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Hiring a Domestic Worker in Portugal

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

How to employ a cleaner, nanny, or carer legally: the contract, Social Security registration and rates, pay, hours, holidays, insurance, and ending the job.

The Portugal Brief 9 min read

Hiring a Domestic Worker in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You live in Portugal and want to employ a cleaner, cook, nanny, gardener, or carer directly.
  • You already pay someone to work in your home and want to make it legal.
  • You are a domestic worker and want to know your rights.

Not for you if: you are hiring staff for a business. Read Hiring Your First Employee in Portugal instead.

If you pay someone to work regularly in your home, under your direction, you are their employer. Portugal has a special law for domestic service (serviço doméstico). You must register the worker with Social Security before they start. You then pay contributions every month. On the simplest option, the total is 28.3% of a fixed base of €537.13 a month, or €3.10 an hour. You must also take out work accident insurance. Your worker gets paid holidays, holiday pay, and Christmas pay.

Who counts as a domestic worker

A domestic service contract is one where a person works for pay, on a regular basis, under your direction, for your household's own needs. The law lists tasks such as:

  • cooking;
  • washing and caring for clothes;
  • cleaning and tidying the home;
  • looking after children, older people, or people who are ill;
  • caring for pets;
  • gardening and sewing;
  • supervising these tasks, or running errands linked to them.

These are not domestic service:

  • occasional work, or one specific task done now and then;
  • au pair arrangements;
  • self-employed work or social volunteering.

If you pay a cleaning company, the company is the employer, not you. If a cleaner invoices you on green receipts (recibos verdes), they are self-employed. But if you set their hours and direct their work, the law may treat them as your employee. See Registering as Self-Employed (Recibos Verdes) in Portugal for that route.

You cannot register these relatives as your domestic worker: your spouse, or a partner you have lived with for more than two years; your children, grandchildren, or adopted children; your in-laws and stepchildren; your parents or step-parents; and your siblings or siblings-in-law.

The contract

The domestic service law sets the main rules. For anything it does not cover, the general Labour Code (Código do Trabalho) applies.

  • Form. A permanent contract does not have to be in writing. A fixed-term contract does. Social Security also asks for a written contract if you choose to pay contributions on the real salary.
  • Fixed term. You can agree a fixed term when the work is temporary. You can also agree a fixed term of up to one year in total, including renewals, if it is in writing. A fixed-term contract can be renewed twice. If the worker carries on more than 15 days after the end, it becomes permanent.
  • Live-in or live-out. The contract can be with or without accommodation (alojamento), and with or without meals. It can be full time or part time.
  • Trial period. The Labour Code's trial periods apply. For most permanent contracts this is 90 days. If a live-in contract ends during the trial, the worker must get at least 24 hours to leave the accommodation.

A written contract helps both sides. It should state the tasks, hours, pay, whether the job is live-in, and the start date.

Registering with Social Security

You must tell Social Security about the job before the work starts.

  1. Log in to the Social Security portal (Segurança Social Direta) with your own details.
  2. Go to Trabalho, then Entrada, saída e destacamento de trabalhadores, then Admissão de trabalhadores, then the domestic service option, and choose Comunicar vínculo.
  3. Enter the worker's NISS or tax number (NIF), date of birth, start date, and how you pay them (by hour, day, or month).
  4. Choose the contribution base if you pay by the month: the conventional base or the real salary (see below).
  5. Upload the written contract and a medical certificate of fitness to work, if you choose the real salary.

If the worker is not yet registered with Social Security, you register them, and they receive a letter with their NISS. For a worker from outside the EU, Social Security also asks for the documents required by the foreigners law.

Documents

  • The worker's valid identity document (citizen card, passport, or birth certificate).
  • The worker's and your own tax number, if either of you has no citizen card.
  • For the real salary option: the written contract and a medical certificate of fitness to work.

What you pay Social Security

You choose between two bases.

BaseWhat it isYou payWorker paysTotal
Conventional€537.13 a month, €17.90 a day, or €3.10 an hour18.9%9.4%28.3%
Real salaryThe actual salary, at least the €920 minimum wage22.3%11%33.3%

You deduct the worker's share from their pay and pay both shares together.

  • Hourly workers are always on the conventional base. You must declare at least 30 hours a month, even if they work fewer. At 30 hours, the base is €93 and the total contribution is €26.32 (€17.58 from you, €8.74 from the worker).
  • Daily workers are also on the conventional base.
  • Monthly workers can choose either base. On the conventional base, the monthly total is €152.02 (€101.52 from you, €50.50 from the worker).

The choice matters for the worker. Only workers on the real salary, with a full-time monthly contract, can claim unemployment benefit. All domestic workers can claim sick pay if they meet the conditions. Pensions are based on the salaries declared, so a higher base means a higher pension later.

On the conventional base, holiday pay and Christmas pay are not subject to contributions. On the real salary, they are.

When and how to pay

  • Pay between the 1st and the 25th of the following month. Deadlines that end in August can be met until the last day of August.
  • Pay by Multibanco, homebanking, MB WAY, the Social Security app, or at a Social Security cash desk.
  • If you pay late, you owe late-payment interest.
  • When the job ends, close it on the portal by the 10th of the following month. Until you do, Social Security assumes the job continues and contributions stay due.

Failing to tell Social Security about the job before work starts is a crime. Social Security's guide says it can lead to up to three years in prison or a fine.

Pay, hours, and time off

Pay

  • Full-time pay cannot be less than the minimum wage, €920 a month in 2026. Part-time pay is in proportion to the hours.
  • If you provide accommodation or meals, part of the pay can be in kind. The law caps the value you can count toward the minimum wage: 35% of it for full board, 15% for one main meal a day, 12% for accommodation, and 50% for all in-kind pay together.
  • In-kind pay can never be worth more than the cash part.
  • If you do not give a live-in worker a meal on a rest day or public holiday, you must pay its value in cash.

Hours and rest

  • Normal hours are at most 40 a week. For live-in workers, only time actually worked counts.
  • Your worker must have breaks for meals and rest each day.
  • A live-in worker must have at least 11 hours of rest in a row each night. You can interrupt it only for serious, unforeseen reasons, or if they were hired to care for sick people or children under three.
  • Full-time and live-in workers get one paid day off a week, normally Sunday. You can agree an extra half day or full day off.

Holidays and extra pay

  • Annual leave. At least 22 working days of paid holiday a year, as for other employees.
  • Holiday pay. One month's pay, as for other employees.
  • Christmas pay. One month's pay, paid by 15 December.
  • Public holidays. Paid days off. If the worker agrees to work on one, they get a paid day off in the same week or the next, or extra pay if that is not possible.

A live-in worker's holiday pay is paid fully in cash, including the value of board and lodging, unless you agree they keep their room and meals during the holiday.

For the general rules on leave and pay, see Employment Contracts, Pay, and Worker Rights in Portugal.

Insurance and safety

You must take out work accident insurance with an authorised insurer. If your worker is hurt while working and you have no insurance, you pay the compensation yourself. See Claiming for a Work Accident in Portugal.

You must also keep the home safe to work in. Explain how equipment works, repair faulty appliances, label toxic products, and provide protective clothing where needed. Accommodation and meals must be hygienic.

Income tax

The wages are employment income (category A) for the worker, who declares them on their yearly IRS return.

As the payer, you have tax duties too:

  • Withholding. The law requires whoever pays a salary to withhold income tax using the official tables. On the 2026 mainland table for a single person without dependants, pay up to €920 a month has a 0% rate.
  • Reporting. Employers normally send a monthly pay declaration (Declaração Mensal de Remunerações) by the 10th of the following month.
  • Private households. If you are not registered as a business, and you withheld no tax, you can instead declare the wages once a year on form Modelo 10, by 10 February of the next year.

Ask your tax office (Finanças) if you are unsure which applies to you. For your worker's side, see Filing Your Annual Income Tax Return (IRS) in Portugal.

Ending the contract

The domestic service law sets out how a contract can end.

If the worker resigns

The worker must give written notice of two weeks for each year of service, up to a maximum of six weeks. If they leave without full notice, they owe you the pay for the missing days.

If your circumstances change

The contract can end if:

  • your finances get clearly worse after you hired the worker; or
  • your family life changes so much that the job can no longer continue, for example if the person they cared for no longer needs care.

You must tell the worker in writing, with your reasons, at least:

  • 7 days before, if the contract has lasted up to six months;
  • 15 days before, if it has lasted six months to two years;
  • 30 days before, if it has lasted more than two years.

If the contract ends because your family life changed, the worker is owed one month's pay for every three years of service, up to a legal cap. When a live-in worker's fixed-term contract ends, they get three days to leave the accommodation.

Dismissal for just cause

Either side can end the contract at once for just cause. Just cause is a fact that makes the relationship impossible to continue, given its close and personal nature. You must state the reasons in writing at the time.

The law lists examples of conduct that gives you just cause, such as unjustified absences (five in a row or ten in a year), breaking confidentiality about your family, or serious damage to your property. If a court later finds there was no just cause, and the worker is not taken back, you owe one month's pay for each year of service, or part year. This can double if you acted in bad faith.

The worker can also leave for just cause, for example if you pay late, harass them, or fail to provide healthy conditions. In most of these cases they are owed one month's pay for each year of service, or part year.

In every case, the worker is owed any holiday they did not take and their share of holiday pay and Christmas pay.

If things go wrong

The labour inspectorate (ACT) enforces the domestic service law. Workers can complain to ACT, and anyone can report undeclared work. Paying cash without registering puts you at risk of fines, back contributions, and a criminal case for not declaring the job.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax 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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