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Special scheme to accelerate career progression for workers with a public employment relationship

Decree-Law no. 75/2023 - Official Gazette, no. 167/2023, Series I, dated 2023-08-29, established a special regime to accelerate the career progression of public employees. According to the preamble of the law, the effects of the individual performance appraisal of public employees, specifically the change in pay grade, could not be applied during the salary freeze in force from 30.08.2005 to 31.12.2007, and from 01.01.2011 to 31.12.2017.

Accordingly, in view of the negative impact that the pay freeze periods have had on career development, this law "establishes a special regime for accelerating the career progression of workers with public employment relationships by reducing the number of points required for mandatory changes in pay positioning".

In short, the law establishes the following:

Scope of application [Article 2]

The measure applies to employees with a career-integrated public employment relationship (i.e. employees with a public employment contract for an indefinite period) who, on the date of entry into force of this law (i.e. 30.08.2023), meet the following cumulative conditions

a) have undergone a compulsory change of pay grade as a result of the points accumulated in the performance appraisal;
(b) have completed at least 18 years of service in one or more career paths, covering the period between:
(i) 30 August 2005 and 31 December 2007
(ii) 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2017.

Reduction in the number of points for mandatory change of pay grade (APR) [Art. 3].

  • The above-mentioned employees who, in 2024 or the following year, accumulate at least 6 points in the performance appraisals relating to the duties performed in their current pay step, will progress to the next pay step.
  • If employees accumulate more than 6 points, the surplus points will count towards their future APR.
  • The reduction in the number of points required for the APR can only be applied once for each employee.
  • The APR will take effect on 1 January of the year in which the worker accumulates the points required for the APR.
  • The aforementioned employees who, in 2024 or the following year, accumulate at least 6 points in the performance appraisals related to the duties performed in their current pay grade, will change their pay grade to the subsequent pay grade;


Effect [Art. 4]:
1 January 2024 (01/01/2024).

Entry into force [Art. 5]:
30 August 2023 (30/08/2023).

For more information on this scheme, please refer to the DGAEP FAQ available here [in Portuguese]