How to monitor working time adaptability

What is it for?

With adaptability, working hours count as an average over a period: some weeks have more hours and others fewer. fiscaldoo keeps the scheme on the contract, refuses what the law does not allow and lists the weeks above the limit, based on the attendances.

When to use it?

• When there is a written agreement with the employee, a collective agreement or a group scheme that sets average working hours.
• Periodically, to see the weeks above the limit.
• Do not use it for hours to be compensated later from a balance: see How to manage a bank of hours.

Where to find it?

• Scheme: Payroll › Prepare › Worker files › open the file › Work tab › Work time section.
• Control: Payroll › Prepare › What is there to do this month? › Supporting lists › Prepare the month › Adaptability control.

Before you start

• Your profile is Payroll Administrator.
• You have the written agreement or the reference of the collective agreement.
• The Usual Work Location is filled in and the contract has a version starting at the start of the scheme, if the current version covers a month with a validated or paid payslip: create it with the + button in the contract history. See How to change the salary.
• The attendances for the period are recorded: without them, the control sees nothing.

How to use it

1. On the file, in Schedule regime, choose Adaptability (average).
2. In Kind of adaptability, choose Collective (IRCT, art. 204.º), Individual (written agreement, art. 205.º) or Group (art. 206.º).
3. In Basis of a longer schedule, write the agreement or the accepted proposal, for example “Written agreement of 20/10/2026”.
4. In Reference period (weeks), write the number of weeks. If it is a case under art. 207.º, no. 2, also choose Case of the longer reference period (art. 207.º/2). Click Save.
5. Open Adaptability control. Leave Worker empty to check everyone, or choose one. Adjust From and Up to: the dates default to 1 January to today. In the example, with Up to on 05/11/2026, the week of 02/11/2026 was left out; with 01/11/2026 to 30/11/2026, it appeared.
6. Click Run the control. The list shows only the weeks above the limit, with Week (Monday), Worked hours, Limit of the week and Legal reference.

Example. An employee with individual adaptability over 17 weeks worked 10 hours from Monday to Friday and 6 hours on Saturday in the week of 02/11/2026:

10 × 5 + 6 = 56 hours. The limit is 50, so the control shows: “1 workers in adaptability controlled, 1 weeks above the limit.”

Expected result

• The contract version holds the scheme, the kind and the reference period.
• The control says how many employees it checked and how many weeks went over the limit.
• A week with no line did not go over the weekly limit. The control does not calculate the average over the reference period nor pay overtime: check the average with the accountant at the end of the period.

Important notes

Source: Labour Code (Código do Trabalho), arts. 204.º to 207.º, text read on PGDL on 04/11/2026.

Kind	Per day	Per week	Reference period	Law
Collective	4 more hours	up to 60 hours	up to 12 months, as set by the agreement	arts. 204.º and 207.º, no. 1
Individual	2 more hours	up to 50 hours	4 months, or 6 in the cases of art. 207.º, no. 2	arts. 205.º and 207.º

• With collective adaptability, the normal working period cannot exceed 50 hours on average over a two-month period (art. 204.º, no. 2).
• With individual adaptability, the agreement can arise from a written proposal by the employer (art. 205.º, no. 4). In weeks with fewer than 40 hours, the reduction can be up to two hours a day or, if agreed, in days or half days, keeping the meal allowance (art. 205.º, no. 3).
• With group adaptability, fiscaldoo asks for the origin and the percentage of employees covered (art. 206.º). This case was not walked through in this article.
• Attendances. Currently, an attendance of 9 or 10 hours within the daily limit asks for the reason for the overtime, even with adaptability on the contract. Confirm with the accountant how to treat these hours.

Pending validation by a certified accountant: the treatment of hours above the normal daily period under adaptability; the average at the end of the reference period; and how the period counts public holidays and compensatory rest.

Common problems

On saving: “has no agreement behind it”

• Message: “The adaptability of … has no agreement behind it. What happened: art. 205.º needs the written agreement (and art. 206.º/2 the accepted proposal). How to fix it: fill in “Basis of a longer schedule” with the agreement or the proposal.”
• What to do: fill in that field.

On saving: the reference period is refused

• Message: “The reference period of … (18 weeks) is longer than the 4 months the law allows here (CT art. 207.º/1 (without an IRCT, a four-month period; text read on 2026-10-15)). What happened: an IRCT can set up to 12 months; without one the period is four months, or six in the cases of art. 207.º/2. How to fix it: reduce the period or, in the cases of art. 207.º/2, write the case in “Case of the longer reference period”.”
• What to do: write 17 weeks at most, state the case or, if a collective agreement sets the period, enter it in Collective agreement (IRCT): with it, the rule allows up to 12 months.

On recording the attendance: “produces overtime and has no reason”

• Cause: the attendance went beyond the day's working hours.
• What to do: in Reason for the overtime, give the real reason, and confirm the situation with the accountant.

On saving: “is already in force and … cannot be changed”

• Message: “The contract of … (version of 2026-11-01) is already in force and Reference period (weeks) cannot be changed. What happened: the classification, the Social Security framework and the working hours of a contract already applied are never rewritten (CT art. 147.º/3: a change keeps the seniority and is auditable). How to fix it: record a NEW version of the contract, starting on the day the change takes effect.”
• What to do: create the new version with the + button in the contract history and change the scheme in it.

The control shows no weeks

• Cause: no week went over the limit, the From and Up to period does not cover the whole week, or the contract is not on Adaptability (average) on that date.
• What to do: check the dates and the contract version in force during the week.