How to handle parental leave and parental protection

What is it for?

It records a birth and the mother's and father's leave periods, with the product refusing what the Labour Code (Código do Trabalho) does not allow. When you confirm, it creates the absence requests for each period. The same screens store the protection of a pregnant, recently delivered or breastfeeding employee, and requests for family time.

What the product does not do on these screens: it does not calculate or claim the parental benefit and does not communicate the leave to Social Security. The case only has the Confirm and Cancel buttons. The parental benefit is a Social Security benefit (Decree-Law no. 91/2009). Pending validation by a certified accountant: how to cite this decree and what the company has to declare.

When to use it?

• When an employee hands in the birth declaration or announces the leave.
• When an employee reports that she is pregnant, has recently given birth or is breastfeeding.
• When an employee asks for a reduced weekly period, part-time work or a flexible schedule.

Where to find it?

Payroll › Prepare › What is there to do this month?, in the Parenthood and family section. Each card shows how many records there are and opens the list: Parental leave cases, Parental protection and Time requests for the family.

Before you start

• The HR profile. The mother's and the father's employee records must exist.
• The date of birth and the declaration handed to the employer.
• Each parent's holidays already approved: a leave period cannot overlap with them.

How to use it

Record the birth case

1. In Parental leave cases, click New and fill in Mother (worker), Father (worker), Date of the birth, Children born and Option.
2. In Declaration to the employer, choose Joint declaration (shared leave, art. 40.º/10) or Declaration of the other parent (leave not shared, art. 40.º/12), and fill in Declaration given on and Declaration (reference). The Declaration due until field is automatic: the date of birth plus 7 days.
3. If the child was hospitalised, fill in Hospital stay of the child (days) and End of the hospital stay.
4. In Periods, add one line per period, with Worker, Kind of period, From and Up to. Check Total duration (days), Days planned and Days left, which the product calculates.
5. Click Confirm. The case becomes Confirmed and only has the Cancel button.
6. Open Payroll › Prepare › Absence requests. There is one request per period, in the To Approve state, of the Parental leave (any modality of art. 39.º) type. Approve them like other requests: How to handle absences and lateness on the payslip.

Record parental protection

1. In Parental protection, create a new record and choose the Worker.
2. In Situation, choose Pregnant, Puerperal or Breastfeeding.
3. Fill in From and Declaration (reference). Write only the reference of the declaration, never clinical data. Up to can stay empty while the situation lasts.
4. Save. The record is Active and has the Cancel button.

Record a request for family time

1. In Time requests for the family, create a new record and choose the Worker.
2. In Request, choose Reduction of the weekly period (art. 54.º), Part-time (art. 55.º) or Flexible schedule (art. 56.º).
3. Fill in Child's date of birth, Request received on, Starts on and Ends on.
4. Check State and Next deadline. A request received on 04/11/2026 is Waiting for the employer's answer, with a deadline of 24/11/2026.

Expected result

An example with a birth on 11/01/2027, Long option and one child gave Total duration (days) 150, Days planned 150 and Days left 0:

Parent	Kind of period	From	To	Days in the case	Days in the absence request
Mother	Mother, mandatory after the birth (art. 41.º/2)	11/01/2027	21/02/2027	42	30
Mother	Initial leave (art. 40.º)	22/02/2027	09/06/2027	108	78
Father	Father, compulsory (art. 43.º/1)	12/01/2027	18/01/2027	outside the 150	5
Father	Father, compulsory (art. 43.º/1)	01/02/2027	21/02/2027	outside the 150	15

The case counts consecutive days. The absence request counts working days of the schedule. That is why the numbers differ, and both are correct.

Important notes

What the law sets, and what the screen showed:

Rule	Article	On screen
Initial leave of 120 or 150 consecutive days	Labour Code, art. 40/1	Short option gives 120 and Long option gives 150
Plus 30 days for each twin after the first	art. 40/6	Short option with 2 children gives 150
42 consecutive days for the mother, right after the birth	art. 41/2	Without that period, the case is refused
28 days for the father within the 42 days after the birth, 7 of them immediately after	art. 43/1	Outside that period, or with fewer days, it is refused
Employer's reply within 20 days to the time request	art. 57/3	Next deadline. The Accepted by silence (art. 57.º/8) state is what the product has for no reply

On protection, art. 63 of the Labour Code requires the prior opinion of the competent authority to dismiss a pregnant, recently delivered or breastfeeding employee, or an employee on parental leave. This article does not cover termination.

Any doubt about these deadlines in a specific case is for the certified accountant or the company's lawyer.

Common problems

• Symptom: “There are 7 days without leave between 21/02/2027 and 01/03/2027. What happened: the initial leave is consecutive (art. 40.º/1). How to fix it: close the gap or declare the suspension for the hospital stay (art. 40.º/14) in the next period.”

  Solution: adjust the dates so the periods are consecutive.

• Symptom: “Um trabalhador já tem uma ausência marcada que coincide com este período: … de 03/08/2026 até 14/08/2026 - Aprovado” (An employee already has an absence that overlaps this period: … from 03/08/2026 to 14/08/2026 - Approved). Solution: cancel those holidays and book them after the leave. The case stays in Draft until there is no longer an overlap.

• Symptom: “The case has no periods. What happened: there is nothing to confirm. How to fix it: record each parent's periods.” Solution: add the periods in Periods.

• Symptom: “A mãe não tem o período dos 42 dias obrigatórios após o parto (art. 41.º/2). Como resolver: registe um único período “Mãe, obrigatória após o parto”.” (The mother does not have the period of the 42 mandatory days after the birth (art. 41/2). How to fix it: record a single “Mother, mandatory after the birth” period.) Solution: add that period, starting on the day of the birth.

• Symptom: “The periods have 214 days and the leave of this case has 150 (art. 40.º). How to fix it: shorten the periods or record the twins, the hospital stay or the exclusive periods that add days.” Solution: shorten the periods, or correct the case data.

• Symptom: “The compulsory leave of the father has 7 days and art. 43.º asks for 28 (28 days, plus 2 for each twin after the first). How to fix it: record exactly those days, in periods that do not overlap.” Solution: adjust the father's periods so they add up to the number shown.

• Symptom: when saving a father's period, “A licença obrigatória do pai goza-se nos 42 dias seguintes ao nascimento (art. 43.º/1): de 12/01/2027 a 22/02/2027. Como resolver: corrija as datas.” (The father's compulsory leave is taken within the 42 days after the birth (art. 43/1): from 12/01/2027 to 22/02/2027. How to fix it: correct the dates.) Solution: put the father's periods within the dates shown.

• Symptom: in Parental protection, “Some required fields are empty. Fill in the fields marked in red to be able to save.” Solution: the Declaration (reference) is missing. Enter the document reference, never clinical data.

• Symptom: “O que aconteceu: o pedido foi recebido em 04/11/2026 e a lei exige 30 dias antes do início (arts. 54.º/6 e 57.º/1). Como resolver: comece em 04/12/2026 ou mais tarde.” (What happened: the request was received on 04/11/2026 and the law requires 30 days before the start (arts. 54/6 and 57/1). How to fix it: start on 04/12/2026 or later.) Solution: correct Starts on.

Absences due to illness have their own article: How to handle sick leave or a workplace accident.