notice period (aviso prévio) is the minimum time that must pass between announcing that the contract will end and actually leaving. It protects both sides: it gives the employer time to replace the leaver and the worker time to look for a new job. The Portuguese Labour Code sets different deadlines depending on who ends the contract and the type of contract, and it puts a price, in euros, on every day of notice left unserved.

Resigning: 30 or 60 days

Anyone leaving a permanent contract must communicate the resignation in writing with the minimum notice of article 400(1)¹:

On a fixed-term contract, the deadline depends on the contract's duration (400(3)): 30 days if the contract lasts at least six months, 15 days if less. For an open-ended term, the elapsed time counts (400(4)).

Two practical points: the deadline is counted in calendar days, not working days; and for management, director or representation roles the collective agreement or the contract may extend the notice up to six months (400(2)): check before fixing your leaving date. Run your own numbers in the notice-period calculator.

Missing the notice costs money

Whoever skips the notice, in whole or in part, owes the employer compensation equal to the base pay and seniority payments for the missing period (article 401)². The maths uses the daily value of the base salary:

That is: monthly base pay ÷ 30 × missing days. The employer may also claim additional damages it proves resulted from the lack of notice (for instance under a permanence agreement). In practice the amount is usually settled in the final pay reckoning, together with accrued holiday and proportional bonuses.

Dismissal: the notice the employer owes

In a collective dismissal, a job-extinction dismissal or a dismissal for unsuitability, the decision must be communicated with the minimum notice of article 363(1)³:

If the employer does not give the full notice, the contract only ends after the missing period elapses, and that period is paid (363(4)). This notice stacks on top of the dismissal severance, which is a separate right, and does not affect access to unemployment benefit. A disciplinary dismissal for just cause has no notice period: it follows its own disciplinary procedure.

Fixed-term expiry and the trial period: separate deadlines

The normal expiry of a fixed-term contract (caducidade) has fixed deadlines, independent of the salary⁴: the employer communicates non-renewal 15 days in advance; the worker, 8 days (article 344). On an open-ended term, the employer gives 7, 30 or 60 days, depending on whether the contract lasted up to 6 months, 6 months to 2 years, or longer (article 345).

During the trial period, either party may end the contract without notice in the first 60 days; after that the employer needs 7 days of notice once the trial has run over 60 days, or 30 days once it has run over 120 (article 114). The worker can leave without notice throughout the trial.

When no notice is owed

• Termination with just cause by the worker (for example, wage arrears): no notice is owed and compensation may be due (article 394).
• Victims of domestic violence: the law expressly exempts them from the resignation notice (article 400(6)).
• Termination by mutual agreement: the parties set the end date freely: there is no legal deadline to serve.

A worked example, start to finish

Imagine a permanent contract with 3 years of seniority and a €1,000 monthly base pay. Seniority is over two years, so the resignation notice is 60 days. If the worker hands in the letter and can only serve 30, 30 days are missing: they owe the employer 1,000 ÷ 30 × 30 = €1,000. Serving the full 60 days means owing nothing, and accrued untaken holiday is paid out in the final reckoning.

Run your own case, including the leave-right-away scenario, in the notice-period calculator.