Companies with billing losses equal to or greater than 25 % can continue to access recovery assistance until the end of the month in which pandemic-related activity restrictions apply.

The support to companies in Portugal is maintained

The decree-law, which comes into force tomorrow (Saturday), supports companies in Portugal in the relaunch progressive, a measure created over a year ago and scheduled to end in September 2021.

Regardless of the date on which the application for support is submitted, the employer can only benefit from this support until the end of the month in which, by legislative or administrative decision from a government source, measures restricting economic activities are in force. This is how the decree-law is defined.

The restrictions include "rules concerning the opening hours, occupancy or capacity of establishments or events, as well as restrictions on the movement of people on the territory, or the conditioning of access for tourists from the main tourist emission markets, in the context of the pandemic", the decree reads.

The decree-law also establishes that the employer covered by the recovery aid "has a duty to maintain activity in all establishments" except in cases where closure is imposed by the Government, in the context of the pandemic.

Recovery aid allows companies in difficulty due to the pandemic to reduce their employees' working hours and, as previously announced by the government, the law maintains the possibility for companies with billing losses equal to or greater than 75 % to continue to reduce normal working hours up to 100 %.

The government explains that this 100 % reduction is available to all workers if businesses fall into the bar, nightclub, amusement park and event supply or assembly sectors.

For companies in other sectors, the reduction in normal working hours remains limited to 75 % of workers, and companies must keep their establishments open.

Companies accessing support are now prevented from making redundancies within 90 days of the end of support (compared with 60 days previously).

The decree-law extending recovery support was approved by the Council of Ministers on July 29 and promulgated on Thursday by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.