HR Future: Legal Highlights | Angola

HR Future: Legal Highlights | Angola

3rd Quarter 2026
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Travail

 

HR Future: Legal Highlights | Angola - 3rd Quarter 2026

 

Through this newsletter, VdA and PRIME Advogados share, on a quarterly basis, relevant information on Labour Law in Angola.

In this edition, covering the third quarter of the year, we highlight the most significant legislative developments of that period and a court ruling of interest in the field of employment law.

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Contacts

Américo Oliveira Fragoso
Américo Oliveira Fragoso
Associé Responsable de la PratiqueTravail
Emanuela Vunge
Emanuela Vunge
Head of Office | Angola
João Manuel Lourenço
João Manuel Lourenço
Associé International*
Marina Costa Cabral
Marina Costa Cabral
Collaboratrice CoordinatriceTravail
Ruth Jesus
Ruth Jesus
Conseillère PrincipaleBanque & Finance, Conseillère PrincipaleTravail

Legislative Updates

Presidential Decree No. 156/26

Approves the Organic Statute of the General Labour Inspectorate.

This decree, which came into force on 27 August, approved the new Organic Statute of the General Labour Inspectorate (IGT) and repeals the previous Statute, approved by Presidential Decree No. 90/22 of 18 April.

The instrument also abolishes the Inspection Service of the National Social Security Institute (INSS), provided for in Article 36 of Presidential Decree No. 232/21 of 22 September and in Executive Decree No. 667/17 of 14 December. Following the abolition of the Inspection Service of the INSS, the IGT will exercise the inspection powers relating to mandatory social protection that previously belonged to that service.

The new Statute significantly changes the organisation and operation of this entity, giving it broader inspection powers that are better suited to the challenges currently facing the Angolan labour market.

The IGT will therefore have responsibilities in the following areas:

  • Employment relationships;
  • Labour administration;
  • Collective labour relations;
  • Occupational safety, hygiene and health; and
  • Mandatory social protection.

 

Presidential Decree No. 157/26

Approves the National Policy for Gender Equality and Equity.

The decree approved the new National Policy for Gender Equality and Equity (PNIEG), together with its Implementation Plan, which came into force on 1 September and repealed Presidential Decree No. 222/13 of 24 December, which had approved the policy previously in force.

The PNIEG is the strategic instrument guiding the Executive’s action in promoting equal opportunities, justice and social inclusion, and the effective protection of human rights. The instrument applies directly to all bodies and services of the State’s Central and Local Public Administration and provides guidance for private entities.

Recognising persistent inequalities faced by women in accessing formal employment, career progression and remuneration, one of the PNIEG’s implementation guidelines is “Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equity in the Labour Market”. This aims to ensure equal opportunities, decent working conditions, recognition and reduction of the overall burden of unpaid care, equitable access to economic and financial resources, and the promotion of female entrepreneurship.

Among the priority areas for action, the PNIEG establishes a separate “Labour Rights Area”, aimed at promoting equity in the labour market and ensuring equal employment rights for women and men. Four priority measures are defined for this purpose:

  • Implement pay and recruitment audit mechanisms in public-sector companies and the private sector to reduce gender inequalities;
  • Create incentives for female entrepreneurship and training and support programmes for women-led businesses;
  • Promote work–family reconciliation policies, including equitable parental leave;
  • Ensure protection against employment discrimination across all sectors and hierarchical levels, including the prevention of and action against all forms of workplace harassment, promoting safe and violence-free working environments.

Relevant Case Law

Constructive dismissal

Interim Ruling of the Labour Division of the Luanda District Court dated 16 July 2026

In this ruling, the Luanda District Court considered the admissibility of a constructive dismissal following the unilateral alteration of an employee’s remuneration conditions after the transfer of the employer’s contractual position.

After the parties had formalised, as part of the transfer of the contractual relationship, an agreement ensuring the preservation of accrued rights, including seniority, remuneration and the contracted activity, the new employer presented the employee with a proposal which, while maintaining her basic salary and meal allowance, reduced the transport allowance, changed the Christmas and holiday allowances, and altered the employee’s professional level to a lower one, affecting the associated benefits.

The Court held that the right to remuneration is inalienable during the term of the employment relationship, given its role in providing a livelihood and the enhanced protection afforded to it. In this context, changes to remuneration components regularly received cannot result from a unilateral decision by the employer and require a valid expression of the employee’s intention.

According to the Court, that intention is to be ascertained  in accordance with the following rules of the Civil Code: (i) a contractual declaration is valid in accordance with the actual intent of the declarant, provided this is known to recipient; (ii) if not, it shall be valid in the sense that can be inferred by a reasonable person, placed in the position of the actual recipient, unless the latter could not reasonably be expected to rely on it; (iii) in formal transactions, the meaning attributed by the “reasonable recipient” must be expressed, even if imperfectly, in the text of the document itself; and (iv) a meaning with no minimum correspondence in the text may nevertheless prevail if it reflects the parties’ actual intention and the reasons determining the form of the transaction do not preclude that validity.

In this case, the Court concluded that, in the absence of the employee’s acceptance and in view of the reduction in benefits and the change to her professional level, the employer’s conduct could be interpreted as a unilateral and detrimental change to the working conditions. It therefore considered the requirements for constructive dismissal to be met, in a decision highlighting the risks associated with the unilateral alteration of salaries, allowances, benefits or professional levels.

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