It was confirmed that the claimant did not pay contributions to any of those official
pension funds.
The complainant was also informed about the social benefits that he could have access
to in order to face his difficult economic situation.
6.4. Workers’ rights
6.4.1. Ombudsman’s decisions favourable to complainants
a) Recommendations
Recommendation No. 2/B/2016
Case Q-7094/15
Entity addressed: President of the Parliament
Date: 2016.06.07
Subject: Activities involving direct and regular contacts with minors. Duty to present
the certificate of criminal record annually
Status: No conclusive response yet given by the addressee
In 2015, aiming to reinforce the preventive measures against sexual abuse or exploitation of minors, a legislative amendment of the Law No. 113/2009 rendered mandatory
the yearly presentation of the certificate of criminal record, by workers and volunteers
engaged in activities that involve a direct and regular contact with children, both in the
private and public sector. Previously, this duty had to be fulfilled only prior to recruitment,
when employers were obliged to verify the criminal antecedents of potential workers.
After analysing the complaints filed, mainly, by teachers and other public servants, the
Ombudsman concluded that the objectives pursued by this measure could be achieved at
a lower cost, both for workers and volunteers, and for the public services responsible for
issuing the certificates. In fact, that legislative reform, operated by Law No. 103/2015, also
determined that both volunteers and workers who were condemned for crimes against the
sexual integrity or selfdetermination of children, could be condemned to a penalty of prohibition of carrying out any activity involving regular contact with children. Therefore,
prosecutors must always ascertain the professional or volunteer activities pursued by the
defendants in such cases – which would make it possible, in the event of a condemnation,
to communicate to the employers (or entities that promote other volunteer activities) the
decisions regarding their workers or collaborators. Moreover, under article No. 179 of
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