Law 13/2023 (Decent Work Agenda) suspended contribution obligations to the Work Compensation Funds (Fundos de Compensação do Trabalho, FCT, and Fundos de Garantia de Compensação do Trabalho, FGCT).
In turn, Legislative Decree 115/2023, of December 15, extinguished the obligations of membership and payment to the FCT and changed its purposes.
The FCT was thus converted into a closed accounting fund, where the balances of each worker’s individual accounts were transformed into a global account for the employer, who may use it for the following purposes:
(a) Support for workers’ housing costs and investments;
(b) Support for investments agreed with workers’ representative structures, or with the workers, particularly in nurseries and canteens;
(c) Financing the qualification and training of workers;
(d) Payment of up to 50% of compensation for termination of employment contracts of workers included in the FCT (the only previous purpose).
It is important to remember the following aspects of the current regime:
1. The law only allows two mobilizations of the balance;
2. This means that great care must be taken regarding the number of mobilizations of the account balance because, after two mobilizations have been made, even if they do not total the account balance, the surplus is lost in favor of the FGCT.
3. The mobilization of the balance can be used for more than one purpose.
4. The account balance can be mobilized until the FCT is extinguished, in principle until December 31, 2026.
5. Therefore, it is recommended to consult the balance and, depending on the mobilization options, to prepare an internal plan on how it will be used and, then, it can be done in two mobilization requests that make up the total balance.
To request the balance amounts, the company must indicate:
(a) The amount to be withdrawn;
(b) The purpose or purposes (there may be more than one) for which the refund amount is intended;
(c) Which workers will benefit from the reimbursement, which will be done through a company declaration, under oath, on the FCT website: www.fundoscompensacao.pt
(d) If the reimbursement is intended to support costs and investments in workers’ housing or to finance the qualification and training of workers, a declaration is also required, under oath, stating that the structures representing the workers (workers’ committee, trade union committee or trade union delegates) and, where these do not exist, the workers themselves were consulted.
(e) If the purpose of the reimbursement is to support investments agreed with workers, namely in daycare centers and canteens, a declaration will also be required, under oath, that the agreement of the workers or their representative structures has been obtained, including a copy of the agreement.
(f) In the absence of structures representing workers, workers are heard by communicating the purposes for which the reimbursement is intended 10 days in advance of the date of the intended mobilization.
