The law was passed in parliament on 2 June by all the left-wing parties and rejected by the parties that were in the previous coalition government.
Upon approving the law, the president of Portugal said that “only the future will tell if the rules ensure that there is no effect on the budget” one of the government’s promises, or if there will be a sudden increase in overtime.
The law was one of the Socialist party’s election promises, but many see it as unconstitutional as this week there can be two people, one in the state and one in the private sector, doing the same job for the same number of hours and getting the same wages, but next week the state worker will only have to work seven hours a day while the private sector worker will still have to do eight hours for the same money.