Marta Afonso Pereira

Marta advises Portuguese and international companies on labour law and social security issues, including on staff benefits (pension schemes and stock option plans), collective labour negotiations, company restructuring, post-structuring and staff transfers, disciplinary procedures and executive recruitment and dismissals, as well as on employment litigation. She is head of the employment practice in the firm’s Lisbon office.

Marta advises companies in a wide range of sectors, including the banking, insurance, investment funds, professional services and consultancy, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, transport and automobile sectors. She works closely with the firm’s Corporate lawyers to counsel on the employment issues in cross-border transactions, including in Lusophone Africa.

Work highlights

Marta has been a key advisor in many major transactions. These include advising:

• Ideal Standard in the context of the closure of its factory in Portugal, which further included legal assistance in the collective dismissal of the workforce
• Unilever on the sale of its global spreads business (operating in 66 countries around the world, including in Portugal). The employment team in Lisbon has advised in the implementation of the TUPE transfer in the context of a recently approved law
• Oitante, the special purpose vehicle established by Portugal’s Financial Services Authority following the resolution of Banif - Banco Internacional do Funchal, on all labour issues related to the management and sale of the assets, credits and transferred services
• AXA Group on the €191m sale of its Portuguese business to Ageas Insurance International, including transfer of undertaking and pensions advice
• the Municipality of Lisbon on all legal aspects related to the closure of EPUL - Empresa Pública Municipal de Urbanização de Lisboa, one of the largest municipal local companies in Portugal
• Bosch Group on employment law issues, including on establishing rules following the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement, determining different work schedules and representing the group in disciplinary proceedings
• Mitsubishi Group on action by a group of senior employees to prevent the sale of its shareholding in Mitsubishi Motors de Portugal to the Bergé Group

Marta is a member of APODIT (Associação Portuguesa de Direito do Trabalho), the Portuguese Labour Law Association, AJJ (Associação de Jovens Juslaboralistas), the Portuguese association for young labour law specialists, and of the EELA (European Employment Lawyers Association).

Marta lectures on labour and social security law to post-graduate students at ISLA (Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administração), Lisbon.

Marta regularly speaks at external conferences on labour law issues, including at:

 LabourLaw2030, on the impact for employers of the European Regulation on Data Protection coming into force on 2018,  which took place in July 2017.

“Regime for the balanced representation of men and women on the Boards of Directors of companies”, May 2017, conference organized by Linklaters Lisbon on gender balance on executive boards in listed and public sector companies

AJJ Conference, 2016, on parental rights recognised by Portuguese courts.

JSB Training, 2013 and 2014, on Portuguese employment law.

Marta studied law at, and holds a post-graduate degree in labour law and social security law from the University of Lisbon Law School and holds a post-graduate degree in company law from the Catholic University of Lisbon Law School.

She speaks English, Portuguese and French.