On the 1st of September 2015, Law 120/2015 was published. It is the ninth amendment to the Employment Code, approved by the Law 7/2009, of 12^th February, which reinforces maternity and paternity rights.

Apart from the changes to the Employment Code, the referred Law also corresponds to the third amendment to Decree-Law 91/2009, of 9^th April (which establishes the legal framework for social protection of parenthood) and to the second amendment to Decree-Law 89/2009, of 9^th April (defines and governs the protection of parenthood in the event of maternity, paternity and adoption).

In general terms, the following main changes were introduced, which came into force on 6^th September 2015:

• The initial parental leave of 120 or 150 consecutive days, that the mother and father are entitled to after the birth of their child, can be used simultaneously by the parents during the period between the 120 and the 150 days;
• If the mother and the father work in the same company, and the company has less than 10 employees, the use of the parental leave at the same time depends on prior agreement with the employer;
• Employees with children under 12 years of age or, regardless of the age, with children who have a disability or chronic illness who is dependent on him, is entitled to work in part-time or with flexible working hours and cannot be discriminated in terms of appraisals and career development as a result;
• Employees with children up to 3 years of age are entitled to work from home, when this is compatible with the activity and the employer has available resources and means for this purpose, and the employer cannot oppose a request of the employee in this regard;
• The regime of adaptability and the bank hour system may not be applicable to employees with children less than 3 years of age, without the express written agreement;
• The lack of communication, within 5 working days, to the competent authority, of the motive of the non renewal of a fixed term contract in case it relates to a pregnant employee, or an employee who has recently given birth or who is breastfeeding, becomes a serious labour infraction;
• The employer must affix in the company premises all information about the legislation concerning the right to parenthood or include in the Internal Ruling of the company, if it exists, the correspondent legislation.

In addition to the above changes, it should be stressed, though, the following changes introduced in this matter, which will only be in force with the State Budget for the year of 2016:

•  The initial parental leave exclusive for the father, to be used, continuously or interspersed, in the 30 days that follow the birth of the child, is increased from 10 to 15 working days, and it is mandatory that 5 are used consecutively and immediately after the birth;
• The initial parental allowance exclusive for the father, provided for in Decree-Law 91/2009 of 9th April and in Decree-Law 89/2009 of 9th April, shall be granted for a period of 15 working days.