Pay transparency rules in Portugal
No. As of 30 June 2026 Portugal has not transposed the EU Pay Transparency Directive into national law, and no draft bill has been published. Portugal missed the 7 June 2026 deadline. An older equal-pay law (Law 60/2018) still applies, but it does not meet the Directive's requirements. Employers should prepare now, because the Directive's rules will land once Portugal legislates, and the labour inspectorate (ACT) is already acting on the principle of equal pay.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) is a European law that strengthens the principle of equal pay for equal work between women and men. It forces employers to be open about pay: telling job applicants the salary or salary range before they are hired, banning questions about a candidate's pay history, giving workers the right to ask what others in comparable roles earn on average by sex, and making larger employers report their gender pay gap. Where an unexplained gap of at least 5 percent shows up in a group of workers, the employer must run a joint pay assessment with worker representatives. Each EU country had to write these rules into its own national law by 7 June 2026. Portugal has not yet done so, so the precise Portuguese rules, thresholds and penalties are not yet fixed in law.
Where Portugal stands right now
Portugal has not transposed the Directive and has no published draft bill as of 30 June 2026.
Portugal missed the EU-wide deadline of 7 June 2026 to turn Directive (EU) 2023/970 into national law. Across the major international legal trackers and Portuguese reporting, the position is consistent: no transposing law has appeared in the Diario da Republica (Portugal's official gazette) and no draft bill is visible. Portugal is grouped with the member states showing no published drafting progress. An existing law, Law 60/2018, already requires equal pay for equal work and annual gender pay reporting for employers with 50 or more staff, and the labour inspectorate (ACT) has been notifying companies with unexplained pay gaps to produce action plans. But Law 60/2018 falls well short of the Directive and does not count as transposition. Because the deadline has passed, the European Commission can open infringement proceedings against Portugal, and some Directive principles may be argued to have effect even before national law catches up.
What will change for employers once Portugal legislates
Pay openness in hiring, a salary-history ban, worker information rights and gender pay gap reporting for larger employers.
When Portugal transposes, employers will face a step up from today's rules. In recruitment, you must tell applicants the starting pay or pay range before the interview, set on objective, gender-neutral criteria, and you cannot ask candidates about their current or previous pay. Job adverts and titles must be gender-neutral. Existing staff gain the right to ask for their own pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for workers doing the same work or work of equal value, and you must answer within a set period (the Directive sets two months). Pay-setting and progression criteria must be objective and gender-neutral, and must be made accessible to workers. These base rules apply to employers of all sizes. The exact Portuguese wording, timings and any local thresholds will only be confirmed when the national law is published.
Gender pay gap reporting and the joint pay assessment
The Directive sets reporting by employer size and a 5% unexplained-gap trigger; Portugal's exact rules are not yet enacted.
Under the Directive, employers with 250 or more workers report their gender pay gap every year, with the first report due by 7 June 2027 (covering 2026 data). Employers with 150 to 249 workers report every three years, also first due by 7 June 2027. Employers with 100 to 149 workers report every three years, first due by 7 June 2031. Employers under 100 have no EU reporting duty, though Portugal's existing Law 60/2018 already imposes annual gender pay reporting from 50 staff. If a report shows an average pay gap of at least 5 percent in any category of workers doing equal work that the employer cannot justify on objective, gender-neutral grounds and does not fix within six months, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment with worker representatives. Because Portugal has not transposed, these dates and thresholds are the EU baseline, not yet confirmed Portuguese figures.
How this works when an Employer of Record is the legal employer
The EOR is the legal employer in Portugal and carries the statutory pay-transparency duties for the client's staff.
If you hire in Portugal through an Employer of Record (EOR) like Teamed, the EOR is the legal employer of record under Portuguese law. That means the statutory pay-transparency obligations attach to the EOR for the people it employs on your behalf: providing pay ranges in recruitment, not asking for salary history, answering employee information requests, and, where applicable, gender pay reporting and any joint pay assessment. In practice this is a shared effort. You, the client, control the role, the budget and the pay decision, so you need to give the EOR a defensible pay range and objective, gender-neutral pay criteria. The EOR makes sure the hiring and employment paperwork meets Portuguese requirements. Reporting headcount is normally measured at the legal-employer level, so discuss with your EOR how its Portuguese entity's total workforce affects any reporting band once the law is in force.
At a glance
| Pay shown in job ads | Not yet (Directive: pay range before interview) |
|---|---|
| Salary-history question banned | Not yet (Directive: banned) |
| Gender pay-gap reporting from | Not yet (Directive: 100+ employees) |
| First report due | Not yet (Directive: 7 Jun 2027 for 150+; 2031 for 100-149) |
| Penalties | Unknown (not yet set in Portuguese law) |
Key figures
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Transposition status | Not transposed; no draft bill published (source) |
| EU transposition deadline | 7 June 2026 (missed by Portugal) (source) |
| Pre-existing national law | Law 60/2018 (equal pay; reporting from 50 staff) - does not satisfy the Directive (source) |
| Pay in job ads / before interview (Directive baseline) | Pay range required before interview - not yet in Portuguese law (source) |
| Salary history ban (Directive baseline) | Banned - not yet in Portuguese law (source) |
| Reporting threshold (Directive baseline) | 100+ employees; Portugal's own threshold not yet set (source) |
| Reporting cadence (Directive baseline) | 250+ yearly; 150-249 and 100-149 every 3 years (source) |
| First report due (Directive baseline) | 7 June 2027 (150+ workers); 7 June 2031 (100-149) (source) |
| Joint pay assessment trigger (Directive baseline) | Unexplained gap of at least 5% in a worker category, not fixed within 6 months (source) |
| Penalties | Not yet set in Portuguese transposing law (source) |
Frequently asked questions
Has Portugal passed the EU Pay Transparency Directive into law?
No. As of 30 June 2026 Portugal has not transposed Directive (EU) 2023/970 and no draft bill has been published. It missed the 7 June 2026 EU deadline.
Do I already have to put pay in job ads in Portugal?
There is no national transposing law yet setting this out, so the Directive's specific Portuguese rule is not in force. The Directive requires telling applicants the pay range before interview, and the labour inspectorate (ACT) is already pushing equal-pay principles, so it is wise to start now.
Can I ask candidates in Portugal about their current salary?
The Directive bans asking about pay history, but Portugal has not yet enacted that ban in national law. Best practice is to stop asking already, as the rule will apply once Portugal transposes and aligns expectations now.
When is the first gender pay gap report due?
Portugal has not set its own dates. Under the Directive, employers with 150+ staff report first by 7 June 2027 and those with 100-149 by 7 June 2031. Portugal's separate Law 60/2018 already requires annual gender pay reporting from 50 staff.
If I use an Employer of Record, who is responsible for compliance?
The EOR is the legal employer in Portugal and carries the statutory duties for the staff it employs for you. You still set the role and pay, so you must give the EOR a defensible, gender-neutral pay range and criteria.
Pay transparency is moving at different speeds across the EU. When Teamed is your legal employer in Portugal, these duties sit with us: compliant pay ranges, the salary-history rule, employee pay-information requests, and reporting where it applies. We track the law as it changes so your hiring stays compliant.
