Work accidents in Portugal: rights, deadlines and compensation in 2026

What counts as a work accident

A work accident is one that happens at the workplace during working time and causes injury, functional disturbance or illness that reduces the capacity for work or earning, or death¹. The concept is wider than most people assume, and that is exactly where rights get lost: Law 98/2009 treats as a work accident, among other cases, an accident

• on the normal journey to and from home and the workplace, the so-called commuting accident, including trips to meals;
• while performing work away from the usual workplace, on the employer's orders;
• during work breaks, even away from the workstation;
• while attending vocational training and while acting as a workers' representative.

The regime covers employees, and also the self-employed, who are required to take out their own policy.

Who pays: the insurer, not Social Security

This is the difference that confuses people most. Ordinary sick leave is paid by Social Security. A work accident is paid by the employer's insurer, because work accident insurance is compulsory and the worker contributes nothing towards it¹.

If the employer has no policy, or declared a lower pay to the insurer than the real one, the employer is personally liable for the uncovered part. If the employer is insolvent or unknown, the benefits are guaranteed by the Work Accident Fund. In every case, the work accident procedure is free of charge for the injured worker.

The calculation base: the annual retribution

Every benefit is calculated on the gross annual retribution normally due at the date of the accident¹, not on one month's salary. The law defines it as

12 times the monthly retribution plus the Christmas and holiday bonuses and any other annual amounts the injured worker is regularly entitled to

In practice that is 14 months of pay in the ordinary case. The meal allowance also counts, because it is received regularly, but only for 11 months, since it is tied to actually working and is not paid during holidays². The daily value is that annual retribution divided by 365, and the indemnity is paid for every calendar day, including weekly rests and public holidays.

Accident sick leave: 70%, then 75%

While you are unable to work, the incapacity is temporary. If it is total, it is absolute temporary incapacity and you receive a daily indemnity of 70% of the daily value for the first 12 months and 75% for the period after that¹. If you can work partially, it is partial temporary incapacity and you receive 70% of the reduction in earning capacity, with no step up to 75%.

The indemnity is due from the day after the accident, with no waiting period; the day of the accident itself is paid by the employer. Set against ordinary sick leave, the difference is substantial:

Permanent incapacity: the lifetime pension

When medical discharge leaves definitive after-effects, the benefit stops being daily and becomes an annual lifetime pension, paid in 14 instalments a year¹. The percentage depends on the severity:

The degree of incapacity that feeds this calculation is not chosen by the insurer or by the injured worker: it comes from the National Table of Incapacities in force at the date of the accident and, where there is disagreement, it is set by the labour court after an examination by a medical board.

An example with the figures from the work accident compensation calculator: on €1,000 a month, the annual retribution is €14,000 and the daily value €38.36. Over 60 days of leave you receive €26.85 a day, that is €1,610.96; if the leave stretches to 400 days, the first 365 pay at 70% and the next 35 at 75%, for a total of €10,806.85. Left with a 40% partial permanent incapacity, the annual pension is €3,920 (70% of 40% of €14,000), or €280 per instalment. At a 15% degree the annual pension would be €1,470 and, being below 30% and within the €5,520 ceiling, it is compulsorily converted into a single payment. For absolute incapacity for any work with two dependents the share reaches 100%: the pension equals the retribution, €14,000 a year, plus the €7,090.08 lump sum.

The high permanent incapacity subsidy

In the most serious situations a one-off subsidy is added to the pension¹. The base is 12 times 1.1 of the social support index, that is €7,090.08 in 2026 (the IAS is €537.13)⁴:

• absolute incapacity for any work at all: the full amount;
• absolute for the usual work: between 70% and 100% of that amount;
• partial of 70% or more: the amount multiplied by the degree.

Below a 70% partial incapacity there is no subsidy.

When the pension is swapped for a lump sum

Small pensions are not paid monthly forever. The law imposes a compulsory conversion into a single payment when the partial permanent incapacity is below 30% and the annual pension does not exceed six times the minimum wage (€5,520 in 2026)¹. Above 30% a partial conversion may be requested, provided the remaining pension does not fall below those six minimum wages.

The capital comes from official actuarial tables based on the injured worker's age and sex, so it cannot be derived from the salary: the calculator flags the compulsory conversion, but does not invent the capital.

The steps after an accident

1. Report the accident to your employer as soon as possible, in writing and keeping a copy. The employer must notify the insurer.
2. Attend the clinical assistance arranged by the insurer. Medical, transport and medication costs are borne by it.
3. Keep everything: the report, clinical records, receipts, travel evidence and records of days of work lost.
4. If the employer does not report it, notify the insurer directly or file a complaint with the public prosecutor at the labour court.
5. At discharge, the insurer proposes the degree of incapacity. If you disagree, there is a conciliation attempt before the public prosecutor and, failing agreement, the case goes to the labour court with an examination by a medical board.

The right to benefits lapses one year from the date the obligation to pay them ends, so it is not wise to let things drift.

Tax: these benefits are outside income tax

Indemnities and pensions due as a consequence of bodily injury, illness or death, including those paid under an insurance contract, are outside the scope of IRS³. The exception written into the law is the public administration work accident regime (Decree-Law 503/99), which is taxed.

What about occupational diseases?

The benefits are the same, but the route is different: an occupational disease is recognised and paid by Social Security, through its occupational risk protection department, and not by the employer's insurer. The disease must appear on the official list and there must have been exposure to the risk in the work performed.

Where to go next

To put concrete numbers on your case, use the work accident compensation calculator: pick the incapacity situation, enter the pay and see the daily value, the pension and the subsidy, with the calculation step by step. If the incapacity has no occupational cause, the route is the Social Security disability pension; and if what you are facing is ordinary sick leave, see the sick pay calculator.