The Ministry of Labor said at the end of April that the measurement of body temperature by companies to workers “was not unfeasible”, ignoring the positions of both the National Data Protection Commission, which received several complaints against companies, and the Bar Association, which denounced the “illegitimacy” of the measure.

As it had promised it would do, the Government came to clarify the situation through legislation, publishing in the Diário da República Decree-Law 20/2020 of 01 May, which authorized, from 02.05.2020, this temperature measurement in companies.

However, the decree-law warns that the measurement can only be carried out “exclusively for reasons of health protection of the self [trabalhador] and third parties”.

The document also reads that it is “expressly prohibited” to record body temperature associated with the worker’s identity, “unless with express authorization from the same”.

Finally, the Government establishes that, in the event of a fever detection, the employer is allowed to “prevent the person’s access to the workplace”.

You can consult the diploma in question here (Article 13 C of the Decree Law).