How to record an exemption from working hours

What is it for?

It keeps an employee's exemption from working hours agreement and calculates the specific remuneration the law guarantees, when a pay item takes it to the payslip. Without a written agreement and a legal ground, fiscaldoo refuses the record.

When to use it?

• When the company and the employee sign an exemption from working hours agreement.
• When the exemption ends: fill in Up to, or record the waiver on the Waived line.
• Do not use the exemption for occasional extra hours: that is overtime.

Where to find it?

Payroll › Prepare › Worker files › open the file › Work tab › Work time › Open the exemption from working hours.

The list with the exemptions of all employees is in Payroll › Prepare › What is there to do this month? › Situations and duties with a worker › Working hours exemptions.

Before you start

• Your profile is Payroll Administrator or HR.
• You have the agreement signed by hand: its date and where it is kept.
• The file has the Usual Work Location filled in. The button saves the file before opening and, without that field, it does not open.
• For the amount to reach the payslip, there is a pay item with the source Exemption from working hours (step 5).

How to use it

1. On the file, click Open the exemption from working hours. If there is one in force, it opens it. If not, it opens a new one, with the Worker filled in.
2. In Ground of the exemption (art. 218.º), choose: a) a management or executive position, or positions of trust; b) preparatory or complementary work; c) telework and regular activity outside the establishment; or Other situation admitted by the IRCT, with the clause.
3. Fill in Date of the written agreement and Written agreement (document), where the agreement is kept. In Modality, choose Without observance of the normal working period — 1 hour per day or With observance of the normal working period — 2 hours per week. In Effect on the normal period (art. 219.º/1), choose between a), b) and c).
4. Fill in From and, if it has an end, Up to. In Value set by, leave Legal minimum, or choose the IRCT or the contract and fill in Percentage or amount and the IRCT clause or contract. Click Save.
5. If the company does not yet have the pay item, open Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Pay items and create it as in How to create and configure a pay item. In Quantity source, choose Exemption from working hours (CT art. 265.º).
6. On the month's payslip, not yet validated, click Calculate. The pay item's line is added by itself.

Example. An employee with €1,900.00 base remuneration and 40 hours a week, exempt without observance of the normal period since 01/11/2026:

• Hourly rate: 1,900.00 × 12 ÷ (52 × 40) = €10.96.
• With the 25 % premium of the first hour of overtime: €13.70 per day (€13.7019 unrounded, the amount used in the calculation).
• Days in the month: 21 (November 2026, Monday to Friday, with no days recorded).
• Line amount: €287.74. How was it calculated? says “Exemption from working hours”: €287.74, subject to IRS and Social Security. Source: CT art. 265.º, read on PGDL on 09/10/2026.

Expected result

• When you click the button on the file again, you see the exemption in force.
• The payslip shows the pay item's line, with the amount and How was it calculated?.
• If the exemption starts in a month with a paid payslip, and the pay item exists, fiscaldoo creates by itself, on saving, a corrective payslip for that month, to be validated. The paid payslip does not change. See correct a payroll run.

Important notes

• Law. Labour Code (Código do Trabalho): art. 218.º (written agreement and situations), art. 219.º (modalities) and art. 265.º (specific remuneration). Text read on PGDL on 09/10/2026, as fiscaldoo states on the payslip.
• A collective agreement (IRCT) or the contract can set a different amount. fiscaldoo uses what you choose in Value set by. With Waived, the remuneration is not paid: the law only allows this for those in a management or executive position.
• No limit on screen. The record does not count the hours the employee works.

Pending validation by a certified accountant: the category and Social Security code of the pay item, the waiver of the remuneration (art. 265.º/2) and the reading of art. 219.º/3.

Common problems

The exemption is not saved

• Message: “The exemption from working hours of … has no legal ground or no written agreement. What happened: art. 218.º/1 of the Labour Code only allows the exemption by written agreement, for an employee in a management or executive position, in preparatory or complementary work, or in telework or regular activity outside the establishment. How to fix it: fill in “Ground of the exemption (art. 218.º)”, “Date of the written agreement” and “Written agreement (document)”.”
• Cause: one of these three fields is missing.
• What to do: fill them in and save.

The dates are refused

• Messages: “The exemption of … ends before it starts. How to fix it: correct the dates.” or “… already has an exemption from working hours in that period (from 01/11/2026). How to fix it: end the previous one or change the dates.”
• Cause: Up to is earlier than From, or the period overlaps another exemption of the same employee.
• What to do: correct the dates. To change scheme, fill in Up to on the old exemption and create another one on the following day.

With an IRCT or contract, it does not save

• Message: “Some required fields are empty. Fill in the fields marked in red to be able to save.”
• Cause: Percentage or amount or IRCT clause or contract is missing.
• What to do: fill them in, or go back to Legal minimum.

The button does not open the exemption

• Message: “Some required fields are empty. Fill in the fields marked in red to be able to save.”
• Cause: the employee file does not have the Usual Work Location.
• What to do: fill it in and click the button again. You can type the name and click Create.

The payslip warns that there is no pay item

• Message: “… has an exemption from working hours registered, and no pay item for it is in force: the specific retribution (CT art. 265.º) would stay unpaid. How to fix it: create the pay item in Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Pay items with the source “Exemption from working hours (CT art. 265.º)” and calculate again.”
• What to do: do step 5 and click Calculate again.