‘Right to rest’: inside Portugal’s bold bid to regulate remote working

Newly passed legislation bans bosses from contacting employees outside work hours

Remote worker sitting on sofa with her laptop
(Image credit: Unsplash)

Bosses can be fined for contacting their employees outside working hours by email, text or phone under new laws in Portugual.

The “right to rest” rules, which came into effect on Saturday, have been introduced by Portugal’s Socialist-led government to help improve the nation’s work-life balance as the Covid pandemic forces millions of people to work from home.

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Kate Samuelson is the newsletter editor, global. She is also a regular guest on award-winning podcast The Week Unwrapped, where she often brings stories with a women’s rights angle. Kate’s career as a journalist began on the MailOnline graduate training scheme, which involved stints as a reporter at the South West News Service’s office in Cambridge and the Liverpool Echo. She moved from MailOnline to Time magazine’s satellite office in London, where she covered current affairs and culture for both the print mag and website. Before joining The Week, Kate worked as the senior stories and content gathering specialist at the global women’s charity ActionAid UK, where she led the planning and delivery of all content gathering trips, from Bangladesh to Brazil. She is passionate about women’s rights and using her skills as a journalist to highlight underrepresented communities.

Alongside her staff roles, Kate has written for various magazines and newspapers including Stylist, Metro.co.uk, The Guardian and the i news site. She is also the founder and editor of Cheapskate London, an award-winning weekly newsletter that curates the best free events with the aim of making the capital more accessible.