Another day for History. On 28 April 2025, at 11:30 am, the country was left without power, preventing thousands of workers from carrying out their professional duties. Lawyers interviewed by ECO understand, however, that employees who were sent home by their employer must receive their day's salary, since their absence from work was not of their own doing.

“There is no doubt that what happened [this Monday] constitutes a force majeure situation to which employers and employees were unrelated”, says lawyer Gonçalo Pinto Ferreira, partner and coordinator of the employment area at Telles.

“However, under current labour legislation, this situation, precisely because it is beyond the workers’ control, cannot jeopardise their right to remuneration,” he believes.

According to the lawyer, although this situation is not the company's responsibility ("it will even generate losses", he says), in light of labour legislation, they "cannot discount the amount corresponding to that day from the workers' salaries".

Lawyer Pedro da Quitéria Faria has an identical understanding. “They will have to pay the salary for the day or hours in which there was no work, since the inability of the workers to carry out their activity is due to a reason that is not attributable to them, and because it was also a liberality of these companies”, highlights the partner responsible for the labour law department of Antas da Cunha Ecija.

The lawyer also guarantees that he does not see “any possibility of this period not being paid”, given that the workers were available to work, and only did not do so because of the blackout and the employers’ decision.

Lawyer Madalena Caldeira also highlights that 100% of remuneration can be guaranteed in cases where the dismissal was the result of the employer's will, for example, as a precaution.