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Claiming Unpaid Wages from the Wage Guarantee Fund in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

If your employer goes insolvent, a state fund pays up to €2,760 a month of unpaid wages. Who qualifies, the one year deadline, and how to claim.

The Portugal Brief 6 min read

Claiming Unpaid Wages from the Wage Guarantee Fund in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You are, or were, an employee in Portugal, of any nationality, and your employer owes you wages.
  • Your employer has been declared insolvent or has started a formal rescue procedure.
  • You worked in Portugal for a company that went insolvent in another EU country.

Not for you if: your employer is late paying but no court or rescue procedure has started. Read Employment Contracts, Pay, and Worker Rights in Portugal for your rights first.

The Wage Guarantee Fund (Fundo de Garantia Salarial) is a state fund that pays part of the wages a failed employer owes you. In 2026 it pays up to €2,760 a month, and up to €16,560 in total. You do not pay into it.

It opens only after a court declares your employer insolvent, or a formal rescue procedure starts. You must claim within one year of the day after your contract ended. You apply to social security (Segurança Social), and the fund must decide within 30 days of receiving a complete file.

When the fund will pay

The fund opens only if one of these three things has happened to your employer:

  • A court has declared your employer insolvent.
  • In a company rescue procedure (Processo Especial de Revitalização, or PER), a judge has appointed a provisional administrator.
  • IAPMEI, the business agency, has accepted your employer into an out-of-court recovery procedure.

If none of these has happened, the fund is closed to you, however long your employer has gone without paying. An employer that just stops paying is a matter for the labour inspectorate (ACT) and the labour court.

As someone owed wages, you are a creditor. A creditor can ask a court to declare the employer insolvent. A lawyer can advise you on this. If you cannot afford one, read the guide to legal aid (apoio judiciário).

The court, the administrator, or IAPMEI tells the fund about the case. That does not start your claim. You still have to apply yourself.

If the company went insolvent abroad. Say you usually worked in Portugal for an employer active in two or more EU or EEA countries. The fund still pays you, even if the insolvency was declared in another of those countries. The fund contacts the other country's authorities itself.

Your nationality and type of residence permit do not matter. What matters is that you worked here as an employee.

What the fund covers

The fund covers money owed to you under your employment contract, or because it was broken or ended. This includes:

  • Unpaid base pay and seniority payments (diuturnidades).
  • Holiday pay.
  • The Christmas and holiday subsidies.
  • The proportional amounts due when the contract ends.
  • Compensation for the end of the contract.

The time window. The fund covers money that fell due in the six months before the insolvency case, the PER request, or the out-of-court request was filed. If nothing fell due in that window, or the total is below the ceiling, the fund also covers money that fell due after it, up to the ceiling. So in practice the ceiling, not the calendar, usually limits what you get.

Redundancy compensation. The fund pays compensation for the end of your contract. But it does not pay the part that comes from the work compensation funds (FCT and FGCT) that employers pay into. The fund checks with those funds itself, and they must answer within 15 days.

How much you can get

The fund has two limits that apply together:

  • Monthly limit: three times the national minimum wage. The minimum wage is €920 in 2026, so the limit is €2,760 a month.
  • Overall limit: six months of your pay. With the monthly limit, the most anyone can receive is €16,560.

If you earned less than €2,760 a month, your limit is six months of your own pay. If you earned more, the excess is not covered by the fund. It stays as a claim against your employer in the insolvency case.

If you are owed different kinds of payment, the fund pays your base pay and seniority payments first.

Deductions. The fund takes off your own social security contributions and the income tax that would have been withheld. It pays these to social security and Finanças for you. What reaches your bank is a net amount.

Declared pay. The fund can cut your payment if what you claim does not match the pay your employer declared to social security over the last 12 months. If you were paid partly in cash, the fund works from the declared amount. It can refuse payment in cases of abuse, such as collusion or a fake contract.

The one-year deadline

You must apply within one year from the day after your contract ended. This is the most common way people lose a valid claim.

The clock pauses when the insolvency case, the PER request, or the out-of-court request is filed. It starts again 30 days after the insolvency decision becomes final, or from the date of the decision in the other two procedures.

Do not try to work out the exact end date yourself if the case drags on. Apply as early as you can.

Your claim against your employer directly also expires one year after the contract ends. Lodge it in the insolvency case as well.

Documents you need

Your application must name you and your employer and list each amount you are owed and what it is for. A single total is not enough.

You must attach one of these, in this order of preference:

  1. A statement from the insolvency administrator or the provisional administrator confirming your claim.
  2. If you are not a formal party to the case, a statement from your employer confirming what is owed.
  3. If you cannot get either, a statement from the labour inspectorate (ACT).

The administrator, employer, or ACT must certify the application, with an electronic signature or a handwritten signature on the back.

Also have ready:

  • Your ID and social security number (NISS).
  • Your contract, payslips, and bank statements showing what was and was not paid.
  • The date your contract ended, and proof of it.

How to claim, step by step

  1. Find out which procedure your employer is in. Ask the insolvency administrator, the court, or IAPMEI.
  2. Write down the date your contract ended. Your one-year clock runs from the next day.
  3. List everything you are owed, month by month: base pay, holiday pay, subsidies, end-of-contract amounts, and compensation.
  4. Get the supporting statement. Ask the administrator first. If there is none, ask your employer. If neither replies, go to ACT.
  5. Apply to social security, at any social security office or online at seg-social.pt, on the official form. Keep proof of the date you applied.
  6. Claim in the insolvency case too, for anything above the fund's limit.

After you apply

The fund must decide within 30 days. The clock starts only when your file is complete, so an incomplete application delays everything. The decision must give reasons. If the fund pays, it tells you the amount, how it will pay, and what it deducted.

Once it pays you, the fund takes over your claim against the employer for that amount. If there is not enough money in the insolvency to pay all workers, the fund's claim ranks equally with what is still owed to the workers. This is a separate process and does not affect you.

Other help while you wait

Common mistakes

Waiting for the insolvency to finish. The deadline runs from the end of your contract, not the end of the case.

Thinking unpaid wages alone are enough. A court insolvency or a formal rescue procedure must have started.

Expecting the fund to pay all your compensation. Part of it may come from the work compensation funds instead.

Sending a bare total. List each amount and what it is for, or your file is incomplete.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change often; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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