Andreia SantosThere has to be a written agreement, and that agreement has to say where you work, what your working hours are, how much you earn and who owns the equipment. The law adds the rest: the employer pays for the equipment and the additional expenses, cannot contact you during your rest period, cannot impose a permanent camera or microphone connection, and cannot pay you less than it would pay for the same role on site. It does not depend on anyone's goodwill – it is in the Código do Trabalho (Labour Code), articles 165 to 171 and 199-A.
What follows is what the law requires of any remote work contract – not what Volkswagen Group Services Portugal puts in its own, which is not published. The specific clauses are something to discuss with the recruiters.
No written agreement, no remote work
Article 166(2) is direct: remote work always depends on a written agreement. It can be part of the initial contract or a separate document – but it is always in writing.
And paragraph 4 says what it must contain, in particular:
- the place where you will usually work, which becomes, for all legal purposes, your place of work;
- the normal daily and weekly working time;
- the working hours;
- the contracted activity and the job category;
- pay, including supplementary and ancillary payments;
- ownership of the work tools and who installs and maintains them;
- how often and how in-person contact takes place.
Note the first point, which is what causes the most confusion in remote roles with a head office somewhere else: the place stated in the agreement is your legal place of work, and it is the one that counts for workplace accidents.
Who pays for the computer, the electricity and the internet
Article 168(1) places equipment and systems on the employer's side, and the agreement must say whether they are supplied by the employer or bought by you, with the employer's agreement on specifications and prices.
Paragraph 2 goes further: all additional expenses you can prove you incur because of them are fully compensated – increased energy costs, a home network at a speed compatible with the service, and maintenance.
Since Lei n.º 13/2023, the individual contract or the collective agreement must set the amount of that compensation when the remote work agreement is concluded. If no fixed amount is set, the comparison is with the expenses of the last month working on site.
There is a figure worth knowing, and it is a tax figure – not the cap on what you can be paid. Portaria n.º 292-A/2023 sets the limits up to which the compensation does not count as income: €0.10 per day for electricity, €0.40 for internet and €0.50 for the computer.
Your rest time is yours, and that is in writing
Article 199-A puts the employer under a duty to refrain from contacting you during your rest period, except in cases of force majeure. Treating you worse for exercising that right is discrimination, and breaching the duty is a serious administrative offence.
There is also article 169-A: remote meetings and tasks that require coordination with colleagues must take place within working hours and should preferably be scheduled 24 hours in advance. If you are called in to the premises, the employer pays the travel costs for the part that exceeds the normal home-to-work journey.
How far remote monitoring can go
Article 169-A(5) is the rule that matters to anyone who will be answering calls from home: monitoring must respect proportionality and transparency, and it is prohibited to impose a permanent connection, during the working day, by image or sound.
Article 170 completes the picture. A visit to your home requires 24 hours' notice and your agreement, can only be for checking the work and the work tools, and only in your presence and within working hours. Capturing images, sound, writing or browsing history to monitor you is a very serious administrative offence.
Remote is not a second-class category
Article 169 guarantees you the same rights as colleagues in the same category or an identical role – training, progression, rest, paid holidays, health and safety. And, expressly, the right to receive at least the pay equivalent to what you would earn on site.
And the agreement is not a prison. Under article 167, if it is open-ended, either party can end it in writing, taking effect on the 60th day.
Can I turn down a remote work proposal without giving a reason?
Yes. Under article 166(6), the worker's refusal does not have to be justified and cannot be grounds for dismissal or a penalty.
Is the expense compensation part of my salary?
No. Article 168 treats it as a cost for the employer and says it does not constitute income for the worker, up to the limit set by ministerial order (portaria).
How much does Volkswagen Group Services Portugal pay in remote work expenses?
It is not published, and we will not make it up. It is a question for the recruiters, and the answer has to be in the written agreement.
Who enforces this?
The ACT (Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho, the Portuguese labour inspectorate). Article 171 gives it responsibility for enforcing the remote work rules, and inspection visits to the home require the worker's consent and 48 hours' notice.
Is the law going to change?
On 14 May 2026, the Council of Ministers approved a labour reform proposal, "Trabalho XXI". A proposal is not law: what is set out above is the regime in force when this text was written. Before you sign, check the consolidated version of the Código do Trabalho in the Diário da República.
- Lei n.º 83/2021, de 6 de dezembro – new remote work regime (articles 165 to 171 and 199-A) – https://files.dre.pt/1s/2021/12/23500/0000200009.pdf
- Lei n.º 13/2023, de 3 de abril – Agenda do Trabalho Digno, amends articles 166-A and 168 – https://files.dre.pt/1s/2023/04/06600/0000200085.pdf
- Portaria n.º 292-A/2023, de 29 de setembro – limits of expense compensation exempt from tax – https://files.dre.pt/1s/2023/09/19001/0000200003.pdf
- "Trabalho XXI" bill, XXV Governo Constitucional – https://portugal.gov.pt/gc25/comunicacao/documentos/proposta-de-lei-trabalho-xxi
- All four opened and read on 2026-09-17.