Accidents at work and compensation.in Portugal

First, your health. Go to the hospital or the health centre and insist that it be recorded that the injuries resulted from a workplace accident, because that clinical record will later be read by people who were not there. Then report the accident to your employer within 48 hours, unless the employer witnessed it or became aware of it within that period. The law does not require written form, but do it in writing and keep proof, because what was only said out loud is hard to prove later. Keep a copy of everything you hand over and afterwards confirm with the employer, in writing, whether the accident was reported to the insurer and on what date.

Strictly speaking, it is the employer who fills in the accident report to the insurer. Your part is to notify the employer of the accident and to check what was written there. Confirm that the description matches what happened: the place, the time, the task you were carrying out and the injuries suffered. An inaccurate report gives the insurer arguments to deny liability. Attach the emergency department reports straight away to support the description of the injuries.

It is always worth it. An apparently slight injury can worsen weeks or months later. Without a record of the accident, the insurer will have good arguments to deny the link between the symptoms and the work when the worsening appears. Notify the employer and ask for the incident to be documented, even if at the time it seems excessive.

The worker can do it themselves, directly to the insurer or to the labour inspectorate (ACT). To do so you need to know which insurer it is, which must appear on your payslip; stating the policy number is good practice, but it is not required by law. If it does not appear, ask the employer for those details or flag the omission to the ACT. The employer's omission is an administrative offence under labour law and does not deprive you of your right to compensation. Do it quickly and in writing, because it is the dates of these notifications that prevent later disputes about time limits.

In an emergency, yes. Go to the nearest service. Once that phase is over, the insurer has the right to direct you to its own clinical services, whose doctors manage the treatment and propose discharge. If you disagree with the discharge, you can challenge it at the conciliation stage in the labour court. Always ask for copies of the emergency department records and of the public-health-service (SNS) reports. Without those documents, the disagreement is hard to sustain.

They are not compulsory; the issue is a different one. If the insurer questions your version of the facts, having someone to confirm it makes a difference. Note down who was present and how to contact them, even if colleagues hesitate to testify against the employer, because there are procedural ways to gather those statements later. Better to have the names and not need them.

You should not pay anything. From the hospital to the pharmacy, whatever the accident requires is borne by the insurer: treatment, medicines and transport to appointments. If you end up advancing expenses because the insurer is slow to organise the care, keep all the receipts, including those for the taxi and the hospital parking. Those amounts are reimbursable and can be claimed in the proceedings. Remember, too, an expense that is often forgotten. The injured person's trips to the court, for the conciliation hearing or the medical board that assesses the incapacity, are also paid, as a rule at the cost of public transport (art.º 39.º da Lei n.º 98/2009).

It counts. The law protects the accident in itinere, that is, the one that occurs on the usual route between home and the workplace, going or returning. Since insurers mainly dispute the route and the time, it is worth reconstructing the journey precisely from the outset. Small detours for acceptable needs, such as dropping a child at school, do not remove the protection.

It can, but it is not automatic. The law presumes that an injury observed at the workplace and during working hours is the consequence of a workplace accident (art.º 10.º, n.º 1 da Lei n.º 98/2009). That presumption also applies to heart attacks and strokes, but the insurer can rebut it by proving that the episode resulted solely from natural illness, with no connection to the work. In practice, the courts decide case by case. That assessment turns on the medical records of the episode and the description of what the injured person was doing at that moment. A heart attack triggered by unusual effort or by an acute spike of stress at work tends to be classified as a workplace accident. An episode explained exclusively by pre-existing heart disease tends not to be, as held in the Lisbon Court of Appeal ruling on a heart attack at work ↗, in a case of severe atherosclerosis where no effort or stress was proven.

It counts, provided it occurs during working time and in the work context, because in teleworking the agreed location is equivalent to the workplace. The difficulty lies in proof, because no one witnessed the accident. Immediately record the time and the task you were carrying out and notify the employer within 48 hours, just as you would for an accident on the company's premises.

Your rights go beyond treatment. Lei n.º 98/2009 provides for medical and surgical care, medicines, transport to appointments and treatment, compensation for the periods of temporary incapacity, a pension in the case of permanent incapacity and pensions for the family in the case of death. As it is not always simple to have the full picture of what the law provides, it is worth confirming at each stage what is, and is not, being paid.

You are. The workplace-accidents regime also applies to domestic service and the employer is required to hold insurance, even when paying by the hour (art.º 79.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). If there is no insurance, the person who engaged the services is liable for the compensation. If that person lacks the means, the Workplace Accidents Fund (Fundo de Acidentes de Trabalho) steps in. The protection also covers the journey between your home and the house where you work, including a road accident on that route, in which case you can claim under the workplace-accident protection and against the insurer of the vehicle at fault at the same time, as explained in the answer about a road accident while working.

The person in whose service the accident occurred is liable, together with their insurer, and it is to that insurer that the accident is reported. The law also protects the journey between the various workplaces of someone who has more than one job (art.º 9.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). On that route, liability lies, as a rule, with the person to whose service the worker was heading. Keep proof from the outset of where you were working and where you were going, because with several employers that is the first dispute.

You do not receive your full salary. During temporary total incapacity, it is the insurer who pays, through compensation of 70% of pay for the first 12 months and 75% thereafter. In practice, you stop receiving your usual payslip from the employer and start receiving from the insurer an amount calculated on your actual pay. That pay includes the base salary, the allowances, the bonuses and the commissions you received regularly. One point to check is whether the calculation starts from full pay or only from the base salary. So, when the first payment arrives, put an old payslip next to the amount the insurer deposited and compare line by line. A small difference, repeated month after month, builds up arrears that can be claimed. The sick leave also does not affect your length of service with the employer, because the period during which the contract is suspended counts for that purpose (artigos 295.º e 296.º do Código do Trabalho). The effect on retirement contributions, however, has nuances, dealt with in the answer about counting towards retirement.

As a rule, up to 18 months, and up to 30 in special situations. The sick leave lasts as long as the temporary incapacity lasts, until discharge or until conversion into permanent incapacity. The amounts the insurer pays during that period are those set out in the answer about who pays during sick leave. Discharge is given by the insurer's clinical services and can be challenged when it does not match the injured person's real condition, as explained in the answer about discharge given while still in pain.

It depends on the type of leave and it is worth distinguishing. In ordinary certified sick leave (baixa médica) the sickness benefit is paid by Social Security and those days are, as a rule, recorded as equivalent to the payment of contributions, counting towards retirement (artigo 17.º do Código dos Regimes Contributivos, aprovado pela Lei n.º 110/2009). In sick leave for a workplace accident the payment falls to the insurer, under Lei n.º 98/2009. That compensation is not a Social Security benefit, so, as a rule, the period generates neither contributions nor a record of earnings, which may leave a gap in your contribution record. Even so, under artigo 12.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 187/2007, if in the same calendar year there are at least 120 days with recorded pay, that year tends to count anyway towards the pension. Length of service at the company, on the other hand, is in principle not prejudiced, as noted in the answer about who pays during sick leave. In a prolonged absence, check the statement of earnings on the Social Security online portal (Segurança Social Direta) and confirm the position with the services. If in doubt, it is worth taking the matter to a lawyer.

You can. Sick leave for a workplace accident is paid by the insurer and does not involve the home checks that apply to Social Security sickness leave. What the law requires of you is to follow the treatment and to attend the appointments, examinations and sessions scheduled (artigo 30.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). Avoid effort incompatible with the injury, because the insurer can use it against you. Keep the proof of attendance.

The insurer, whenever the trip is connected to the accident: appointments, treatment, physiotherapy and also the trips to examinations and to the court. Refusals concentrate on the more expensive transport, such as an ambulance or an adapted vehicle. A clinical report justifying each trip is usually enough to overcome them. What you advance out of your own pocket is reimbursable, provided it is documented.

Not always. In workplace accidents it is the insurer that designates the doctor and the services where the injured person is treated. You may resort to a doctor of your own choice only in limited situations, such as an emergency, the insurer's failure to appoint one, or discharge given while not yet cured. In those cases, the expenses you bear are reimbursable. Even so, you can ask in writing to be transferred to a closer unit when the distance harms the treatment.

You are. The law places on the insurer the supply and renewal of prostheses and other technical aids, and also provides an allowance for adapting the home when the incapacity justifies it. If the limitations go so far as to require moving house, those expenses can also be claimed. None of this is granted, as a rule, without a formal and reasoned request. It is in those requests that technical reports carry weight, because rehabilitation physicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists or engineers demonstrate, item by item, with reports and estimates, the need for each piece of equipment or work.

You can, but under this regime psychological harm comes in by another route. Separate compensation for non-pecuniary damages tends to be available only when the accident results from the employer's fault or from a breach of the safety rules (art.º 18.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). Outside those cases, depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress are assessed as incapacity in the medical evaluation, supported by whatever psychiatric or psychological follow-up is documented. It is that degree of incapacity that is then reflected in the compensation or the pension. Where there is a third party responsible for the accident, for example in a road accident while working, non-pecuniary damages can also be claimed through the civil courts against that third party or their insurer (art.º 17.º da mesma lei), as explained in the answer about compensation for non-pecuniary harm.

It is on your payslip. The identification of the workplace-accidents insurer must appear on it, by a legal obligation arising from the compulsory workplace-accidents insurance regime (Lei n.º 98/2009). As good practice for transparency, it is also recommended to include the policy number. If it does not appear, ask the employer for those details or flag the omission to the ACT, because the omission is an administrative offence under labour law. With those details you can, if necessary, report the accident directly to the insurer.

With no waiting period. The day of the accident is paid by the employer. From the following day, the law requires the insurer to bear the treatment and to pay the compensation during the sick leave. In temporary total incapacity, that compensation corresponds to 70% of pay for the first 12 months. If there are delays and you have to advance expenses, those amounts are recoverable, ultimately in court.

It cannot while the incapacity lasts. Since the sick-leave payments cease on discharge, it is around that date that the dispute usually concentrates. If you have been discharged and are still unable to work, check whether the discharge matches your real condition and challenge it without delay if it does not, on the terms explained in relation to discharge while in pain, because the amounts in arrears accrue default interest and are claimed within the proceedings themselves.

Legitimately, no. While it accepts responsibility for the accident, the insurer is liable for all the care the injury requires, including physiotherapy with no session limit fixed in advance, psychotherapy, medicines and transport to treatment. Cutting off treatment before recovery amounts, in practice, to an early discharge. If it refuses something you need, ask for the refusal in writing and keep your doctor's reports, because it is that refusal and those prescriptions that allow you to demand the treatment or reimbursement in the labour court.

You do not have to accept it. The assessment by the insurer's doctor is only a starting point, because it is the labour court that fixes the incapacity, ultimately through a medical board. Prepare that dispute now, gathering examinations, reports and the list of medication in chronological order, because the expert assessment only values what is documented. If you disagree with the proposed degree, a lawyer can help organise that response, explained in the question about how the medical board works and how the percentage awarded is challenged.

Ultimately, the labour court. The insurer's doctor proposes a percentage when giving discharge, but that proposal is then checked by a court expert, on the basis of the National Table of Incapacities (Tabela Nacional de Incapacidades). Keep the discharge certificate with the proposed percentage, because comparing that figure with the result of the court examination is the simplest way to see whether there is reason to challenge the degree.

It is best to see it as an opening offer and not as the amount due. There are two elements to check: the incapacity percentage proposed by the insurer's doctor and the pay used in the calculations, which may leave out items such as allowances, fixed bonuses or overtime. And the pension results precisely from these two elements, so an error in either is repeated for years. Confirm both figures before accepting the settlement at the conciliation hearing.

You can talk, but no agreement on workplace-accident pensions or compensation takes effect without going through the court. The law requires it to be reached at the conciliation hearing conducted by the public prosecutor and then confirmed by the court. A paper signed alone with the insurer neither binds nor protects you. So, if you are pressured to sign quickly, do not sign. Ask for a copy of the document and take the time the decision needs.

Do not sign without knowing the incapacity that has been fixed for you, because it is from that, together with the pay, that the pension or the capital sum results. In workplace accidents there is first a conciliation hearing at the labour court, chaired by the public prosecutor, who seeks an agreement in keeping with the rights laid down by law and on the basis of the medical examination (artigo 109.º do Código de Processo do Trabalho). Before accepting, compare the proposed incapacity with that of the examination and also check the pay used in the calculations, discussed in relation to the insurer's first offer. If you disagree, say so in the record instead of signing.

You can, and the procedure is designed for that. At the conciliation hearing the points on which there is agreement are recorded (the existence of the accident, the responsible entity, the pay), while the contentious stage is limited to what remains unresolved, often only the degree of incapacity. While that dispute is running, the court can fix a provisional pension on the basis of what is no longer contested, so that you are not left without income.

Without valid insurance, the employer itself is liable, since the law requires it to transfer to an insurer the responsibility for compensation (artigo 79.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). Failing to insure workers is, moreover, a very serious administrative offence under labour law. If the employer does not pay, the Fundo de Acidentes de Trabalho, at the ASF ↗, guarantees the payment of the pensions due, in particular when the company lacks the means, later recovering that amount from it (artigo 82.º da mesma lei). Keep the accident report, the clinical reports and proof of the employment relationship, which support the case in the labour court. As these proceedings tend to be more demanding than those that run against an insurer, it may make sense to seek a lawyer's support early on.

You do not lose your rights over a letter. Disqualifying the accident, that is, stripping it of its qualifying character and removing the right to compensation, means setting aside the compensation on the basis of one of the narrow situations in art.º 14.º da Lei n.º 98/2009, such as intent, breach of the safety conditions or gross negligence, meaning highly reckless conduct that is not to be confused with a lapse of attention. As it is the insurer that invokes this obstructive fact, it is the insurer that has to prove it, not you who has to prove your innocence, as the STJ ruling on the burden of proof for disqualification ↗ has emphasised. When the insurer takes that path, the dispute shifts to the organisation of the work, that is, what training was given, what equipment existed and what instructions were received. Ask in writing for the facts and the specific rule, and keep everything.

ITA (temporary total incapacity) exists while the injuries completely prevent you from working. During that period the insurer pays daily compensation: 70% of pay for the first 12 months and 75% thereafter. It ends with discharge. If the discharge seems premature to you, you can challenge it, as explained in the questions about treatment and rehabilitation, in relation to discharge given while still in pain. Note the exact date of discharge, because it is from that date that the end of the compensation and the following time limits of the proceedings are counted.

In ITP (temporary partial incapacity) you can work, but with reduced capacity, receiving daily compensation equal to 70% of the reduction suffered in your earning capacity. As that reduction is assessed by the insurer's doctor, check on the examination form whether the percentage reflects the loss that the injuries actually cause to your earning capacity.

IPP (permanent partial incapacity) corresponds to permanent after-effects that reduce earning capacity, assessed as a percentage according to the Tabela Nacional de Incapacidades, with a right to a lifelong annual pension. The reduction proposed by the insurer's expert is not final, because it can be corrected in the proceedings and the injured person has the right to nominate a doctor of their own choosing for the board that carries out the final assessment.

IPA (permanent total incapacity) exists in two degrees: total for the usual work, or total for any work at all, the latter with a higher pension. In both there is a right to a lifelong annual pension calculated on the pay, so everything you earned regularly, and not only the base salary, should enter the calculation. At the conciliation hearing, ask a lawyer to review the payslips, because the calculation basis agreed there tends to follow the pension in the years to come.

It is the rule that prevents the reductions from simply being added together. The assessment starts from the capacity the worker had before the accident and each successive coefficient applies only to what remains, not to 100% (the remaining-capacity principle, in the General Instructions of the Tabela Nacional de Incapacidades, Decreto-Lei n.º 352/2007). In figures, two injuries of 20% and 10% in the same accident do not give 30%. The first reduces capacity by 20%, leaving a capacity of 80%, and the 10% of the second applies to that 80%, which gives 8%, for a total of 28%. The same principle applies to someone who already had an incapacity from an earlier accident, because the new accident is assessed on the capacity that remained. As the basis of each coefficient changes the final figure, it is worth checking the calculation in the result of the expert examination.

They are benefits paid by the insurer to those left with permanent incapacity, in 14 instalments a year, that is, 12 monthly payments plus the holiday and Christmas allowances, each equal to one monthly payment. The amount is not freely negotiated, because it is fixed or confirmed by the labour court, which does not validate agreements below what the law requires.

It is the exchange of the lifelong pension for a single payment. It is compulsory, as a rule, for incapacities below 30%, provided the annual pension does not exceed six times the guaranteed minimum monthly pay, as provided in artigo 75.º da Lei n.º 98/2009. In the remaining cases it is allowed only on request and, as a rule, only in part, with the capital calculated by official tables. As the exchange is final, the calculation that matters is a single one. Compare the capital offered with what the pension would pay over the years, including the holiday and Christmas allowances.

The calculation starts from the gross annual pay at the date of the accident, which adds together 12 monthly payments, the holiday and Christmas allowances and the other regular payments (art.º 71.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). The percentages of art.º 48.º are applied to that basis. In temporary total incapacity you receive 70% of pay for the first 12 months and 75% thereafter. In permanent partial incapacity the annual pension corresponds, in practice, to 70% multiplied by the annual pay and by the degree of incapacity. For example, with 14,000 euros a year and an IPP of 10%, the pension would be 980 euros a year, necessarily paid all at once as redemption capital for falling below the limits of art.º 75.º. These figures are illustrative, because the result depends on the pay established and the degree fixed. A lawyer can confirm the figures for your case before conciliation.

A figure often higher than you would expect. For part-time workers with a single employer, the basis for calculating the benefits is, as a rule, the pay they would receive if they worked full time (art.º 71.º, n.º 9 da Lei n.º 98/2009). Someone earning, for example, 10 euros an hour in a house where they work only a few hours a week has the benefits calculated as if they worked full hours at that rate, in the order of 1,760 euros a month (10 euros x 8 hours x 22 days), with the holiday and Christmas allowances also added in the annual figure. Someone working part time for more than one employer has a rule of their own and the calculation tends to be made by the average of the pay actually earned in all jobs in the year before the accident (art.º 71.º, n.os 4, 5 e 8). The pay taken into account can never be lower than the minimum that results from the law. Always check the calculation basis used by the insurer, because this is one of the points where most is lost without noticing.

Yes, as a rule it counts. To calculate workplace-accident compensation and pensions, the law uses a broad concept of pay, covering all payments received regularly (art.º 71.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). The Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal de Justiça) has held that a meal allowance paid regularly forms part of that pay, unlike what happens in general labour law, where it usually does not count as pay. In the count, the courts and the ASF ↗ have taken the allowance as 11 months a year, since it is not due during holidays. It is worth checking whether the insurer included the allowance in the calculation, because the difference can be significant over the years.

It can, at the injured person's request, within the rules for partial redemption (art.º 75.º, n.º 2 da Lei n.º 98/2009). There are two limits. The annual pension left after the redemption cannot fall below six times the minimum wage, and the capital taken cannot exceed what would result from a pension calculated on an incapacity of 30%. In practice, you exchange a slice of the pension for immediate money and keep a minimum lifelong income. Weigh the two scenarios with a lawyer before asking, because the redemption is final as to the part redeemed.

You can, by agreement. When the injured foreigner (or the beneficiary of the pension in the case of death) chooses to leave Portugal for good, the lifelong annual pension can be redeemed as a capital sum, that is, exchanged for a single payment, by agreement with the insurer or with whoever is liable (art.º 75.º, n.º 3 da Lei n.º 98/2009). The agreement then goes through the labour court, which checks the figures before confirming it, as happens with the other agreements on workplace-accident pensions. This route is available even for pensions that could not otherwise be redeemed in full, such as those for incapacity of 30% or more. Before signing, confirm the capital calculation with a lawyer, because you are exchanging a lifelong income for a fixed amount and the figures have to be right.

Provided they result from the accident, they count. The Tabela Nacional de Incapacidades covers physical and psychological after-effects, including chronic pain and post-traumatic stress. The sensitive point is proof, because none of these complaints shows up on an X-ray. What weighs with the medical board are the psychiatry and pain-clinic reports, gathered over the course of the follow-up. That valuation is then reflected in the amount of the compensation or the pension. On the autonomous compensation for non-pecuniary damages when there is employer fault, see the question about non-pecuniary damages in the block of legal questions and time limits.

Yes, as a rule you are. The law says expressly that a prior illness or frailty does not exclude the right to full compensation, unless the worker concealed it (art.º 11.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). When the accident aggravates an injury or illness that already existed, the incapacity tends to be assessed as if everything resulted from the accident, which is the more favourable solution for the injured person. There are exceptions where the worker was already receiving a pension for that injury or was already affected by a permanent incapacity prior to the accident. In those cases the compensation corresponds, as a rule, only to the difference between the incapacity regarded as prior and the one calculated as if everything were attributed to the accident (art.º 11.º, n.º 3). As the medical assessment of these cases can be disputed, it may help to speak to a lawyer before accepting the result of the expert examination.

As a rule, no. The workplace-accidents regime provides only the benefits set by law and the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça has held that non-pecuniary damages do not enter that compensation. There are two important exceptions. If the accident results from the employer's fault, in particular through a breach of the health and safety rules at work, the compensation comes to cover all the damages, including the non-pecuniary ones (art.º 18.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). If the accident was caused by a third party, for example in a road accident while working, non-pecuniary damages can be claimed through the civil courts against that third party or their insurer, while the right to labour compensation remains (art.º 17.º da mesma lei). As the available route depends on who caused the accident, it is worth setting out the situation to a lawyer before proceeding with any claim.

In many cases, yes. The injured person's rights cannot be waived and an agreement without the labour court's confirmation does not bind you. At the conciliation hearing there is still room to argue over the degree of incapacity, the differences in the calculation and the expenses that were left out. If the percentage has already been fixed in a confirmed conciliation, the remaining route is to ask for a review of your degree of incapacity if your condition worsens.

If you disagree with the degree, say so straight away at the medical examination in the conciliation stage and do not accept any agreement on the incapacity, because it is that disagreement that opens the contentious stage, where you can request a medical board (artigo 138.º do Código de Processo do Trabalho). The board is made up of three experts and chaired by the judge. Each party nominates one of the experts who sit on it and the court appoints one if the party does not (artigo 139.º do mesmo Código). Bring the examinations, the reports of the treating doctor and the list of medication related to the accident that are not yet in the file, organised in chronological order, because they are what usually carries weight. And here it makes a difference to have a doctor following you from early on. The expert who represents you on the board should know your case and have a command of the reports. If you do not nominate one, it is the court that appoints one, without that preparation. It is at this stage that the joint work of a lawyer with doctors and experts is most felt, in choosing the expert, preparing the written questions put to the experts and reading the result in technical terms.

These written questions are the specific questions the board's experts will answer and they matter as much as the request itself. First, the time limit. Where there is disagreement only as to the incapacity, the examination by a medical board is requested within 20 days after the conciliation hearing (artigos 138.º e 119.º do Código de Processo do Trabalho). Then, the content. The request should carry the questions as drafted, because it is they that define what the board will examine. Without questions from the parties, the judge only formulates them if the complexity of the expert examination justifies it (artigo 139.º). Practical examples: "Do the after-effects in the right shoulder prevent the injured person from raising the arm above shoulder line?", "Is the persistent lower-back pain causally linked to the accident?", "Does the loss of strength in the dominant hand justify a higher coefficient than the one fixed?". Well-drafted questions oblige the board to rule on what matters to the case. Ask a lawyer to draft them together with the treating doctor, so that no relevant after-effect is left out of the examination.

You can. The multi-purpose certificate assesses a person's incapacity whatever the cause, so the after-effects of a workplace accident serve as the basis for the request. The application is submitted to the health services of your area of residence, addressed to the medical board for the assessment of incapacity, together with a medical report and the examinations supporting it (Decreto-Lei n.º 202/96, na redação do Decreto-Lei n.º 291/2009 ↗). The examination must take place within 60 days. It is worth knowing that the percentage fixed in the workplace-accident proceedings does not pass automatically to the certificate. The health medical board carries out its own assessment, using the same Tabela Nacional de Incapacidades but with specific instructions, which means the result may not coincide. The reports and examinations from the accident proceedings help to support the request. Most tax and social benefits require a degree of 60% or more. The certificate does not affect the accident pension, nor does the pension affect the certificate, because they are assessments with different purposes. If you disagree with the degree awarded, an appeal lies to the Director-General of Health, to be lodged within 30 days.

The insurer to which the employer transferred responsibility bears the cost of all the care: appointments, examinations, surgeries, medicines and also the necessary transport, for as long as the treatment lasts. If there was no insurance, responsibility falls on the employer. Faced with refusals or postponements, ask for the insurer's position in writing and keep all the medical prescriptions, because it is those documents that prove what was left unprovided.

It does, for as long as it is necessary and connected to the accident. Benefits in kind, such as specialist appointments, medicines, physiotherapy or pain treatment, have no time limit and are not exhausted by discharge or by the fixing of the pension. The law requires that whatever is necessary and appropriate to the restoration of health be ensured (art.º 25.º da Lei n.º 98/2009) and the right to benefits continues after discharge (art.º 24.º). This is not a co-payment; the cost is borne in full by the insurer, including the transport to treatment. If the insurer refuses on the ground that the need no longer comes from the accident, the dispute is resolved with medical evidence, ultimately in court.

Yes, all those prescribed because of the accident, including those for continuous use, such as painkillers or antidepressants. If the insurer refuses a medicine, ask the doctor who prescribed it for a note linking that medication to the injuries. At the pharmacy, ask for an invoice in your name and keep the prescriptions, because reimbursement is claimed with those receipts.

The price does not change the rule, because, the surgery being necessary to treat the injuries, it is the insurer that pays. The real risk lies in postponement, because the delay can aggravate the after-effects and the final incapacity. If the surgery is delayed, ask the surgeon for a report setting the clinically acceptable time limit for the operation, because it is that document that shows the urgency and allows action without waiting for discharge. Note, however, that the treatment and the surgery must be carried out or arranged by the insurer, in the clinical services it designates. When it is the injured person who seeks the intervention outside the insurer on their own initiative, the insurer tends to accept no responsibility for the costs or the results. Do it only in a case of proven urgency or of proven lack of interest by the insurer in ensuring the treatment, and document that lack of interest in writing before proceeding.

It is included, provided the disturbance results from the accident, even when the anxiety or the depression only appears months later. Psychological follow-up is part of the care due, as is the associated medication. Ask the doctor to record in the clinical reports the link between the psychological condition and the accident. With that record made early on, the follow-up tends to be ensured by the insurer.

It can, when the clinical condition justifies it, because the care borne by the insurer includes rehabilitation appropriate to the injured person's condition. If the injuries prevent you from getting about, treatment at home is the way to provide it. Ask the treating doctor to prescribe that method expressly, because without a prescription the insurer tends to require you to travel to the clinic. While home treatment is not yet arranged, the insurer must ensure appropriate transport, including a taxi or an ambulance, according to the clinically indicated means.

Here the answer is usually a disappointing no. The insurer bears treatment with a medical indication and alternative therapies are usually left out. The picture changes if it is the treating doctor who prescribes them as part of the rehabilitation, because, with that prescription, they become claimable like any other treatment.

It can. But the discharge by the insurer's doctor is not the last word. If permanent incapacity results from the discharge, the insurer has to report the accident to the labour court within eight days (art.º 90.º da Lei n.º 98/2009) and the proceedings continue, with a medical expert examining you before the conciliation hearing. The same happens when the sick leave exceeds 12 months. If, however, the insurer discharges you with no reduction of capacity, the proceedings do not reach the court on their own and it falls to the injured person to take the initiative to report it, as explained in the question about seeking a lawyer after discharge. If the injured person disagrees with the result, they can request an examination by a medical board (art.º 138.º do Código de Processo do Trabalho). A report from your own doctor, describing the complaints you still have, reinforces that challenge. Two practical points. On the day of discharge, ask for a copy of the certificate and note the date. The following time limits are counted from it. Then keep going to your family doctor or the SNS while the pain lasts. A gap of months in the clinical records is usually read as a sign of recovery. If the after-effects worsen after discharge, the proceedings can still be reviewed.

You can have yourself examined by a doctor of your choice, at your own expense. That opinion serves to challenge the discharge or the degree of incapacity awarded by the insurer's doctors. It also serves a second purpose in the labour proceedings, because on the medical board it falls to the injured person to nominate one of the three doctors who make it up and the lawyer uses the opinion to prepare the written questions the board answers.

You are still in time, but do not let it drag on, because the right of action lapses, as a rule, one year after discharge. It is precisely after discharge that the proceedings reach the labour court for the conciliation hearing, the step where it is hardest to be alone, because what is accepted there conditions the rest of the proceedings. Note that the insurer is only required to report the accident to the court when it considers that after-effects resulted from it, that is, incapacity for work. If it discharges you with no reduction of capacity, the proceedings do not reach the court on their own and it falls to the injured person to take the initiative, always within that one-year time limit. A lawyer who comes in at that point can check whether the discharge matches the clinical condition. If it does not, they can challenge it and report the accident to the court, thereby starting the proceedings. They can also request an examination by a medical board and check whether the pension is calculated on the real pay, with allowances and other regular items.

It pays, if the surgery is a consequence of the accident. Treatment for a relapse or worsening remains the insurer's responsibility, even years after discharge. The clinical link makes all the difference here, so ask the surgeon to state expressly in the report that the new intervention stems from the injuries of the accident. The same documentation then serves to request a review of the incapacity, if the after-effects have worsened.

Yes, in many situations, provided that at the time the accident was reported to the insurer and it accepted the case as a workplace accident. Unpaid treatment connected to the accident can be claimed. If the after-effects worsen, there is also the incident for review of the incapacity, explained in the questions about review. The lawyer checks what stage the proceedings reached and what time limits are still running.

There are, and they are tight. The worker must report the accident to the employer within 48 hours, unless the employer witnessed it or immediately became aware of it. The employer then has 24 hours to report it to the insurer. If the employer misses that time limit, it is the employer who may be held liable.

For the worker, as a rule, the delay does not remove rights. If your state of health or another proven circumstance prevented you from reporting, or if the injury only came to light later, the 48-hour time limit runs from the cessation of the impediment or from the injury coming to light (art.º 86.º, n.ºs 2 e 3, da Lei n.º 98/2009). There is one exception to be aware of. If the lack of timely reporting prevented the employer from providing the injured person with the necessary care, the benefits may be lost to the extent of the incapacity that results (art.º 86.º, n.º 4). The notification to the insurer, on the other hand, is the employer's obligation, and the employer is liable for the consequences of that failure.

One year from medical discharge. It is the discharge, not the date of the accident, that sets the time limit running, which is a frequent mistake. After that year, the right of action lapses. Lapsing means that the right to take the case to court is automatically extinguished when the time limit ends. The court considers that lapse of its own motion. Unlike what happens with limitation periods, this one is not suspended or interrupted by letters, complaints or negotiations with the insurer, save in the cases the law expressly provides. If the incapacity has already been fixed in the proceedings and the after-effects worsen later, it can still be reviewed even after that year has passed. As the one-year time limit runs from discharge and it is easy to let it pass, it is worth clarifying early, with a lawyer, when it starts to run in the specific case.

It can allege the lapse, but it is not always right. The year runs from medical discharge and not from the date of the accident, as explained in the answer about the time limit for claiming compensation. Faced with the refusal, confirm the date of discharge on the discharge certificate and in the other clinical documents and ask the insurer to put the refusal in writing, with its grounds. The lapse is assessed by the labour court, so a letter from the insurer does not, by itself, close the case. If what happened was a worsening of the after-effects after the incapacity was fixed in the proceedings, the usual route is a review of the incapacity.

It depends on the stage at which the case is resolved. A good part of cases end at the conciliation hearing, chaired by the public prosecutor and scheduled after discharge. If there is agreement, the court confirms it and the benefits start to be paid. Only disagreement over the incapacity or over liability opens the contentious stage, which is indeed more time-consuming.

As a rule, no, not least because a workplace-accident case is already, by law, an urgent case (art.º 26.º do Código de Processo do Trabalho). Urgent means that it has priority over ordinary cases and that it proceeds of the court's own motion, that is, it is the court itself that drives it forward, without waiting for applications from the parties. The time limits are also not suspended during the court vacations, unlike what happens in ordinary cases, and the judge may even order steps to be taken during that period. Even so, the courts are overloaded and a party cannot impose the pace on them. What is in your hands is to keep the case well documented (reports and examinations in order) and to respond quickly to whatever the court requests, so as not to give rise to further delays.

You can, but it rarely helps and can prove costly. In labour proceedings there is no 'application to expedite', unlike what happens in criminal proceedings (art.º 108.º do Código de Processo Penal). An application merely demanding speed thus runs the risk of being regarded as manifestly unfounded and of giving rise to an exceptional penalty charge, a monetary penalty for those who use unfounded procedural means (art.º 531.º do Código de Processo Civil, applicable to labour proceedings). So, as a rule, it is not worthwhile.

Yes. The right to a decision within a reasonable time is in the Constitution (art.º 20.º, n.º 4) and in the European Convention on Human Rights. When the delay is abnormal and attributable to the functioning of the justice system, compensation can be claimed from the State (Lei n.º 67/2007). It does not speed up the accident case, but it makes good the harm of the wait. The right to that compensation is subject to a limitation period of three years, counted from the moment the injured party becomes aware of the right (art.º 5.º da Lei n.º 67/2007, which refers to art.º 498.º do Código Civil). In a case still under way, the starting point of that count has nuances, so it is worth assessing early the right moment to exercise it.

As a rule, it does not change the court's pace. The justice system's own timing is the same, with a lawyer or with representation by the public prosecutor. What avoids unnecessary delays is the case arriving well organised and the steps, such as the medical boards, running without failures that require them to be repeated. As a rule, that is time no one can shorten by force.

The insurer's silence does not halt the proceedings. The injured person can report the accident to the labour court and the proceedings begin even without the insurer's cooperation. And the delay proves costly to the one who causes it. The benefits in arrears are then claimed with default interest.

As a rule it is not subject to IRS, because compensation for bodily injury, illness or death is outside the scope of the tax (art.º 12.º, n.º 1 do Código do IRS). As for seizure, salaries and pensions in general can be seized up to one third (art.º 738.º do Código de Processo Civil), but workplace-accident benefits have a special, more protective regime. Art.º 78.º da Lei n.º 98/2009 provides that the credits arising from the right to compensation, which include the pension and the redemption capital, are inalienable, cannot be seized and cannot be waived. The Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) did not hold this protection from seizure unconstitutional, even understood in absolute terms (Acórdão do Tribunal Constitucional n.º 676/2016 ↗). The higher courts have applied it both to the pension and to the redemption capital, and even to amounts already deposited in a bank account, provided it is shown that they come from the compensation (art.º 739.º do mesmo Código). The protection is not, however, treated as unlimited. The case law has already allowed, for example, deducting from the compensation maintenance due to minor children, always safeguarding a minimum for a decent living. If a seizure reaches these benefits, the response is opposition to the seizure, filed within 10 days from notification of the act, invoking the protection from seizure and demonstrating the origin of the amounts (artigos 784.º e 785.º do Código de Processo Civil). As the time limit is short and the application has to be well founded, consult a lawyer as soon as you receive the notification.

No. Equal work, equal pay. If you perform the duties of the category for which you were hired, the pay is that of the category and not pay reduced by the incapacity percentage. The law guarantees the worker with reduced working capacity appropriate working conditions and the worker with a disability or chronic illness the same rights as everyone else (artigos 84.º e 85.º do Código do Trabalho). No rule authorises deducting the reduction from the salary. That loss of earning capacity already has its own answer, the pension fixed in the accident proceedings.

No. Pay cannot be reduced. The employer is prohibited from lowering it, save in the cases provided in the Código do Trabalho or in a collective regulation instrument (art.º 129.º, n.º 1, alínea d). Having a fixed incapacity is not one of those cases. The accident pension is added to the full salary, because it compensates for the reduction and does not replace the pay. If the after-effects prevent you from doing everything you did, the law's answer is assignment to compatible duties, with appropriate working conditions (art.º 84.º). Demotion to a lower category with a pay cut is only possible with your agreement and the authorisation of the ACT (art.º 119.º).

No. The fear of losing the pension by going back to work is one of the most common concerns, but the pension compensates for the reduction the accident left and is added to the salary of the new job. Returning to work does not reduce or suspend it. Even in total incapacity for the usual work, the capacity for other duties was already weighed in fixing the pension. What can change it is the incident for review of the incapacity, for worsening or for proven improvement, at the request of the injured person or the insurer, once in each calendar year (art.º 70.º da Lei n.º 98/2009).

As a rule, no. The employer may only ask for information about your health when specific requirements of the work justify it, and even then it is given to a doctor, who only reports whether you are fit or unfit for the duties (artigos 17.º e 19.º do Código do Trabalho). At the admission examination, the occupational doctor assesses fitness for that post and the fitness record does not reveal clinical data. The criterion is always fitness for the specific duties, assessed by a doctor, not the incapacity percentage you bring from the past.

You do not. The law protects you on three fronts. First, the right to holiday does not depend on attendance or on actual service (art.º 237.º, n.º 2 do Código do Trabalho), so the sick leave does not cut the holiday already accrued. Second, if the accident or the hospital stay arises when you were already taking holiday, the holiday is suspended and those days are not lost; they resume afterwards (art.º 244.º). Third, in a prolonged absence that crosses the end of the year, in the year of return you are entitled to holiday counted as in the year of admission, two working days for each month up to twenty days (art.º 239.º, n.º 6). Note the difference between the holiday that had already accrued and the holiday that would accrue during the leave. The accrued holiday that the leave prevented you from taking is not lost. It gives the right to take it until 30 April of the following year or to the corresponding pay, keeping in either case the holiday allowance (art.º 244.º, n.º 3). In calendar years spent entirely on leave, on the other hand, no new holiday accrues, so on return there is no adding-up of idle years. Remember too that the right to holiday cannot be waived and taking it cannot be exchanged for compensation, not even by agreement (art.º 237.º, n.º 3). If the employer deducts holiday because of the leave, show the figures to a lawyer before accepting them.

The employer cannot dismiss you because of the accident. Dismissal motivated by the workplace accident or by the incapacity that resulted from it is unlawful. The law imposes, indeed, the opposite path. The employer is required to assign the injured person to duties and conditions compatible with their condition (art.º 155.º da Lei n.º 98/2009), retraining them when the old role is no longer possible. A different matter is the lapse of the contract. If the after-effects make the provision of work absolutely and definitively impossible and there is no compatible role in the company to assign them to, the contract may lapse (art.º 343.º, alínea b) do Código do Trabalho), which is not a dismissal. And what if the dismissal letter does arrive, with the accident as the real reason? That does not close the matter. You can challenge it in the labour court and ask for reinstatement or compensation, within the tight time limits explained in the Employment law area. Keep the letter and add it to the folder where you gather the accident papers: notifications, dates, medical reports. It is those documents that show the link between the dismissal and the accident. Preparing that evidence with a lawyer tends to make a difference.

No one can force you to return before medical discharge, because it is the doctor, not the employer, who assesses fitness. If the discharge given by the insurer's clinical services seems premature to you, you can challenge it in the labour court, on the terms already described in relation to discharge while in pain. Keep the reports from the hospital or the family doctor, because they are what document that you were not yet fit to work.

It can and in certain cases must, because the law requires the employer to assign the injured worker to duties compatible with their condition, with no loss of pay or category, including adapting the workplace when there is permanent partial incapacity. If the change serves to demote you or if the role does not respect the medical limitations, ask for the new tasks and hours to be set out in writing, because it is that proof that allows you to challenge them.

If you become unfit for your usual occupation, you are entitled to a lifelong pension. The degree of incapacity is fixed in the labour court, as a rule on the basis of the medical expert's examination. Where there is disagreement, the assessment goes to a medical board. The pension itself comes from the conciliation hearing or from the judge's decision, depending on whether or not there is agreement. It is best to reach that stage accompanied by a lawyer, because the amount proposed by the insurer does not always reflect the real pay.

Only within the general limits of labour law and never in a way that harms your recovery. A transfer that takes you away from the treatment or that serves as retaliation for the accident is abusive. If it happens, respond in writing invoking the treatment under way and keep the transfer order, the central piece of any challenge. Reacting early helps to prevent the change from taking hold while the matter is disputed.

Trips to appointments and treatment connected to the accident are justified absences and the employer must facilitate them. Give the employer medical statements with the days and times of the sessions. If there is a refusal, the matter can be taken to the ACT or the labour court.

During the sick leave, the payment passes from the employer to the insurer and the employer stops, as a rule, paying the items linked to actual work, such as the meal allowance. That does not mean you lose it. According to the position published by the ASF ↗, the insurance regulator, a meal allowance paid regularly forms part of the pay that serves as the basis for the insurer's compensation, as explained in more detail in the question about the meal allowance in the calculation of the compensation. The same applies to the usual allowances and bonuses you received at the date of the accident. It is worth checking the figures with the payslips in front of you, because commissions, regular overtime and other variable items also enter that basis.

Unfortunately it happens, but it is prohibited. Treating a worker worse because of the accident or the after-effects can amount to discrimination or harassment (art.º 29.º do Código do Trabalho). And it does not come only from above. Harassment can come from the employer or the management, but also from colleagues. In that case, the employer remains obliged to act to make it stop and can be liable if it does nothing. Keep concrete evidence, such as written messages or unjustified changes of duties, to make a complaint and claim compensation. The steps and the time limits are explained in the Employment law area.

Changing occupation is possible and sometimes it is the realistic path when the incapacity prevents a return to the previous one. The law provides for the rehabilitation and occupational reintegration of the injured person, with training for duties compatible with the after-effects. These supports depend on the degree of incapacity fixed in the proceedings, since the medical assessment conditions the retraining you may have access to.

You can. The review of incapacity in the labour court exists precisely for the cases where the after-effects worsen after the degree is fixed. What is decisive is the proof, that is, current medical reports showing the difference from what the medical board valued. Returning to work does not close that door, because what counts is how the condition develops medically and not the professional situation. As a rule, there are time limits for applying for a review, so it is best not to wait too long.

It is the legal mechanism that allows the pension or the compensation to be adjusted when the after-effects evolve. In workplace accidents, the incapacity is fixed after discharge, as a rule at the conciliation stage in the labour court. If there is later worsening, relapse or recurrence, a new medical examination can be requested and the benefit is recalculated according to the new percentage. The review works both ways, because the insurer can also request it if there is proven improvement.

There is no need to wait for a minimum period, but there is a frequency limit, because the review can be requested once in each calendar year (artigo 70.º, n.º 3, da Lei n.º 98/2009). It can be requested when your state of health changes in relation to what was assessed: worsening pain, loss of mobility, new surgery related to the injuries or psychological after-effects that appear later. The sooner the request is filed, the sooner the pension can be updated. The request is submitted to the labour court where the proceedings took place, together with recent medical reports documenting the change, because the court will order a new expert examination and a request with no clinical basis is unlikely to succeed.

You are. The law sets no maximum time limit for the review. Once the change in the capacity for work or earning is proven, through worsening, relapse, recurrence or a clinical intervention, the review can be requested even if ten or twenty years have passed since the incapacity was fixed (art.º 70.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). At the other end there is also no minimum waiting period. The only limit is one of frequency, because the review can only be requested once in each calendar year (art.º 70.º, n.º 3). Do not confuse it with the one-year time limit for the initial action, which runs from discharge and applies to those who never had the right recognised. The review presupposes proceedings in which the incapacity was fixed and accompanies the pension throughout life. What needs to be solid is the medical proof of the change. Continuous clinical records, such as regular appointments and dated examinations, are what best link the worsening to the injuries of that accident and not to a later illness.

As a rule, yes. Having received the redemption capital does not close the door to a review when the after-effects worsen later. The basis is the same as in art.º 70.º, the change in capacity, established in a new medical examination, with the benefit recalculated according to the worsening. Here too there is no maximum time limit, although the request can only be made once in each calendar year. Bring to the proceedings the full clinical history, including the percentage that served as the basis for the redemption. Do it with a lawyer, because in these old requests the first battle is to reconstruct the case and the calculation basis.

It counts. For many injuries, the Tabela Nacional de Incapacidades does not fix a single value but a range of coefficients, from a minimum to a maximum, according to the severity. If the same injury has evolved for the worse, a stiffness that has increased or pain that has come to limit you more, the worsening justifies revising the percentage within that range. What decides is the comparative medical proof, the condition assessed when the incapacity was fixed against the current condition. Keep the reports from both moments, because it is that contrast that supports the request.

You can, provided the link is proven. The law compensates the direct or indirect consequences of the accident (art.º 8.º da Lei n.º 98/2009) and the review covers the change in capacity arising from worsening (art.º 70.º). This includes consequential injuries, such as the hip that wears out from years of limping on an injured knee, or the depression that sets in with the chronic pain. The essential thing is the medical proof of the link between the new injury and the initial injury, with the written questions to the experts directed precisely at that link in the review examination.

It also gives the right to compensation, and here it is the law itself that says so. An injury or illness that appears during the treatment following the accident and that is a consequence of that treatment gives the right to compensation (art.º 11.º, n.º 5 da Lei n.º 98/2009). That injury continues to be regarded as resulting from the workplace accident, so it runs in the same proceedings and at the expense of the same insurer. It applies to the infection contracted during surgery, to the injury caused by badly conducted physiotherapy or to the proven adverse effects of medication prescribed in the course of the treatment. Document the chronology, because the key is to show that the injury arose during the treatment and because of it.

Through an adjustment of the capital. Someone with an incapacity below 30% and an annual pension of up to six times the minimum wage receives, as a rule, the pension all at once, through the redemption capital. If the degree rises on review, the pension corresponding to the new value is calculated and the increase, in the example the difference between the 10% already redeemed and the 15% now fixed, is also redeemed as capital, because it remains within those limits (art.º 75.º, n.º 1 da Lei n.º 98/2009). You therefore receive a new single payment for the difference. Ask for the calculation to be shown, because the annual updates of the pensions enter the figures and it is there that the adjustments usually shrink.

No. The redemption is final as to what was redeemed. The capital paid is not returned, even if the state of health improves afterwards. Where there is partial redemption, a proven improvement can only touch the part of the pension that continued to be paid monthly, which can be reduced or extinguished for the future. The part converted into capital is closed. It is also for that reason that a review for improvement is not a risk for someone who received everything all at once.

The pension can be reduced or extinguished, in keeping with the change observed (art.º 70.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). The burden lies with the insurer, which has to prove the improvement in a new examination, in the same review incident and with the same frequency limit, one request in each calendar year. The change takes effect for the future. The benefits received up to the decision are not returned, as a rule. If you are notified of a request of this kind, do not ignore it and consult a lawyer immediately, because you should attend the examination accompanied by your medical reports, since the alleged improvement does not always withstand complete clinical proof.

The decision falls to the labour court, on the basis of an examination carried out by a medical expert appointed by the judge. If you disagree with the result, the injured person can request a medical board, on which each party nominates a doctor. The lawyer prepares the written questions the experts will answer. Expect it to be quick: three doctors, an examination that can be over in minutes and complaints that carry no weight if they are not written down. So bring the chronological file mentioned in relation to the insurer's medical assessment, with examinations, reports and the list of medication, because what is not on paper hardly enters the answers to those questions.

It can object, but it is not the insurer that decides, because the review request runs in the labour court and it is the judge who orders the new examination and fixes the new incapacity. If the insurer alleges that nothing has changed, respond with clinical facts and attach to the application the recent examinations, the new prescriptions and the records of the pain clinic.

The pension is recalculated according to the new percentage. If the worsening changes the degree of incapacity (for example, from partial incapacity to total incapacity for the usual work), specific calculation rules apply and the annual amount can rise significantly. Over years of payment, the difference can amount to thousands of euros.

By right, yes. Anyone aged 50 or over benefits from a bonus factor of 1.5 on the incapacity, applied once only and never beyond the 100% limit, so 20% comes to count as 30%. The rule results from the General Instructions of the Tabela Nacional de Incapacidades (Decreto-Lei n.º 352/2007) and was confirmed by the Acórdão Uniformizador do STJ n.º 16/2024 ↗. That ruling also settled that the factor applies to someone who only turned 50 after the accident, provided they have never benefited from it. In that case it is requested in the review incident, with no need for any clinical worsening of the injuries, because what is at issue is the application of the factor to the percentage already fixed. The insurer's refusal on the ground that the injuries have not worsened does not stand. In figures, a 55-year-old worker with annual pay of 14,000 euros and a reduction of 20% would have a pension of 1,960 euros a year, but with the bonus the 20% count as 30% and the pension rises to 2,940 euros, a difference of 980 euros in each year of pension. There is also another effect. Compulsory redemption, the forced exchange of the pension for a single payment, only covers incapacities below 30% with an annual pension of up to six times the minimum wage (art.º 75.º). On reaching exactly 30%, the pension falls outside that rule and remains lifelong. Check in the case documents whether the 1.5 factor entered the calculation. If it did not, a lawyer can request the correction in the labour court, starting from the medical percentage already fixed.

In the event of death, the spouse or the partner in a legally recognised unmarried partnership, the children and the dependent ascendants are entitled to pensions, in addition to the death benefit and funeral expenses. The proceedings run in the labour court with the involvement of the public prosecutor. It is best for the family to attend the conciliation hearing accompanied by a lawyer, because the offers do not always include all the beneficiaries and it matters to confirm that the data on which the calculation of the pensions rests, the pay, the dependants and the dates, correspond to reality. The lawyer can also report the accident to the court more quickly, without waiting for the insurer.

They are, until the age of 18. If they study, the pension is extended: until 22 in secondary education, until 25 in higher education. Where there is a disability or chronic illness that significantly affects the capacity for work, there is no age limit.

In that situation the law provides, in addition to the pension, a supplementary benefit for the assistance of a third person. The need for permanent support has to be demonstrated before the medical board, with clinical reports describing what the injured person can no longer do alone.

You are protected if you have taken out your own workplace-accident insurance, which the law makes compulsory for those who work on their own account (Decreto-Lei n.º 159/99 e art.º 184.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). That insurance guarantees, with the necessary adaptations, benefits similar to those of employees, including treatment, compensation for incapacity and pensions. Without insurance, the current understanding is that the self-employed worker is left with no one to answer for the compensation, because there is no responsible employer and the Fundo de Acidentes de Trabalho does not cover the mere absence of insurance. The lack of this insurance is also an administrative offence. Those who work on their own account therefore tend to have every interest in keeping the insurance up to date, declaring to the insurer earnings that match the real ones.

No. For those exercising public functions there is a specific regime, that of accidents in service, approved by Decreto-Lei n.º 503/99. It covers workers with a public-employment relationship, by appointment or by a public-functions employment contract, in central, regional and local administration, including the support services of the courts, the public prosecutor's offices, the Assembleia da República and the Presidência da República (art.º 2.º). The basic concepts are similar to those of the general law, including the commuting accident, but the mechanics are different, starting with who pays. Someone working in a public business entity, on the other hand, follows the general workplace-accidents regime.

As a rule there is no insurer. In the accidents-in-service regime it is the public employer itself that bears the costs, because the law discourages transfer to insurance, with exceptions in local administration (art.os 5.º e 45.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 503/99). During absences for an accident in service the worker keeps the right to remuneration, including permanent supplements (art.º 15.º), instead of the 70% of the general law. The benefits for permanent incapacity are borne by the civil-service pension fund (Caixa Geral de Aposentações).

Members of the Armed Forces, including the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, as well as the personnel of the security forces, such as the GNR and the PSP, have their own statutes with specific rules. Even so, the accidents-in-service regime directs that the chapter on the liability of the civil-service pension fund be applied to them, with reservations, for example for the disabled of the Armed Forces (art.º 55.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 503/99). In practice, the classification of the accident begins within the institution itself and the dispute, when necessary, is conducted in the administrative courts. In our experience, these are proceedings with an added bureaucratic layer, in which the time limits and the internal opinions make a difference.

The accidents-in-service regime applies, because Decreto-Lei n.º 503/99 expressly covers the workers of local administration (art.º 2.º), which includes the municipal police and the other staff of the municipal councils and parish councils (juntas de freguesia). There is a particularity here: the law allows municipalities to transfer responsibility to an insurer (art.º 45.º), so it may happen that your interlocutor is an insurance company and not the municipality. It is worth confirming right at the start whether there is a policy and who will take on the treatment.

Incapacities are verified by medical boards specific to the regime, within the scope of the ADSE during temporary incapacity and of the civil-service pension fund in permanent incapacity, which are responsible for assessing and compensating (art.os 21.º, 34.º e 38.º do Decreto-Lei n.º 503/99). Anyone who disagrees with the application of the regime can bring, in the administrative courts, within one year, an action for recognition of the right, which is urgent in nature and exempt from court fees (art.º 48.º). It is an important difference from the general regime, in which the proceedings run in the labour court. A lawyer used to these proceedings helps to choose the moment and the right way to react.

As a rule, yes. The workplace-accident pension is paid by the insurer and the invalidity pension by Social Security, these being benefits with distinct bases. The invalidity pension of the general regime presupposes, however, incapacity of a non-occupational cause (Decreto-Lei n.º 187/2007, de 10 de maio), so the interaction between the two benefits must be analysed case by case. If the insurer alleges duplication in order to reduce what it pays, that position can be challenged, with a lawyer's support.

Those who hold down several jobs tend to assume that only the salary of the post where the accident occurred counts, but in fact all the earnings count. If you work part time or have a second job, that pay enters the calculation of the compensation and the pension. As this is one of the points that can be disputed, keep the payslips and contracts that prove the other earnings.

Pay can be proven by any means. Invoice-receipts, bank statements, the IRS return, the messages arranging services and amounts, as well as witnesses, all serve. What matters is to demonstrate what you earned regularly at the date of the accident, because it is that pay that serves as the basis for the calculation (art.º 71.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). If even so elements are missing, the law directs the judge to fix the value according to their prudent judgement, looking at the nature of the services, the professional category and custom (n.º 5 do mesmo artigo). A value fixed by estimate rarely favours the injured person, so it pays to gather the documents early and take them to a lawyer before the conciliation hearing.

Each accident gives rise to its own proceedings, but the earlier after-effects do not disappear, because, where there is already a fixed incapacity, the new assessment is made on the worker's remaining capacity, a principle explained with a calculation example in the answer about remaining capacity. Bring the full history to the medical board, including the degrees awarded in the earlier proceedings.

The regime is the same, but in higher-risk activities the employer's safety duties are more demanding and a breach of those rules aggravates liability. In those cases the dispute is mainly technical: scaffolding, insulation, signage, safety plans, that is, what was provided for and what actually existed on site.

As a rule, yes. The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) or of other employer safety rules can aggravate liability, so that the compensation is no longer limited to the scheduled amount and comes to cover all the harm, pecuniary and non-pecuniary (art.º 18.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). Keep proof of that failure, such as photographs of the post, the testimony of colleagues and the ACT records showing the lack. As this is a more technical route than ordinary compensation, the sooner that evidence is in a lawyer's hands, the more solid it tends to reach the court.

As a rule, yes. What counts is the substance, that is, if there was subordinate work with set hours, orders and another's premises, there is a right to compensation, even if they disguised it as a self-employment invoice (recibo verde) (Lei n.º 98/2009, artigo 3.º). If the employer took out no insurance, the employer is liable. If it lacks the means, the Fundo de Acidentes de Trabalho guarantees the pensions. Gather everything that shows you were working for them: payslips, messages, schedules, witnesses.

Yes, as a rule you are protected. Workplace-accident protection does not depend on length of service or signed papers; it arises with the start of the provision of work. The employment contract does not require written form, save in special cases (art.º 110.º do Código do Trabalho). The probationary period also counts, because the worker is a worker from the first minute. What changes on the first day is mainly the proof of the relationship and the working of the insurance.

It tends to cover you. In variable-premium insurance, the most common, the employer sends the insurer, by the 15th of each month, the pay sheets for the previous month. Someone admitted today is not yet on any sheet. That does not leave them unprotected, because the cover relates back to the date of admission provided the worker comes to be included on the following sheet, as the ASF ↗ explains. The problem arises if the employer omits them from that sheet. In that case, the courts' understanding is that the insurance does not cover the omitted worker and the one liable for the compensation is the employer itself, with the Fundo de Acidentes de Trabalho as a guarantee if it lacks the means. After the accident, confirm that the admission was reported to Social Security and that the employer included you on the pay sheet sent to the insurer.

By what was agreed, not by what you had already received. The basis of the calculation is the pay normally due at the date of the accident (art.º 71.º da Lei n.º 98/2009), which covers the salary agreed on admission, even if the agreement was verbal. If the value cannot be determined, the judge fixes it according to prudent judgement, having regard to the nature of the services, the professional category and custom (n.º 5 do mesmo artigo). For trainees, apprentices and interns, the law directs the use of the average pay of a worker in the same company or in a similar company with corresponding activity (n.º 7). Keep the job advertisement, the hiring messages and the contacts of those who witnessed the agreement, because the agreed value may have to be proven.

As a rule it is an occupational disease and not an accident. An accident is sudden, whereas tendinitis, deafness or lung disease result from continued exposure to the risk. If the disease is on the official list and you were exposed to the corresponding risk, you do not have to prove the causal link (artigos 94.º e 95.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). Outside the list, you have to prove that it was a direct consequence of the work (artigo 94.º, n.º 2). Here the compensation is borne by Social Security, through the Departamento de Proteção contra os Riscos Profissionais, not by the employer's insurer.

Yes. The same event is both a workplace accident and a road accident and the law does not require you to choose. You claim the labour benefits (treatment, incapacity, pension) from the workplace-accident insurer and claim the civil compensation for the remaining harm, including the non-pecuniary harm, from the person responsible for the accident. What you cannot do is receive twice for the same harm (art.º 17.º da Lei n.º 98/2009). Keep proof of what you received from each side, because it is on that overlap that the dispute usually turns. As a rule, the workplace-accident proceedings are dealt with first. They run in the labour court as an urgent case, are opened by the court of its own motion once the accident is reported and do not depend on establishing fault, so the treatment and the compensation begin to be paid sooner. The civil action against the responsible party requires fault to be argued, and may have to await criminal steps or negotiation with the insurer, which takes longer. The law itself counts on this order, so much so that the labour insurer that pays can be subrogated against the person responsible for the accident if the injured person does not sue them within one year (n.º 4 do mesmo artigo).

The most costly mistake is signing the settlement at the conciliation hearing without properly knowing the incapacity that is being discussed there. In that step the injured person is not alone, because the conciliation hearing takes place before the public prosecutor, who safeguards the worker's rights. In our experience, the pay that serves as the basis for the calculation is, as a rule, well scrutinised. The blind spot is usually the degree of incapacity. Things happen, as a rule, in this order, first the medical examination and the insurer's figures, then the offer at conciliation. The offer rests on the medical examination carried out at the conciliation stage and no one knows better than the workers themselves whether the daily pain or limitations were reflected in that examination. Someone who accepts a degree below the real one fixes the pension too low. What is established in the agreement can only be changed in limited situations, such as the review of the incapacity in the event of worsening. Before signing, confirm that the proposed degree matches your condition. If in doubt, ask for clarification or do not conciliate without speaking to a lawyer, if necessary with the support of an independent medical assessment.

Strictly, it is not compulsory. At the conciliation stage the proceedings run in the labour court even without a legal representative and the public prosecutor intervenes in the conciliation. If there is no agreement at the conciliation hearing and the proceedings go to the contentious stage, the injured person must be represented, but that representation is provided automatically by the public prosecutor when no lawyer is appointed. But note the order of the steps. First comes the treatment until discharge, then a degree of incapacity is proposed, only then is the conciliation hearing reached. At that moment, with the discharge given and the degree already proposed, the injured person sits at the table facing an insurer that brings its own lawyers and doctors. Someone who only seeks a lawyer at that point enters the room with the file assembled by the other side. Having a lawyer from early on allows each of these stages to be prepared and a medical board to be requested in case of disagreement with the proposed degree. If you have already received the discharge or a proposed degree, speak to a lawyer before the conciliation hearing. That is the advantage you can set against the insurer, a lawyer preparing the step with you, with the support of doctors and experts when the case requires it.

No. In workplace accidents the question makes less sense than it seems, because the proceedings, when they come to exist, run in the labour court, starting with the conciliation stage. The lawyer's useful work begins earlier: checking the accident report and confirming whether the discharge matches the injured person's real condition, reacting if it does not. Then, checking at conciliation the calculation the insurer presents.

No one can promise you that. There are, however, two figures to check. The first is the degree of incapacity, which the medical board can fix higher if it came in below the real one. The second is the pay used in the calculation, because a pension counted only on the base salary, without allowances or other regular payments, rises when the pay is corrected.

At NAA, it does not mean doctors or experts integrated into the firm, because it is the lawyers who conduct the case. It means external technical support, mobilised case by case when the proceedings require it, so that the defence does not rest on legal arguments alone. The doctors who collaborate on the case review the discharge and the degree of incapacity proposed by the insurer. The financial experts who collaborate with the lawyers check the pay that serves as the basis for calculating the pension. Where there are psychological after-effects, they are also assessed and documented. Each report is then used at the conciliation hearing or on the medical board.

Because it is the insurer's doctor who gives the discharge and proposes the degree of incapacity, with a direct effect on the pension. An independent medical assessment allows those points to be challenged on a technical basis. On the medical board, the worker can also nominate a doctor of their own choosing. It is at that moment that the doctors who collaborate with the lawyers at NAA come in. The NAA lawyer who comes to be appointed designates the medical expert of their choosing, suited to each case and used to these proceedings, who assesses the injured person before the board and attends prepared with the reports.

Psychological after-effects count towards the assessment of the incapacity, but only if they are documented. Anxiety or depression after a serious accident do not show up in the physical examination. Without a report to prove them, they are left out of the fixed degree and the pension amount.

Also with the bureaucracy, which in workplace accidents is extensive: keeping track of the time limits of each stage, responding to the labour court's notifications, following the periodic examination forms, gathering the pay documentation (payslips, allowances and other regular payments) and preparing the request for a medical board when there is disagreement with the proposed degree.

The advantage lies in stepping in before the essentials are settled. In workplace accidents much is fixed early: the description of the accident in the report and the pay declared to the insurer, on which the pension amount depends. Someone who follows the case from the start can check these elements in time and correct them if necessary, instead of arguing over them already at the conciliation hearing.

At NAA, the first consultation on a workplace accident costs 60 euros (VAT included). This amount is specific to this area, because in other areas of the firm the consultation fee may be different. It serves to understand whether the case has a basis and what steps follow, with no commitment to proceed. If the case stays with NAA, that amount is absorbed into the fees to be paid, which are always agreed transparently before the work begins. The criteria that the Estatuto da Ordem dos Advogados sets out for that are explained in the article on how much a lawyer costs in Portugal. If you are looking for a free lawyer for a workplace accident, the usual route is legal aid ↗, applied for from Social Security by those who lack the means to bear these costs. In that case, contact us all the same, because the consultation itself serves to prepare that application and gather the necessary documents.

It is not. It has a fixed cost of 60 euros (VAT included), known before booking. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the consultation is real work. You leave it with your doubts clarified, the time limits of your case identified, the list of documents to gather, a first reading of the papers the insurer may have sent you and a path mapped out, including what you should not sign for now. The second is a matter of professional conduct. The Statute of the Portuguese Bar Association prohibits touting for clients and free service used as a recruitment tool can enter that territory. A different matter is someone who cannot pay. For those situations there is legal aid, designed so that a lack of means leaves no one without a defence. If you are in that position, tell us before giving up on the booking and we will explain how to apply.

Each firm makes its own choices and it is not for us to judge them. Ours is a deliberate one. The consultation is paid for because it is where the service is provided, the analysis of the time limits, of the accident report and of the insurer's offer, carried out by someone who has no agenda other than yours. Advertising by lawyers is today permitted within limits and touting for clients remains prohibited, so we prefer to persuade through our work. If your income does not stretch to it, that does not keep you away from us. Come to us all the same. Legal aid exists for those cases and we deal with the application together with you.

In that pure form, it cannot exist. The Statute of the Portuguese Bar Association prohibits the pacto de quota litis, the agreement in which the fees depend exclusively on the outcome of the case (art.º 106.º da Lei n.º 145/2015). What the law allows is different, fees fixed up front (even as a percentage of the value of the matter) or base fees with an uplift depending on success, the usual model in these proceedings. An agreement that promises work at zero cost, paid only at the end and exclusively out of a slice of what you receive, is unlawful. Always ask for the fee agreement in writing and read how it is calculated.

There are fifteen formal specialisms recognised by the Portuguese Bar Association (Regulamento n.º 9/2016, with Maritime Law added in 2016): Administrative Law, Tax Law, Employment Law, Banking and Financial Law, European Law, Intellectual Property, Industrial Property and Competition Law, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Company Law, Family and Minors Law, Consumer Law, Environmental Law, Gender Equality Law, Health Law and Bioethics, and Maritime Law. To obtain the title, time alone is not enough. The lawyer needs more than ten years of uninterrupted registration with the Bar Association, an equal period of actual practice in the area and recognition, by the Bar Association itself, of specific competence, theoretical and practical. That competence is assessed in a public oral examination, held before a panel of three lawyers who debate the candidate's record and questions of the specialism. The title is also not for life, because every five years the holder must present a record proving continued practice and training, on pain of losing it. In a workplace accident, the closest specialism is Employment Law. That specialism covers labour law as a whole, the field in which workplace accidents fall, with no separate title just for them, as explained in the next question. Meanwhile, in November 2024, the Bar Association approved new regulations on specialisms, which may raise the requirement to more than fifteen years of registration and broaden the list, but which as at this date do not appear to have been published or to be in force.

There is no such official title. The Portuguese Bar Association does not recognise workplace accidents as a formal specialism. What exists is the specialism of Employment Law, which covers labour law as a whole, from contracts to dismissals, the field in which the compensation of workplace accidents falls, but with no separate title dedicated to the regime of Lei n.º 98/2009. In practice, what matters is the lawyer's concrete experience in that regime: follow-up after discharge, medical boards, the conciliation hearing in the labour court, the fixing of incapacities and the negotiation of pensions with insurers. It is that work, more than any title, that you should look for.

There is no 'best workplace-accident lawyer in Portugal', however much the phrase is searched for. There is the lawyer suited to your case. Look for proven practice in workplace accidents and the support of doctors used to assessing incapacities, because that assessment weighs on the compensation and the pensions. The confidence you feel from the first contact also counts. Anyone looking for a workplace-accident lawyer near them should know that proximity tends to matter less than it seems, because the proceedings run in the competent labour court and not in the lawyer's office, while much of the follow-up can be done at a distance. Some cases are resolved at conciliation and others take their time, so it is worth choosing someone you can count on from beginning to end.